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Altruism Quotes

Browse 595 quotes about Altruism.

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Altruism Quotes

“Truth changes with the season of our emotions. It is the shadow that moves with the phases of our inner sun. When the nights falls, only our perception can guess where it hides in the dark. Within every solar system of the soul lies a plan of what truth is--- the design God has created, in our own unique story. This is as varying as the constellations, and as turning as the tide. It is not one truth we live to, but many. If we ever hope to determine if there is such a thing as truth, apart from cultural and personal preferences, we must acknowledge that we are then aiming to discover something greater than ourselves, something that transcends culture and individual inclinations. Some say that we must look beyond ourselves and outside of ourselves. However, we don’t need to look farther than what is already in each other. If there was any great plan from a higher power it is a simplistic, repetitious theme found in all religions; the basic core importance to unity comes from shared theological and humanistic virtues. Beyond the synagogue, mosques, temples, churches, missionary work, church positions and religious rituals comes a simple “message of truth” found in all of us, that binds theology---holistic virtues combined with purpose is the foundation of spiritual evolution. The diversity among us all is not divided truth, but the opportunity for unity through these shared values. Truth is the framework and roadmap of positive virtues. It unifies diversity when we choose to see it and use it. It is simple message often lost among the rituals, cultural traditions and socializing that goes on behind the chapel doors of any religion or spiritual theology. As we fight among ourselves about what religion, culture or race is right, we often lose site of the simple message any great orator has whispered through time----a simplistic story explaining the importance of virtues, which magically reemphasizes the importance of loving one another through service.”

InspirationalPhilosophyStoriesWisdomTruthPurposeReligionValuesHumanityDifferencesReligiousChristianityHistoryLife PhilosophyPerspectiveEvolutionDiversitySelf ImprovementRespectSelf AwarenessUnityCharityAtheistActivismToleranceTheologyBuddhistServiceRealismWhat MattersAltruismSocial ChangeLife PurposeSpiritual AwakeningRealistOrganized ReligionTrue ReligionBrainwashedTake ActionSocializingHumanisticMissionary WorkTempleChurchesRitualsPhilosophersWorld ProblemsLife PlanLoving One AnotherLife MeaningTruth SeekersTheologiansMosqueOratorSynagoguesCultural DifferenceMissed MessageCutting Through CrapHolistic ValuesLosing SiteMuslamReligion SimplifiedReligious MessageWisdom Simplified
Author:Shannon L. Alder
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“Humanitarianism is a myth, So are humanism and charity. They are the world's way, To sustain nothing but apathy. Are you a devout hydrophile, Since you drink water so well? You are not, right - and why not! Because water is but life's essential. In the same way, kindness isn't an ism, Human helping human isn't an ideology. If they stick labels on such act of life, It is but a sign of a rather sick society.”

CharityHumanismService Of HumanityApathyAltruismHelping PeopleSocial ReformerSacrifice For OthersHumanitarian PoetrySocial Work Poem
Book:Amor Apocalypse: Canım Sana İhtiyacım
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“Better kind than correct, Better idiot than arrogant. Better ignorant than bigoted, Better exploited than indifferent. Better broke than bent, Better naive than narcissist. Better mistaken than mindless, Better broken than a cheat. Better wrong than cruel, Better ridiculed than rigid. Better shattered than shallow, Better ignited than idjit.”

TruthHuman NatureGoodnessHumanismCrueltyIndifferenceBigotrySelflessAltruismRight And Wrong
Book:World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets
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“One reason that a truth and reconciliation process is needed for group selection is to return to the simplicity of the original problem and Darwin’s solution. As Ed Wilson and I put it in our recent review article titled “Rethinking the Theoretical Foundation of Sociobiology“: Selfishness beats altruism within groups. Altruistic groups beat selfish groups. Everything else is commentary.”

ReasonProblemProcessGroupsReturnNeededBeatsSolutionsOriginalsFoundationSimplicitySelfishSelfishnessReviewsArticlesAltruismSelectionReconciliationTheoreticalCommentaryWilsonRethinking
Author:David Sloan Wilson
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“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

WayGivingHelpingCommunityLosesFreedomBusinessIdentityPoliticianLosingYogaEncouragementCharityHelping OthersSelf DiscoveryBest WayServiceFinding YourselfServingPhilanthropyAltruismGiving BackBeing AloneInsperationalServing OthersService To OthersSelfless ServiceCharitableLosing YourselfVolunteerismGiving InService To HumanityCommunity ServiceSocial ServiceServant LeadershipInspiring Customer ServiceGiving To CharityCharity And GivingService To MankindInspirational CharityGreat ServiceInspirational ServiceGiving To OthersBest ServiceGenerosity And GivingPhilanthropy GivingGreat Customer ServiceHelping Others In NeedGood ServiceGiving HelpPhilanthropy InspirationYou Make A DifferenceActs Of ServiceInspirational VolunteerVolunteerism And ServiceCharity And GenerosityVolunteer ServiceCharitable GivingDoing For OthersVolunteers Making A DifferenceLost YourselfVolunteering And ServiceHuman ServiceServing The CommunitySelf ServiceCommunity Living
Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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“One of the fundamental demonstrations of our natural instinct to Bond with each other is a will to give. Rather than domination, our most basic urge is to reach out to another human being, even at a cost to ourselves. Giving to others-the urge to empathize, to be compassionate, and to help others altruistically-is not the exception to the rule, but our natural state of being. Our impulse to connect with each other has developed an automatic desire to do for others, even at personal cost. Altruism comes naturally to us. It is selfishness that is culturally conditioned and a sign of pathology.”

