There are two ways of spreading light – to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.
Edith Wharton, Vesalius in Zante

The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.
Barack Obama

He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.
Abraham Lincoln

To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.
Abraham Lincoln

It’s impossible to be involved in all situations, but there’s no excuse not to be involved in something, somewhere, somehow, with someone. Make an ounce of difference.
Richelle E. Goodrich, Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year

I interviewed my dad on video in his final weeks. When I asked about his work and finding meaning through helping others, he responded, “I don’t think you can be focused on, ‘Oh gee, I want to make a difference.’ It has to be spontaneous. If it’s not…there’s some kind of egotistical thing going on. That’s a red flag. You hope you impact people on the deepest level you are capable of at the time. Sometimes you hit it, sometimes you don’t. You’re trying.
Lisa Shannon, A Thousand Sisters: My Journey into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman

The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.
Norman Vincent Peale

When you become detached mentally from yourself and concentrate on helping other people with their difficulties, you will be able to cope with your own more effectively. Somehow, the act of self-giving is a personal power-releasing factor.
Norman Vincent Peale

The unfortunate need people who will be kind to them; the prosperous need people to be kind to.
Aristotle

To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children, to earn the approbation of honest critics; to appreciate beauty; to give of one’s self, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived–that is to have succeeded.
Ralph Waldo Emerson