David Livingstone Quotes

Being misunderstood by people whose opinions you value is absolutely the most painful.

I've heard people say it looks as if I don't care and I've certainly read that, but the way I play is natural. I don't think I can change it. I know I'm working as hard as the next man, even if it doesn't always look that way.

First of all, I'm misunderstood in general. I don't mind because I'm very quiet, and I stay to myself. People are going to say what they want to say.

Everyone thinks I'm showing off when I talk, ridiculous when I'm silent, insolent when I answer, cunning when I have a good idea, lazy when I'm tired, selfish when I eat one bite more than I should.

We become forgetful of the ego when we think of the body as dedicated to the service of others - the body with which most complacently we identify the ego.

We must serve the people worthily, and not occupy ourselves in trying to please them. The best way, to gain their affections is to do them good.

To devote your life to the good of all and to the happiness of all is religion. Whatever you do for your own sake is not religion.

The only work that spiritually purifies us is that which is done without personal motives.

The highest form of worship is the worship of unselfish Christian service.

If there is one thing I’ve learned in my years on this planet, it’s that the happiest and most fulfilled people I’ve known are those who devoted themselves to something bigger and more profound than merely their own self interest.

The Man who works for others, without any selfish motive, really does good to himself.

I am a missionary, heart and soul.

If you develop a pure and sincere motivation, if you are motivated by a wish to help on the basis of kindness, compassion, and respect, then you can carry on any kind of work, in any field, and function more effectively.

Permit us to labor on in obscurity, and at the end of twenty years you may hear from us again.

True heroism is minutes, hours, weeks, year upon year of the quiet, precise, judicious exercise of probity and care—with no one there to see or cheer. This is the world.

Everyone likes me, yet nobody understands me.

Not being appreciated for 40 years or something ... It feels like I was accused of something that I didn't do, which was breaking up the Beatles. That was like being somebody who is in prison without having done anything wrong.

To work without attachment is to work without the expectation of reward.

Work, my children, work with your whole heart and soul! That is the thing. Mind not the fruit of work. What if you go to hell working for others? That is worth more than to gain heaven by seeking your own salvation... Sri Ramakrishna came and gave his life for the world. I will also sacrifice my life.

Selfless service alone gives the needed strength and courage to awaken the sleeping humanity in one's heart.

Any woman who does not live for unselfish service is a useless cumberer of the earth.

This day last year Livingstone died-a Scotsman and a Christian, loving God and his neighbour in the heart of Africa. Go thou and do likewise!

Service without humility is selfishness and egotism.

We all are motivated by deep impulses and deep appetites to serve, even though we may not be able to locate that which we are hoping to serve. So this is just a part of my nature and I think everybody else's nature to offer oneself at the critical moment when the emergency becomes articulate. It's only then that we can locate that willingness to serve.

The first year, I didn't have much capital so I did everything myself. I had to keep my overhead low by learning everything about running a business, from accounting to fixing the gears of my equipment. I really started from scratch.