Quotes about altruism

In honor of Oprah Winfrey: Even greater than the ability to inspire others with hope is the power to motivate them to give as much to the lives of others as they would give to their own and to empower them to confront the worst in themselves in order to discover and claim the best in themselves.

It is not something we often find out but most of the specially-gifted have a deep desire to be ordinary.

Most poor people do not really aspire to end poverty they merely aspire to escape it.

We are truly human when we live for a purpose far above ourselves but most people prefer to identify with an entity for the sake of belonging thereby subjecting themselves to the spirit of collective selfishness that is only found in groups.

Compassion is not something you have it is something you share.

Everybody wants to save the Earth nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes.

If you were born with the ability to change someone’s perspective or emotions, never waste that gift. It is one of the most powerful gifts God can give—the ability to influence.

True happiness, we are told, consists in getting out of one's self; but the point is not only to get out - you must stay out; and to stay out you must have some absorbing errand.

The good which every man, who follows after virtue, desires for himself he will also desire for other men...

Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish. Let us understand what our own selfish genes are up to, because we may then at least have the chance to upset their designs, something that no other species has ever aspired to do.

Don’t sacrifice yourself too much, because if you sacrifice too much there’s nothing else you can give and nobody will care for you.

I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.

Love only grows by sharing. You can only have more for yourself by giving it away to others.

At the end of the day, what matters is our faith in humanity...

...only the dreamers of a dream are capable of translating their dreams into worthy practical endeavors that are devoid of haunting errors. After all, they are the ones who carefully observed the link between their dreams and reality; they are the ones who worked consciously to blend them into one.

The people are like an audience watching a drama. They have characters whose sides they chose even before the start of the show, but they know little or nothing about the people behind the stage―the manipulators.

...We find our greatest peace when we embrace something that gives meaning to our lives. Often, it is love for somebody or something we can give up our lives for, or somebody or something that we are sure will never betray us. That love could be for a partner, for our offspring, for a country or for a belief...

...History is the key to the unity of a people. Its nostalgia pulls them together. Its gloom separates them further. Its successes make them stronger.

Hope is soothing, but it can become deceptive if we cling to it as the last resort against reality,

The Romans construed Jesus Chris’s crucifixion as a defeat, but what do we have today? Christianity triumphed. Jesus Christ never betrayed himself, he never betrayed his mission and he never corrupted the ideas that God wants us to live by. The Cameroonian soul is genuine. It is noble, and it embodies humaneness. There is no reason to try to kill it because it will triumph ultimately.

Take a stand that reflects the widest horizons of your soul if you don’t want to be a slave to external powers.

What is there in this big wide world for a man to talk about with certainty besides his homeland, home and family?

Most of our brains are out, but it is good what they did for themselves by leaving this country. They are Cameroon’s reserve for development, for the day that this country shall be free. Your late father was an intelligent man. He was even more than that. He was a sage. He once said to me that the intelligent Bamilekés are those who have sought a better future for themselves and for their families in British Cameroons. He was right. They have not been brainwashed as much as their francophone bro

...Never opt for war, no matter how simple it may seem, especially when you know that peace is achievable, even if achieving that peace entails going through a complicated and protracted process,

...True classical dropouts in society are those who avoid difficult challenges and cling to the first opportunity that comes their way. They never test their talents. These latent talents will only help to produce the next cycle of dropouts...

Sometimes, our pride compels us to engage in costly wars when a true commitment to a compromising peace would have been the best course to pursue.

...A canonical leader is someone whose exemplary rule might have appeared to be for the alleviation of the pains and miseries of a particular group, but which in reality is for the advancement of humanism...

...A legendary leader distinguishes himself as someone who gets ahead of his people from an impasse and futile general consensus, and then finds new grounds that constitute the base from which a unique course of his people’s destiny is charted...

...Bad leaders are known to destroy one, more or even all of the foundations of their people’s way of life...

The Cameroonian soul is genuine. It is noble, and it embodies humanism.

The good shall prevail in the end, the truth shall be the rule and the Cameroonian soul shall be free,” Hans said in an emotion-choked voice, “However, we should never lose our heads; we should always be prepared to forgive all the repentant souls.

True heroes don't fall. They only encounter temporary setbacks as they forge ahead towards progress.

Time alone can nourish or erode our emotions.

…what else do we have to ensure our sanity except our love for something beyond ourselves―our love for our families, our love for our fatherland?

