George Saunders Quotes

To me, one of the best faces America has ever projected is the face of a Peace Corps volunteer. That face symbolizes this country: young, curious, brimming with idealism and hope - and a real, honest compassion.

An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous.

A free and rooted society ought to consist of a web of moral obligations. We have the right to ignore them, but we ought to be actually obliged not to let other people starve or to let them lapse into destitution.

A remarkable feature of the humanitarian movement, on both its sentimental and utilitarian sides, has been its preoccupation with the lot of the masses.

It is the true duty of every man to promote the happiness of his fellow creatures to the utmost of his power.

You’ve got to help people that are downtrodden and poor, and I just think that that’s part of our culture. You’ve got to help people that can’t help themselves.

There's a lack of people in power that are motivated by the idea of helping people.

Each of us must find a way to give back to society. Each of us must choose one thing we can do to help another, less-fortunate Indian.

With everything going on in the world I really just want what is best for everyone regardless of who they are.

It is not enough to be compassionate, we must act.

What good is it if the Eucharistic table is overloaded with golden chalices when your brother is dying of hunger. Start by satisfying his hunger and then with what is left you may adorn the altar as well.

Why would you help us? (Delphine) I hear stupidity is a fatal disease. Doing my own experimentation to see if that’s true or not. If I survive, we’ll know it’s not. If I die…well, it’ll suck. Bad. And I won’t be happy. (Asmodeus)

Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it.

Love thy neighbor as thyself. Because each of us is his own neighbor.

Every hand and every hour should be devoted to rescue the world from its insanity of guilt, and to assuage the pangs of human hearts with balm and anodyne. To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is Godlike.

Kindness, quite simply, is the rent we must pay for the space we occupy on this planet.

All the kindness which a man puts out into the world works on the heart and thoughts of mankind.

Feel, my children, feel; feel for the poor, the ignorant, the downtrodden; feel till the heart stops and the brain reels and you think you will go mad; then pour the soul out at the feet of the Lord, and then will come power, help and indomitable energy.

The measure of man's humanity is the extent and intensity of his love for mankind.

Whether we love humanity or not, we must realize that we are part of it. My future depends entirely on the future of humanity, and so I am compelled to take care of humanity. That is why being compassionate is actually in my own best interest. And a symptom of my own peace of mind is that I can share comfort with others around me.

I am sensible that he who means to do mankind a real service must set down with the determination of putting up, and bearing with all their faults, follies, prejudices and mistakes until he can convince them that he is right.

Sometime in your life, hope that you might see one starved man, the look on his face when the bread finally arrives. Hope that you might have baked it or bought or even kneaded it yourself. For that look on his face, for your meeting his eyes across a piece of bread, you might be willing to lose a lot, or suffer a lot, or die a little, even.

Take physic, pomp; Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel, That thou mayst shake the superflux to them And show the heavens more just.

When an individual fear or apathy would cause us to pass by the unfortunate, then life is of no account.

It is mercy, not justice or courage or even heroism, that alone can defeat evil.