Doing Good Quotes

“Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching.”
― Jim Stovall

“Featherweight by Suzy Kassem


One evening,
I sat by the ocean and questioned the moon about my destiny.
I revealed to it that I was beginning to feel smaller compared to others,
Because the more secrets of the universe I would unlock,
The smaller in size I became.

I didn't understand why I wasn't feeling larger instead of smaller.
I thought that seeking Truth was what was required of us all –
To show us the way, not to make us feel lost,
Up against the odds,
In a devilish game partitioned by
An invisible wall.

Then the next morning,
A bird appeared at my window, just as the sun began
Spreading its yolk over the horizon.
It remained perched for a long time,
Gazing at me intently, to make sure I knew I wasn’t dreaming.
Then its words gently echoed throughout my mind,
Telling me:

'The world you are in –
Is the true hell.
The journey to Truth itself
Is what quickens the heart to become lighter.
The lighter the heart, the purer it is.
The purer the heart, the closer to light it becomes.
And the heavier the heart,
The more chained to this hell
It will remain.'

And just like that, it flew off towards the sun,
Leaving behind a tiny feather.
So I picked it up,
And fastened it to a toothpick,
To dip into ink
And write my name.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“Alek said, "Do you think I'm being a fool?"

"I think you're trying to do something good. But doing good is rarely easy, and no weapon has ever stopped a war.”
― Scott Westerfeld, Goliath

“Feeling good about yourself is not the same thing as doing good. Good policy is more important than good feelings.”
― Theodore Dalrymple

“As the sun does not wait for prayers and incantations tob e induced to rise, but immediately shines and is saluted by all, so do you also not wait for clappings of hands and shouts of praise tob e induced to do good, but be a doer of good voluntarily and you will be beloved as much as the sun.”
― Epictetus, Enchiridion and Selections from the Discourses

“A memorable heart is the easiest way to immortality.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“Lift up your eyes and see the good in the world, for we are people with an amazing capacity to do great good. And if only the minority choose to exercise this capacity to the smallest degree, oh how wondrous and sweet the deeds performed at but a few hands!”
― Richelle E. Goodrich, Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year

“There was no noise, no effort, no consciences in anything he did, but in everything an indescribable lightness, a seeming impossibility of doing nothing else, or doing nothing better, which was so graceful, so natural & agreeable”
― Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

“I suppose I could spend time theorizing how it is that people are not bad to each other, but that's really not the point. The point is that in almost every instance of our lives, our social lives, we are, if we pay attention, in the midst of an almost constant, if subtle, caretaking. Holding open doors. Offering elbows at crosswalks. Letting someone else go first. Helping with the heavy bags. Reaching what's too high, or what's been dropped. Pulling someone back to their feet. Stopping at the car wreck, at the struck dog. That alternating merge, also known as the zipper. This caretaking is our default mode and it's always a lie that convinces us to act or believe otherwise. Always.”
― Ross Gay, The Book of Delights: Essays

“Всемирът е едно. Всичко и всички са свързани помежду си чрез невидима плетеница от истории. И да го знаем, и да не го знаем, всички водим безмълвен разговор. Не причинявай зло. Проявявай състрадание. И недей да злословиш зад гърба на другите - не отправяй дори наглед безобидни нападки! Думите, които излизат от устата ни, не изчезват, а постоянно се трупат в безграничното пространство, за да се върнат при нас, когато му дойде времето. От болката на един ще ни заболи всички. От радостта на един ще се усмихнем всички [...].”
― Elif Shafak, The Forty Rules of Love

“If someone wants to do good they'll do good, whether they have a billion dollars or just one.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Either Reformist or Terrorist: If You Are Terror I Am Your Grandfather

“Receiving is always attractive, till you're the one giving.”
― Adeyemi Taiwo Eunice

“He began to pray, and was obsessed by the fear lest he should die without having done any good in the world; he longed to live, and to live so as to achieve the renunciation of self.”
― Leo Tolstoy, The Cossacks

“With absolute power, corruption and evil seep in humanity, and that evil continues to flourish as the good of humankind lies idle in darkness, hidden from the Word that brings the light." — Paul Hill
Paraphrasing of Edmund Burke, John Dalberg, and John 1:1-5 quotes.”
― Paul Hill

“We try to be perfect to meet other people's expectations. But making good choices--I think that's on us. We do good because we see value in good.”
― Caroline George, The Summer We Forgot

“We are all drawing near to the bottom of the hill, whatever age we are. On account of time never standing still for a moment. So let us always do a kindness”
― Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

“It does not matter what others do, but what we do. Do that which is good, without fear, and without limit or reserve. What right have we to blame the government when we do not that which is good ourselves? How can we pass judgment on others when we invite the same condemnation on ourselves? If you want to be fearless, do good.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

“Community service leaders are people who would rather do things off-line that matter than online for show. ”
― Germany Kent

