Michel de Montaigne Quotes

When we serve others, we serve ourselves. Do not think, I will help others - think rather, I will help my own, my world, because I cannot otherwise be happy.

No man can live happily who regards himself alone, who turns everything to his own advantage. Thou must live for another, if thou wishest to live for thyself.

He who does not live in some degree for others, hardly lives for himself.

Are we truly being our sisters' keepers? Initially, that dog-eat-dog mentality within us may bark and say that we aren't responsible for other people, but if that was truly the case, then why are we even here? We have so much to offer and give to this world.

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.

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.

I think the point of our country, our planet, the reason we're all here, one of the best things that we can do is be concerned about something even when it doesn't concern us. That's the whole point.

I learned that life is about the people around you and the people you give back to. That's what parenting is: You're not there for yourself; you're there for your offspring and everyone else around you.

A life not lived for others is not a life.

A life not lived for others is not a life, a game not played for others is not a game.

Every breath you take today should be with someone else in mind.

No man is born unto himself alone; Who lives unto himself, he lives to none.

An unshared life is not living. He who shares does not lessen, but greatens, his life.

He who lives not to others, lives little to himself.

It is only in the giving of ourselves to others that we truly live — only with the meeting of our minds — thine and mine — do we become conscious of the divine spark each of us shares — only in sharing in our daily contacts, one with another, in our mutual hopes and fears do we find real peace. The human contribution is the essential ingredient.

But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people--first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy.

The truest state of humanity is that you're living for other people.

I think the main thing is to find something you care about. A cause. I think it starts with others. Who do you look up to? Who do you want to help? Start in your own community.

It helps me when I help people.

The idea of service leads to community.

I have vanity and greed enough for one person. But at the same time, I feel in my bones you lose a lot of life's value if you don't see yourself as a member of the family of man.

It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbor.

The beauty of life is in people who feel some obligation to enhance life. Without that, we're only half alive.

Real education should educate us out of self into something far finer; into a selflessness which links us with all humanity.

I think what makes us human - is our interconnectedness among people. It's our ability to form and maintain relationships. It's the barometer by which we call ourselves human.