InspirationalGivingHumansStatesHelpingDesireNaturalHuman BeingsCostFundamentalsInstinctHelping OthersSelfishnessImpulseExceptionUrgesCompassionateReach OutAltruismDominationDemonstrationPathologyGiving To OthersNatural InstinctSelf GivingException To The Rule
Author:Lynne McTaggart
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“Barring love and war, few enterprises are undertaken with such abandon, or by such diverse individuals, or with so paradoxical a mixture of appetite and altruism, as that group of avocations known as outdoor recreation. It is, by common consent, a good thing for people to get back to nature. But wherein lies the goodness, and what can be done to encourage its pursuit?”

PeopleWarDoneLyingIndividualCommonKnownGroupsGoodnessGood ThingsPursuitEnterpriseAbandonGet BackAppetiteDiverseAltruismConsentMixturesRecreationParadoxicalLove And WarOutdoor Recreation
Book:A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There
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“The only justifiable stopping place for for the expansion of altruism is the point at which all whose welfare can be affected by our actions are included within the circle of altruism. This means that all beings with the capacity to feel pleasure or pain should be included; we can improve their welfare by increasing their pleasures and diminishing their pains.”

FeelsShouldMeanActionPainPleasureCapacityCirclesWelfareAffectedExpansionAltruismStoppingOur Actions
Book:The expanding circle: ethics and sociobiology
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“The secret dread of modern intellectuals, liberals and conservatives alike, the unadmitted terror at the root of their anxiety, which all of their current irrationalities are intended to stave off and to disguise, is the unstated knowledge that Soviet Russia [was] the full, actual, literal, consistent embodiment of the morality of altruism, that Stalin did not corrupt a noble ideal, that this is the only way altruism has to be or can ever be practiced.”

WaySecretModernMoralityAnxietyIdealsRootsCurrentsTerrorNobleRussiaCommunismConsistentSovietDreadDisguiseAltruismLiteralEmbodimentIrrationalitySoviet Russia
Book:Philosophy: Who Needs It
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“Men have been taught that their first concern is to relieve the suffering of others. ... To make that the highest test of virtue is to make suffering the most important part of life. Then man must wish to see others suffer in order that he may be virtuous. Such is the nature of altruism.”

MenFirstsMayHas BeensImportantSufferingOrderWishVirtueTaughtHighestConcernTestsVirtuousAltruismParts Of LifeFountainheadSuffering Of Others
Book:For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)
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“By consequence I hold that no one ever did, or can do, anything for "society."... Comte invented the term altruism as an antonym for egoism, and it found its way at once into everyone's mouth, although it is utterly devoid of meaning, since it points to nothing that ever existed in mankind; This hybrid or rather this degenerate form of hedonism served powerfully to invest collectivism's principles with a specious moral sanction, and collectivists naturally made the most of it.”

WayMadeFormFoundTermCan DoMoralPrinciplesMankindMouthsConsequenceAltruismSanctionsEgoismCollectivismDegeneratesHybridHedonism
Author:Albert J. Nock
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“Love is not feeling, child, nor even the passion of lovers, which always seeks only its own gratification. It is the act of caring, of giving, the act of protecting the weak, the helpless, the imprisoned and the desperate. Love is the hand raised in defence. You cannot love and keep your hands clean.”

GivingChildrenFeelingsHandsPassionLove IsLoversWeakCleanRaisedCaringDesperateHelplessAltruismGratificationDefenceDesperate Love
Book:James Miranda Barry
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“The market, if it can be kept honest and competitive, does provide very strong incentives for work effort and productive contributions. In their absence, society would thrash about for alternative incentives-some unreliable, like altruism; some perilous like collective loyalty; some intolerable, like coercion or oppression.”

IfsDoeWisdomPoliticsStrongEffortEconomyHonestAbsenceLoyaltyOppressionAlternativesContributionLiberalismProductiveCollectivesVery StrongAltruismIncentivesCoercionUnreliableWork Effort
Author:Arthur Melvin Okun
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“the psychological attitudes which are indispensable in the American market place are disastrous to family life. Family life ... requires yieldingness, generosity, sympathy, altruism, tenderness-all the qualities, in fact, which lead straight to bankruptcy. ... the American family is tragically out of gear with the profit structure which has mushroomed up around it.”

FactsAttitudeQualityStructureProfitPsychologicalGenerosityTendernessAltruismIndispensableFamily LifeGearsBankruptcyAmerican Family
Book:The Folks at Home
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“Legal business has, from the beginning of time, been profitable - to those who have conducted it; because it is concerned with things that touch men's passions very deeply, and because men are willing to pay, and pay highly, for wisdom and skill in the conduct of it. The real merits of the Norman lawyers were, not altruism, but ability, energy, and enthusiasm for their work.”

