Top 45 Volunteer Quotes

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Volunteering is a great way to help those who are less fortunate than you. With that in mind, check out the top 45 volunteer quotes.

#45 – 40. Volunteer Quotes

45. You can study government and politics in school, but the best way to really understand the process is to volunteer your time. – Rob McKenna

44. Volunteers are the only human beings on the face of the earth who reflect this nation’s compassion, unselfish caring, patience, and just plain loving one another. – Erma Bombeck

43. The purpose of life is not to be happy, but to matter– to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all. – Leo Rosten

42. Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve…. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

41. It’s easy to make a buck.  It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.  – Tom Brokaw

40. Act as if what you do makes a difference.  It does.  – William James

#39 – 30. Volunteer Quotes

39. Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless. – Sherry Anderson

38. We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men. – Herman Melville

37. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. — Winston Churchill

36. The broadest, and maybe the most meaningful definition of volunteering:  Doing more than you have to because you want to, in a cause you consider good.  – Ivan Scheier

35. At the end of the day it’s not about what you have or even what you’ve accomplished… it’s about who you’ve lifted up, who you’ve made better. It’s about what you’ve given back. – Denzel Washington

34. Help one another. There’s no time like the present, and no present like the time. – James Durst

33. Wherever you turn, you can find someone who needs you. Even if it is a little thing, do something for which there is no pay but the privilege of doing it. Remember, you don’t live in the world all of your own. – Albert Schweitzer

32. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others? — Martin Luther King, Jr.

31. Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness. – Seneca

30. The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away. — William Shakespeare

#29 – 20. Volunteer Quotes

29. How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.  –Anne Frank

28. The work an unknown good man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green. – Thomas Carlyle

27. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands — one for helping yourself, the other for helping others. — Audrey Hepburn

26. The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention. – Oscar Wilde

25. Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more. ― H. Jackson Brown Jr.

24. Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something. – Henry David Thoreau

23. I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands.  You need to be able to throw something back. – Maya Angelou

22. I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world. – Mother Teresa

21. Our generation has the ability and the responsibility to make our ever-more connected world a more hopeful, stable and peaceful place. — Natalie Portman

20. What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal. – Albert Pike

#19 – 10. Volunteer Quotes

19. Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart. – Elizabeth Andrew

18. The unselfish effort to bring cheer to others will be the beginning of a happier life for ourselves. — Helen Keller

17. Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth. — Muhammad Ali

16. If our hopes of building a better and safer world are to become more than wishful thinking, we will need the engagement of volunteers more than ever. — Kofi Annan

15. You give but little when you give of your possessions.  It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. – Kahlil Gibran

14. I am only one, but I am one.  I cannot do everything, but I can do something.  And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. – Edward Everett Hale

13. One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind. – Malayan Proverb

12. The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. — Mahatma Gandhi

11. You may not have saved a lot of money in your life, but if you have saved a lot of heartaches for other folks, you are a pretty rich man. – Seth Parker

10. If you become a helper of hearts, springs of wisdom will flow from your heart. – Rumi

#9 – 1. Volunteer Quotes

9. If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito. – Betty Reese

8. The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit. –Nelson Henderson

7. Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves. – James Matthew Barrie

6. Even if you just change one life, you’ve changed the world forever. – Mike Satterfield

5. Even if it’s a little thing, do something for those who have need of a man’s help– something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it. For, remember, you don’t live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here, too. – Albert Schweitzer

4. The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.  – John E. Southard

3. You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give. – Winston Churchill

2. Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. – Dr. Seuss

1. Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. – Leo Buscaglia

Ideas for the top 45 volunteer quotes come from the following sources.^[1]Engaging Volunteers – 9 Quotes To Inspire Your Volunteers^[2]Discover Corps – 50 Inspirational Quotes About Volunteering & Giving Back