Dogs and philosophers do the greatest good and get the fewest rewards.

The most satisfying thing in life is to have been able to give a large part of one’s self to others.

I was never focused on me, me, me all the time. I was always focused on somebody else.

He that does good to another does good also to himself.

I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

Dogs never bite me – just humans.

If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years.

I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation and is but a reflection of human frailty.

Writers are lampposts and critics are dogs. Ask lampposts what they think about dogs. Does the dog hurt the lamppost?

It’s that wonderful old-fashioned idea that others come first and you come second. This was the whole ethic by which I was brought up. Others matter more than you do, so ‚don’t fuss, dear; get on with it.‘

Charity bestowed upon those who are worthy of it is like good seed sown on a good soil that yields an abundance of fruits. But alms given to those who are yet under the tyrannical yoke of the passions are like seed deposited in a bad soil. The passions of the receiver of the alms choke, as it were, the growth of merits.

I’ve seen a look in dogs‘ eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.

We all have the duty to do good.

I have somewhere met with the epitaph on a charitable man which has pleased me very much. I cannot recollect the words, but here is the sense of it: ‚What I spent I lost; what I possessed is left to others; what I gave away remains with me.‘

Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.

Talking isn’t doing. It is a kind of good deed to say well; and yet words are not deeds.

I don’t want to have lived in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death!

Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are God. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are God.

Never have we stolen the intelligences of other peoples. On the contrary, in Cuba we have trained tens of thousands of doctors and other top-level professionals, for free, in order to send them back to their own countries.

The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse.

The higher the sun ariseth, the less shadow doth he cast; even so the greater is the goodness, the less doth it covet praise; yet cannot avoid its rewards in honours.

The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it’s at the end of your arm, as you get older, remember you have another hand: The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others.

You cannot share your life with a dog, as I had done in Bournemouth, or a cat, and not know perfectly well that animals have personalities and minds and feelings.

When the dog looks at you, the dog is not thinking what kind of a person you are. The dog is not judging you.

As a Christian, you forgive, and you feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and you visit the sick and comfort the lonely. If I’m a true follower of my lord and saviour Jesus Christ, I got to do the things you’re supposed to be doing.

Whoever is spared personal pain must feel himself called to help in diminishing the pain of others. We must all carry our share of the misery which lies upon the world.

The opportunity for doing mischief is found a hundred times a day, and of doing good once in a year.

We all know we have a finite period of time. I just feel if I’m going to be alive, I want to be challenged – to be as immortal as possible. The path to that isn’t an easy way, but it’s a rewarding way.

I love pets, especially dogs.

We all sort of do want incentives for creative people to still exist at a certain level. You know, maybe rock stars shouldn’t make as much; who knows? But you want as much creativity to take place in the future as took place in the past.

I’ve got four dogs, and I just don’t do dog doo. I’m a diva when it comes to that.

Generosity is nothing else than a craze to possess. All which I abandon, all which I give, I enjoy in a higher manner through the fact that I give it away. To give is to enjoy possessively the object which one gives.

The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.

I’m convinced of this: Good done anywhere is good done everywhere. For a change, start by speaking to people rather than walking by them like they’re stones that don’t matter. As long as you’re breathing, it’s never too late to do some good.

You don’t have to be scared of me, because I am loyal. Why are people so scared of creative ideas and so scared of truth? All I want to do is do good.

Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse.

Seek always to do some good, somewhere. Every man has to seek in his own way to realize his true worth. You must give some time to your fellow man. For remember, you don’t live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here too.

That service is the noblest which is rendered for its own sake.

We are motivated by a keen desire for praise, and the better a man is the more he is inspired by glory. The very philosophers themselves, even in those books which they write in contempt of glory, inscribe their names.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.

A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives.

We need to show mercy. I mean, because as much mercy as you show people, that’s the mercy you’re going to be receiving.

This morning I lay in the bathtub thinking how wonderful it would be if I had a dog like Rin Tin Tin. I’d call him Rin Tin Tin too, and I’d take him to school with me, where he could stay in the janitor’s room or by the bicycle racks when the weather was good.

I believe God’s keeping the records, and I believe you will be rewarded even in this life. Somehow, some way, God will make it up to you. It may be He protected you from an accident you never knew. You can’t give God something without God giving you more in return, whether it’s peace or joy or satisfaction.

If everyone does some good, think of what a good world this will be.

How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

Dogs are better than human beings because they know but do not tell.

Help others and give something back. I guarantee you will discover that while public service improves the lives and the world around you, its greatest reward is the enrichment and new meaning it will bring your own life.

Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one’s soul.

The only wealth which you will keep forever is the wealth you have given away.

You must live for another if you wish to live for yourself.

We are not cisterns made for hoarding, we are channels made for sharing.

The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons.

Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.

I love dogs, but dogs, you have to be in the country with dogs. I cannot walk a dog on the street.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.