Carl Lewis Quotes

What would you think of me if I were capable of seating myself at a table and gorging myself with food and saw about me the children of my fellow beings starving to death?

The truth is, I think we are a self-less society, not a selfish society. Because we're so busy now.

The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.

Our America is an America where human needs come before human greed.

In order to be great, you just have to care. You have to care about your world, community, and equality.

The question of bread for myself is a material question, but the question of bread for my neighbor is a spiritual question.

Having felt people's love and support first hand through difficult moments in my life makes me feel it's our responsibility to help one another.

We have to move from the unbridled pursuit of self-gain at the expense of others to recovering appreciation for what we gain by caring and sharing with one another.

Kindness is something that I feel is leaving us a little bit - people are getting more self-involved.

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 are privileged. There are poor people out there. We must to do something to make them privileged.

In Iowa, we take care of people. That's all I think I need to say.

People are not considerate of others. They tend not to consider themselves as all living together, but see themselves only as individuals.

Greed is a sin because humans are social creatures. And they simply cannot survive without the opposite of greed, which is cooperation.

I know I have a successful career, a successful life. If I sit and say, 'Look, I have a comfortable life,' and I... just think about myself, I don't think that would be fair. That would be very selfish. Because everything I do in my life is to benefit my people.

We should govern our actions by assuming that people are more good than bad. Whereas, most of our social policies dictate that people are more bad than good. That you know if you do something, it'll be seized by the rich to exploit the poor.

We must use our empowerment for the good of others. We must be our brother’s and sister’s keeper.

After I asked him [a student] what he meant, he replied that freedom consisted of the unimpeded right to get rich, to use his ability, no matter what the cost to others, to win advancement. No decent society can tolerate that definition.

The major forces in human nature: self interest and caring for others

It is not enough to teach our young people to be successful...so they can realize their ambitions, so they can earn good livings, so they can accumulate the material things that this society bestows. Those are worthwhile goals. But it is not enough to progress as individuals while our friends and neighbors are left behind

People are nicer than economists give us credit for. The economists cannot understand why people would work long and hard to clean up a community after a hurricane. … Most economists don’t have any interest in or understanding of psychology.

I have nothing against rich brothers and sisters. Pray for 'em every day. But callousness and indifference, greed and avarice is something that's shot through all of us.

There's something else that my mother taught me, public service is about service. And, as her daughter, I've had a special window into how she serves. I've seen her holding the hands of mothers, worried about how they'll feed their kids, worried about how they'll get them the healthcare they need.

There is a difference between being self-interested and being selfish. I will never be selfish.

Inherently, I have a social conscience which my late father inculcated in me. He was not exactly a very wealthy man, but he was very concerned about the underprivileged, about the people who didn't have equal opportunities.