Hermann Hesse Quotes

It took cancer to realize that being self-centered is not the way to live. The answer is to try and help others.

Love starts when we push aside our ego and make room for someone else.

You will begin to succeed with your life when the pains and problems of others matter to you.

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

Make it about them, not about you.

Loving your neighbour as much as yourself is practically bloody impossible? You might as well have a commandment that states,'Thou shalt fly'.

At times we can be self-absorbed. Lord, help us to open our hearts to others and to serve those who are most vulnerable.

If you shift your focus from oneself to others, and think more about others' well-being and welfare, it has an immediate liberating effect.

You will never find a truly happy self-centered person. They simply don't exist.

If we live a self-directed, self-motivated, self-centered life, always needing to get our own way, then we're going to be miserable. In fact, many times we believe it's our problems that are making us unhappy when, in reality, it's because we're focused on ourselves!

I've certainly had a lot of experiences in my life where I was much too self-centered.

A life not lived for others is not a life.

Never forget - happiness ends when selfishness begins.

you have to understand. i wasn't just thinking of me. i was thinking of her, too.

We must want for others, not ourselves alone.

A happy life is a life for others.

Selfishness is weakness. But loving and caring for others is a position of power beyond anything we can possibly imagine.

When I was in grade school and we had to write papers about what we wanted to be when we grew up, I wanted to be a social worker or a missionary or a teacher... Then I got involved with tennis, and everything was just me, me, me. I was totally selfish and thought about myself and nobody else, because if you let up for one minute, someone was going to come along and beat you. I really wouldn't let anyone or any slice of happiness enter... I didn't like the characteristics that it took to become a champion.

The hardest work you and I will ever do is to put off our selfishness. It is heavy lifting!

Action for Happiness encourages each of us to live more compassionately and put the happiness of others at the centre of our lives. This is the path to lasting peace and happiness

When a friend is sick, I see the situation for what it is, not what it isn't, and I offer to help as much as she wants, not as much as I want.

The most delicate, the most sensible of all pleasures, consists in promoting the pleasure of others.

She lived for others, her heart tuned to their anguish and their needs.

I would like to explain the meaning of compassion, which is often misunderstood. Genuine compassion is based not on our own projections and expectations, but rather on the rights of the other: irrespective of whether another person is a close friend

There is another element that is a part of human happiness — and that is that unless we think of others and do something for them we miss the greatest sources of happiness.