A man who does not honor the company of his true friends will never see the light of true love.

Life is a mighty joke that is not meant to be funny.

It is easier for an ambitious friend to become an enemy than for an enemy to become a friend. It is even easier to make friends than you can find people to trust as friends.

Remember these, Sons! Truth presented with tenderness enriches the soul of man and enhances humanity in the process. A Franco-Cameroonian relation based on truth and nurtured with tenderness will be to the benefit not only of Kamerun and France, but also of mankind as a whole.

Sons, any man who is considered a success in life owes a lot to society. We have been very blessed, my dear sons. We have to show our appreciation to our society for making that possible. A time will come when you will meet other Kamerunians who share the same vision for this land. I am advising you to make them partners in our common goals when that time comes. We shouldn’t shy away from playing a formidable role in financing that political force that shall emerge. We must use our influence to

Huh! Mankind always comes up with ideas to make up for the follies of the status quo. But what happens if those ideas are inflexible and fail to respond to the changing times. They end up betraying the people who believed in them.

True heroes and ideas never fall in the final sense of the word. They can only encounter temporary setbacks in their difficult journey to progress and success,

Fear is a basic human instinct and an indicator of the gravity of a situation. It becomes an asset if it is effectively controlled. It becomes a weakness for a man if he lets it prevail over him.

Human ties are the greatest distorters of reality because they tend to conceal man’s worst selfish instincts.

Expose human ties for what they really are and you are most likely to find the worst forms of betrayal staring back at you.

We still need to give our best to life even if we do not understand the purpose of our existence on earth.

With true love, you can move mountains, make unusual sacrifices, live a life of deprivations and still be happy.

Never allow yourself to be sapped of your extraordinary energy that is the necessary ingredient for creating something new and progressive.

... People who are the spices of this world are the natural souls with instincts and impulses that have not been pruned by evolution and civilization.

Most of the truly kind people of this world show some measure of discomfort when offered kindness. Their gratitude stems not only from their understanding of the depth of the force of kindness, but also from their conviction that kindness should not be taken for granted.

So, you see; you have the soul of a missionary, the heart of a revolutionary and the mind of a reformer. But what are you to yourself and the family and friends who will always be there for you?

Writers are the most pathetic souls when it comes to expressing their own feelings. Their personalities are as complex as the characters they weave.

Some honest people think it is better to know the ways of the devil without being evil.

…our recollections bring out our joyful smiles, but hardly make us chortle or guffaw; our recollections often leave imprints on our faces that show our regrets, but they hardly produce sounds that echo the depth of those regrets.

The selfish and self-centered have a hard time being kind, even though you and I know that kindness is a source of relief to the soul.

I think preconceived ideas or prejudgments are meant to give us an edge whenever we are dealing with others we don’t know or haven’t made the effort to understand.

When we tend to be too hard on those we love, we erode the softness of our souls in the process, taking out the humanity within us that is the nucleus of our goodness, even if our actions are for their own sake.

Perhaps fate has a way of turning things around and making something good out of the action of someone who failed humanity without meaning to.

The writer is the cursed artist of the soul. The expression of his art is a reflection of his quest to understand man by unraveling the mysteries that have been haunting humankind from time immemorial. In the end of his journey to understand man, the writer becomes more human even though his soul ends up finding less peace.

The scrupulous survivors in life are the best counterweight to unscrupulous survivors.

Most people live lives that are full of mysteries, lives whose ultimate purpose we may never really understand. But for the sake of serenity, we must believe in life’s nobleness.

…the truest feeling of happiness is the security that comes with being loved.

A man can’t talk of true happiness if he has never known true love—the trusting, selfless and unconditional love that I took for granted.

The true leaders of our time, the legends of this world or the movers of the movers are the towering figures that are blessed with beautiful minds, receptive ears and directing voices. They are the ones we should emulate in life.

Singers, actors or artists who touch on sorrow are trying to give comfort to aggrieved souls by giving some meaning to their sorrows.

Man craves joy far more than anything else in life, but there is nothing as madly intoxicating as the feeling of joy that comes from the soul.

Don’t be afraid of those failures that do not lead to a loss of life or that do not incapacitate people.

When faced with difficulties, a humble, understanding, appreciative and selfless person finds it easy to win a friend. On the other hand, a temperamental, egoistic, condensing, self-absorbed, self-conceited and narrow-minded person who lacks the basic sense of humility easily loses friends when in distress.

