Henry Ward Beecher Quotes

Liberty was realized when the citizens were ... willing to sacrifice their private interests for the sake of the community

We need leaders who appeal to us to think about something other than narrow self-interest but instead focus upon the greater good.

Duty is that mode of action which constitutes the best application of the capacity of the individual to the general advantage.

The gifted man bears his gifts into the world, not for his own benefit, but for the people among whom he is placed; for the gifts are not his, he himself is a gift to the community.

Real politics should work for the long-term and overall interests of the community.

I always believe that you have to give back what you have learnt.

It's time to put back on the agenda the importance of public ownership and public good, the value of working together collaboratively, not in competition.

You've got to invest your own time, invest your own resources into creating a better world, not only for yourself but for the people you surround yourself with.

I grew up to believe in public service. It is in the core of who I am.

Service that benefits the community and those in need is an act that betters us all.

In the back of my mind, always, is the firmly held belief that public policies must serve the long-term interests and well-being of the community at large.

Defining of the public interest is always very, very difficult.

Ownership is not a vice, not something to be ashamed of, but rather a commitment, and an instrument by which the general good can be served.

There is no greater egoism than that of learning when it is treated simply as a mark of personal distinction to be held and cherished for its own sake. ... [K]knowledge is a possession held in trust for the furthering of the well-being of all

He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.

Civic participants don't aim to make life better merely for members of the group. They want to improve even the lives of people who never participate.

If we succeed, it makes no sense to keep it only for ourselves.

True patriots measure themselves not by personal wealth or power but by the degree to which they contribute to the community.

When someone becomes transparent, then something shines through that person that has nothing to do with the person or any of his or her personal history. What is required is becoming so transparent that the self or ego dissolves.

"What greater gift can we offer the republic than to teach and instruct our youth?"

He that doth public good for multitudes, finds few are truly grateful

By patriotism I mean the welfare of the whole people, if I secure it at the hands of my opponent, I should bow down my head to him.

He who civilly shows the way to one who has missed it, is as one who has lighted another's lamp from his own lamp; it none the less gives light to himself when it burns for the other.

A Warrior of the Light shares with others what he knows of the path.

The learned man's life itself shines as the message for mankind.