Resources

ICVA 2004

Inspirational Quotes

The material provided here is useful for speeches, volunteer recognition,  and newsletters, recruitment materials, etc.

The items are categorized as:

  • Short Quotations
  • Poems
  • Stories
     
  • Short Quotations

    �Those who want to do good are not selfish. They are not in a hurry. They know that to impregnate people with good requires a long time. But evil has wings. To build a house takes time. Its destruction takes none.� 

    Mahatma Ghandi

    �What you give ought to be in direct relationship to what you�ve received.  If you have been blessed with a great deal, then you have a lot of giving to do.�

    Johnnetta B. Cole

    �The best response to the long list of social ills is to put into effect the Noah principle.  That is, stop looking for credit for predicting the rain, its time to start building an ark.�

    Johnnetta B. Cole

    �The ultimate expression of generosity is not in giving of what you have, but in giving of who you are.�

    Johnnetta B. Cole

    �Faced with what seems like an impossible task, a group of folks will do well to remember the African proverb:  When spider webs unite they can tie up a lion.�

    Johnnetta B. Cole

    �Some things are fully worth doing even if you know the final product will be far short of perfect:  write a poem, sing in the shower, greet someone in their language instead of your own.�

    Johnnetta B. Cole

    "Snowflakes, leaves, humans, plants, raindrops, stars, molecules, microsopic entities all come in communities.  The singular cannot in reality exist."

    Paula Gunn Allen

    "In every community, there is work to be done.  In every nation, there are wounds to heal.  In every heart, there is the power to do it."

    Marianne Williamson

    "The language of citizenship suggests that self-interests are always embedded in communities of action and that in serving neighbors one also serves oneself."

    Benjamin R. Barber

    "Actions and words are the windows through which the heart is seen."

    American Poverb

    "I take as my guide the hope of a saint:  in crucial things, unity � in important things, diversity � in all things, generosity."           

    George Bush Sr.

    "Give me where to stand, and I will move the earth."         

    Archimedes

    "If you want to build a ship, don't drum to the women and men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders.  Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."

    Antoine De Saint-Exupery,  The Wisdom of the Sands

    "Volunteers polish up the rough spots in our communities."

    Jefferson Award Winner Alice Sandstrom

    "Never confuse movement with action."

    Ernest Hemingway

    "Service is the rent we pay for living."

    Marion Wright Eddelman



    "Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together."

    Vesta M. Kelly

    "Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go."

    William Feather

    "But where was I to start? The world is so vast. I shall start with the country I know best, my own. But my country is so very large. I had better start with my town. But my town too is large. I had better start with my street. No, my home. No, my family. Never mind. I shall start with myself."

    Elie Wiesel, "Souls on Fire"

    "May our adversities make us strong.
    May our victories make us wise.
    May our actions make us proud."

    H. Brown

    "A balanced life is the centered intersection of your values, time, and action. That's where integrity resides."

    Don Blohowiak

    "Managers know how. Leaders know why.
    Managers do things right. Leaders do the right thing."

    Warren Bennis & Burt Nanus

    "May you remember that though the roads we take can sometimes be difficult, those are often the ones that lead to the most beautiful views."

    Douglas Pagels

    "Life is inherently messy�.But out of the messiness comes great things."

    Margaret Wheatly

    "We may have all come over on different boats, but we're all in the same boat now."

    Whintley Phipps, Founder, The Dream Academy

    "If you think you're too small tomake a difference, you haven't been in bed with a mosquito!".   

    Anita Roddick, The Body Shops

    "You are the only person on this earth who can use your ability."   

    Anonymous

    "Have patience with all things but first with yourself.  Never confuse your mistakes with your value as a human being.  You're a perfectly valuable, creative, worthwhile person simply because you exist.  And no amount of triumphs or tribulations can ever change that.  Unconditional self-acceptance is the core of a peaceful mind."

    St. Francis de Sales

    "One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks."   

    Jack Penn

    "A ship in a safe harbor is safe, but that isnot what a ship is built for." 

    William Shedd

    "Courage is contagious.  When a brave person takes a stand, the spines of others are stiffened."           

    Billy Graham

    "There are two types of people -- those who come into a room and say, 'Well, here I am,' and those who come in and say, 'Ah, there you are.'"        

    Frederick Collins


    Poems

    "What is success?
    To laugh often and much;
    To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
    To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
    To appreciate beauty;
    To find the best in others;
    To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed
    social condition;
    To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived;
    That is to have succeeded."

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    To Be Of Use by Marge Piercy

    The people I love the best jump into work head first without dallying in the shadows and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight. They seem to become natives of that element, the black sleek heads of seals bouncing like half-submerged balls.

    I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart, who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience, who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward, who do what has to be done, again and again.