Kindness is a source of relief to the soul of the giver, creating a sense of fortitude that is incomprehensible to those who do not know what kindness is all about.

There are people who bring joy to our lives, but who fail to make us happy. They are the people for the moment. Never rely on their love because it is not sustainable. Their love is alike a comet that illuminates the sky, but then fades away because it lacks the sustainable energy of the sun.

We need the wisdom to accept the fact that this world abounds with issues we cannot solve; and we need to part ways with those people, ideas and things that are a vexation to the soul.

The narrow-minded find it convenient to create stereotypes, and then try to fit everybody, everything and every situation into those stereotypes.

Some people live their memorable years fighting against their basic instincts only to succumb in the end to what was actually good for them.

Writers understand the world better, but they lack the strength to change it. Perhaps that is so because they understand their limitations more than others.

Writers are the most tormented of all the different categories of artists that are out there in the world.

When singers, actors or artists touch on sorrow, they are trying to give comfort to aggrieved souls by giving some meaning to their sorrows. The job of the singer, actor or artists ,in general, is to make us comfortable with our feelings or emotions―be it pain, hurt, anger, hatred, sadness, pleasure, love, cheerfulness or joy.

Male writers who never find the stabilizing force of an understanding woman in their lives usually end up as the jaded figures of their days, the types who give much artistic expression to the world, but who are lonely in their overcrowded worlds of love.

A writer needs a partner who can act as fuel to his artistic mind, yet has the great ability to sober him up and help him be in sync with the non-artistic part of his soul.

Writers are the most pathetic souls when it comes to expressing their personal feelings. Their personalities are as complex as the characters they have weaved. And in a curious way, without them really knowing it, writers are the sum total of the characters they created in their heads or in their writings. Yes, My Dear Tania; writers are capable of reflecting their characters, even though most of them are determined to be just like your ordinary guy next door.

We always emerge from the death of a loved one like a phoenix arising from its funeral pyre.

When somebody you love dies, a phase of life’s innocence dies with that person, and a part of you dies as well.

Societies and people that come close to being happy are those that do well in narrowing the disparity between their desires and their needs, especially the material things of life.

In the world of today, human desires far supersede human needs. Waste, as you can see, is the result of all of those contradictions. That is how we ended up complicating our world.

…a writer, like most artists, needs a partner who can act as the fuel to his artistic mind and soul, yet has the great ability to sober him up and help him be in sync with the non-artistic part of his soul.

In today’s world, human desires far supersede human needs. Waste, as you can see, is the result of that disparity.

Judgments based on preconceptions make life simple for us to deal with since that means we safely shield ourselves behind barriers of preconception that helped us feel safe in whatever views or assumptions we are having.

We, humans, have come up with so many superficialities that are completely unnecessary for our existence and happiness on earth.

Most people have this tendency to make judgments on others based on preconceptions, especially when they are dealing with them for the first time.

In dealing with others, man is inherently a slave to his preconceptions, to the stereotypes he became familiar with that made life easier for him to comprehend.

Having a deep sense of understanding is a huge burden for a mind that can’t directly influence things.

Life is full of intriguing souls that you cannot penetrate… An uncomfortable percentage of those anguished and impregnable souls also have suffering hearts that are further tormented by a deluded mind. They will hurt out of an impulse, and then live their lives after that without the slightest remorse.

Avoid people who hurt from an impulse. I mean people who have this tendency to relish their capacity to hurt the good souls of this world, and who after hurting, wake up the next day without a trace of despondent brooding, and then move on with life never thinking that they should show some remorse or try to repent.

In your selflessness pursuit of things higher than yourself, you appear selfish or inconsiderate to those who truly love you and who have cared deeply about you from the first day you came into their lives.

There is no bigger gratification than the realization of the things you believe in after overcoming all the odds.

Hold onto your creativity, that idealism that is rooted in some degree of innocence and a firm belief in something finer than the things we already have.

Never give up the freeness of your soul. Live your duty to mankind, nurture creatures of this world as a true mother of the earth, but never shut your imagination off from those desires that distinguish you from the ordinary. Never allow yourself to be sapped of that extraordinary energy that is the necessary ingredient for creating something new and progressive.

Isn’t reality based on the prevailing culture, the trend that people want to identify with?

At what point is normal natural?

What is the purpose of achieving your dream if the people you had dreamed your achievements for are no longer there to reap the benefits?

A yesterday missed can never be found even in a fine tomorrow.