Quotes about Altruism

The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But...the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

On the parable of the Good Samaritan: I imagine that the first question the priest and Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But by the very nature of his concern, the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?

Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness.

Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?

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

The surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.

I have wrought my simple plan If I give one hour of joy To the boy who's half a man, Or the man who's half a boy.

universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality.

For boundless compassion for all living beings is the firmest and most certain guarantee of moral good conduct and requires no casuistry. Whoever is filled with it will certainly injure no one, infringe on no one, do no one harm, rather, forbear everyone, forgive everyone, help everyone as much as he can, and all his actions will carry the imprint of justice and loving kindness.

It is no longer sufficient to love others as himself and to do as much for them as he would do for himself; rather, a repugnance arises in him… towards the will-to-live, towards the core and essence of that world recognized as filled with misery.

these people would indeed only be concerned for themselves, for their egoism, just like the bandit, from whom they are distinguished only by the absurdity of their means.