“Nehmen wir an, Sie retten einem Menschen das Leben: Sie kommen an einem brennenden Gebäude vorbei, halten an, treten die Tür ein, laufen durch Rauch und Flammen, finden ein Kind und tragen es hinaus. Die Erinnerung an diesen Augenblick würde Sie Ihr Leben lang begleiten. Würden Sie mehreren Menschen das Leben retten – indem Sie an einem Tag ein Kind aus einem brennenden Haus tragen, in der folgenden Woche einen Ertrinkenden aus einem Fluss retten und sich wieder eine Woche später in die Flugbahn einer Kugel werfen –, so würden Sie zu der Überzeugung gelangen, Ihr Leben sei wirklich ungewöhnlich. Sie kämen in die Zeitung. Sie wären ein Held. Nun, Sie können viel mehr tun. Den sorgfältigsten Schätzungen zufolge kostet es in den Entwicklungsländern rund 3400 Dollar (oder 100 Dollar pro qualitätskorrigiertem Lebensjahr), ein Menschenleben zu retten. Dieser Betrag ist so gering, dass ihn die meisten Einwohner der reichen Länder jedes Jahr aufbringen könnten, ohne ihre Lebensqualität erheblich zu verringern. Anstatt nur einen Menschen zu retten, könnten wir in jedem Jahr unseres Erwerbslebens ein Leben retten. Hilfsorganisationen Geld zu spenden ist natürlich nicht annähernd so spektakulär, wie in ein brennendes Haus zu laufen, aber der Nutzen ist ebenso groß. Einfach dadurch, dass wir Geld für die effektivsten Hilfsprogramme spenden, können wir Dutzende Menschenleben retten. Verblüffend, nicht wahr?”
― William MacAskill, Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help You Make a Difference

“Being good is not a state of mind, it is a constant struggle. - On Being Good”
― Lamine Pearlheart, Awakening

“Those who want to do harm, they'll do harm whether they have nukes at their disposal or bow and arrow.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Either Reformist or Terrorist: If You Are Terror I Am Your Grandfather

“They call you lazy when you don't bother trying and unrealistically ambitious when you try hard.”
― Torron-Lee Dewar

“Suddenly Taryn was furious. 'Why the hell are you always so careful?'

'What else should I be? Most of the good in the world is remedial. It's fixing things and caring for people. Taking care.”
― Elizabeth Knox, The Absolute Book

“You know the feeling when your Life gets a little bleak, not because of anything lacking but perhaps because of the overwhelming nature of Life itself. When you realise that your soul feels everything so deeply that your mind has found an escape route by shutting the nerves of your heart. And then you realise, your heart is too strong and it could never be stopped from feeling all that is passing you by, plainly the most beautiful emotions that this world abhors. Pain. Grief. Melancholy of the deepest kind. An agony that has no reason at all. Or perhaps there is, only your clever mind knows a way to not let the reason meet your eyes.
And in that moment, that fraction of a moment, you choke in your soul and ask your heart why does it beat yet another moment, and then you hear a voice, a slim voice that's always been pushing you to that corner of mad infinite deepness of human cosmos, because you are here to do good, despite all that happens to you, especially for all that happens to you, because your pain is never your weakness but the brightest light that tells you how to remove the pain from every passerby.
Your mind gets shocked and your heart doesn't know what to do, so they numb your soul and yet a tiny flicker somewhere screams through the weak tired frame of your bleak existence, asking you to spread that light even to the last of your breath.
And then when you open your eyes, a line comes by,
All the good you do, will come back one day, they said.
Keep it, I said.

Love & Light, always
- Debatrayee”
― Debatrayee Banerjee

“A part of me is always suspicious of groups. I am by nature a solitary animal. I like to do things my way, and in my own good time. I'm resistant to timetables and demands on my attention, and to the kind of politics that always seem to arise between adults who join clubs. I hate organised fun. Overall, I prefer to make my own ad hoc arrangements with a couple of close friends. But more and more I crave being part of a congregation, a group of people with whom I can gather to reflect and contemplate, to hear the ways that others have soled this puzzling problem of existence. Mosts of all, I want them to hold me to account, to keep me on track, to urge me towards doing good. Holding spiritual believes on my own is lonely. I want to be part of a group that makes me return to ideas that bewilder and challenge me.”
― Katherine May, Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age

“Staying alive as long as you can to do some good in this world—that’s not playing it safe. That’s our job.”
― Claudia Gray, Bloodline

“Now is the only time for doing good. The way to do a thing is to do it. Begin at once.”
― J.C. Ryle

“Spare me that I may serve.”
― Dean Koontz, Odd Thomas

“Doing good is a reflection of one's goodness; otherwise, not.”
― Ehsan Sehgal

“No, it was not their mess; they didn't make it. It was not their job; they were not paid to clean up trash. And no, they were not dressed to do disgusting work. But they did it anyway. They were thoughtful and kind and decent anyway.
These are the young people I hope will lead the world someday.”
― Richelle E. Goodrich, Hope Evermore: Quotes, Verse, & Spiritual Inspiration for Every Day of the Year