MenRealPassionEnergyAbilityPayWillingSkillsConcernedLawyerEnthusiasmMeritAltruismProfitableVery DeepTouch MeEnergy And Enthusiasm
Book:A Short History of English Law: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Year 1919
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“Men who have sacrifice their well-being, and even their lives, for the cause of truth or the public good, are, from an empirical point of view - which scorn ("fait fi", Fr.) virtue and altruism - regarded as insane or fools; but, from a moral standpoint, they are heros who do honour ("qui honorent", Fr.) humanity.”

MenWellsHumanityCausesViewsMoralVirtueSacrificeFoolHeroPoint Of ViewInsaneWell BeingHonourAltruismScornStandpointPublic Good
Author:African Spir
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“To talk about the need for perfection in man is to talk about the need for another species. The essence of man is imperfection. Imperfection and blazing contradictions-between mixed good and evil, altruism and selfishness, cooperativeness and combativeness, optimism and fatalism, affirmation and negation.”

MenNeedsEvilPerfectionOptimismEssenceSpeciesSelfishnessContradictionGood And EvilImperfectionAltruismAffirmationBlazingNegationFatalism
Book:Who Speaks for Man?
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“Successful socialism depends on the perfectibility of man. Unless all, or nearly all, men are high-minded and clear-sighted, it isbound to be a rotten failure in any but a physical sense. Even through it is altruism, socialism means materialism. You can guarantee the things of the body to every one, but you cannot guarantee the things of the spirit to every one; you can guarantee only that the opportunity to seek them shall not be denied to any one who chooses to seek them.”

MenMeanBodySpiritOpportunitySuccessfulClearDependsSocialismGuaranteesMaterialismDeniedAltruismRotten
Author:Katharine Fullerton Gerould
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“The more adept we become at cultivating an altruistic attitude, the happier we will feel and the more comfortable will be the atmosphere around us. But if our emotions fluctuate wildly and we easily give in to hatred and jealousy, even our friends will avoid us. So even for people with no spiritual beliefs, it is important to have a peaceful mind.”

PeopleIfsGivingFeelsMindImportantSpiritualBeliefEmotionAttitudeComfortableHatredPeacefulJealousyAtmospherePeace Of MindSpiritual WisdomAltruismTibetanCultivatingAdeptFluctuationPeaceful MindSpiritual BeliefsHatred And Jealousy
Author:Dalai Lama
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“Religion and anger has gone together a lot, historically. My father, being very religious and angry, was trying to reconcile the ideas of love and forgiveness with damage in his own heart. We historically create God in the image of someone who will redeem us, or someone who has damaged us. A lot of my imaginations of God was a projection of my own damage because of my father. God is good but he has a lot of expectations, of which I have failed -- just like my dad. But I don't think it's truthful to create God as a projection of either our damage or our altruism.”

ThinkingTryingHeartIdeasTogetherFatherImaginationReligiousMy OwnGoneDadExpectationsAngryMy DadDamageTruthfulAltruismMy ImaginationProjectionReconcileLove And Forgiveness
Author:William P. Young
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“Individual versus group selection results in a mix of altruism and selfishness, of virtue and sin, among the members of a society. If one colony member devotes its life to service over marriage, the individual is of benefit to the society, even though it does not have personal offspring. A soldier going into battle will benefit his country, but he runs a higher risk of death than one who does not. An altruist benefits the group, but a layabout or coward who saves his own energy and reduces his bodily risk passes the resulting social cost to others.”

IfsDoeCountryRunningIndividualEnergySocialSinResultsVirtueRiskGroupsHigherBattleCostMembersBenefitsSoldierSelfishnessCowardAltruismVersusSelectionOffspringColony
Author:E. O. Wilson
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“I don't care if you're a parent giving to a child, a worker to a company, or a romantic to a lover, this behavior eventually leads to resentment. There's always a hidden agenda of What's in it for me? It's often suppressed, and this is why sacrifice is ultimately unwise and incomplete. Does this mean that there's no such thing as altruism, philanthropy, or generosity? No, it just means that anytime these exist, so do egocentricity, misanthropy, and greed. There's always a balancing force, even if it's sometimes hidden or unconscious.”

IfsGivingMeanChildrenDoeSometimesCareForceParentCompanySacrificeLoversBehaviorWorkersGreedDon't CareGenerosityI Don't CareUnconsciousAgendasResentmentPhilanthropyAltruismIncompleteUnwiseMisanthropy
Author:John Frederick Demartini
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“To face the realities of our lives is not a reason for despair-despair is a tool of your enemies. Facing the realities of our lives gives us motivation for action. For you are not powerless... You know why the hard questions must be asked. It is not altruism, it is self-preservation-survival.”

KnowsGivingSelfHardReasonRealityActionFacesLife IsMotivationEnemyOur LivesDespairSurvivalToolsAltruismPreservationPowerlessSelf PreservationHard Questions
Author:Audre Lorde
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