    I want to be with people who submerge in the task, who go into the fields to harvest and work in a row and pass the bags along, who stand in the line and haul in their places, who are not parlor generals and field deserters but move in a common rhythm wen the food must come in or the fire be put out.

    The work of the world is common as mud. Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust. But the thing worth doing, well done, has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.

    Greek amphoras for wine or oil, Hopi vases that held corn are put in museums, but you know they were made to be used. The pitcher cries for water to carry and a person for work that is real.

    We do not choose to be born.
    We do not choose our parents,
    Or our times or country of birth,
    Or the circumstances of our upbringing.
    We do not�most of us�choose to die
    But within all this realm of choicelessness
    We do choose how we shall live�
    Courageously or in cowardice,
    Honorably or dishonorably,
    With purpose or adrift.
    We decidewhat is important and what is trivial
    What makes us significant is what we do,
    Or refuse to do.
    We decide and we choose
    And so we give definition to ourselves.

    By Joseph Epstein

    "I want you to remember that if you can dream it, you can probably make it come true. Build creative bridges to get where you're going. Appreciate all the special qualities within you.

    Don't let worries get in the way of recognizing how great things can be. Always keep moving ahead. Live to the fullest and make each day count. Don't let the important things go unsaid.

    Don't just have minutes in the day; have moments in time. Balance out any bad with the good you can provide. Know that you are capable of amazing results. Discover new strengths inside."

    Douglas Pagels

    A Paradox

    The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints; we spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less.

    We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.

    We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life, not life to years.

    We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We've conquered outer space, but not inner space. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've split the atom, but not our prejudice. We have higher incomes, but lower morals. We've become long on quantity, but short on quality.

    These are the times of tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition. These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes.

    It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom; a time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to make a difference, or just to... hit delete.

    Author Unknown

    Stories

    The Daffodil Garden
    Author Unknown

    So Long, Volunteers
    by Erma Bombeck

    I had a dream the other night that every volunteer in this land had set sail for another country. I stood smiling on the pier, shouting, "Good-bye, phone committees. God-bye disease-of-the mon. No more getting out the vote. No more playground duty, bake sales, rummage sales, thrift shops, and three-hour meetings."
     
    As the boat got smaller, I reflected; "serves them right, that bunch of yes people. All they had to do was to put their tongues firmly against the roofs of their mouths and make an"O" sound--no. It would certainly have spared them a lot of grief. Oh, well, who needs them?"
     
    The hospital was quiet as I passed it. The reception desk was vacant. Rooms were devoid of books, flowers, and voices. The children's wing held no clowns, no laughter. The home for the aged was like a tomb. The blind listened for a voice that never came. The infirmed were imprisoned in wheelchairs that never moved. Food grew cold on trays that would never reach the hungry.
     
    The social agencies had closed their doors--unable to implement their programs of scouting, recreation, drug control; unable to help the retarded, handicapped, lonely and abandoned. Health agencies had signs in their windows: "Cures for cancer, birth defects, multiple sclerosis, heart diseases, etc., have been canceled because of lack of interest."
     
    The schools were strangely quiet, with no field trips and no volunteer classroom aides. Symphony halls and the museums that had been built and stocked by volunteers were dark and would remain that way. The flowers in churches and synagogues withered and died. Children in day nurseries lifted their arms, but there was no one to hold them in love.
    Alcoholics cried out in despair, but no one answered. the poor had no recourse for health care or legal aid. I fought in my sleep to regain a glimpse of the ship of volunteers just one more time. It was to be my last glimpse of a decent civilization. 

    Being a Volunteer � A Noble Profession
    by Erma Bombeck
    I was a "thousand points of light" long before volunteerism lighted up the sky and had an official name. I had my lights short-circuited, burned at both ends and occasionally punched out. I hang in there because generally volunteerism is a dazzling galaxy of gems that streak across the sky and illuminate the world when it falters and cannot find its way.

    I was thinking the other day that Americans are intrigued by royalty. Americans have never felt the need for a hierarchy who live in castles and get paid for waving and going to funerals, but I would like to propose a royal family for this country who would have no political power but would symbolize what we are all about and set the tone for our nation. . .the Royal Family of Volunteers.

    You cannot be born to this royal family. You must earn your way through the ranks. Congress will not appropriate a salary for your efforts. You won't even have your own principality, especially if you volunteer you medical services to travel down the Amazon River on your vacation to tend to the needs of children in Brazil.

    The perks of royalty, which usually add up to yachts, box seats, parades and state dinners, may translate to long hours, tired sandwiches, costs, rejection, cold coffee, and screaming kids. Royalty as a rule is recognizable. The Royal Family of Volunteers are nameless, faceless and forgettable. They are often taken for granted, and only a fraction of them are recognized for their talents.

    So how do you know you're royalty. Ah. . .it's the crown jewels that give you away-that sparkling tiara of smiles you have given and tears you have shared, and the rich legacy of caring.

     

     

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