The following humanitarian quotes are from well-known humanitarians who shared their wisdom for helping others.

Humanitarian Quotes

1. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”

– Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights activist and clergyman

2.  “If you can’t feed a hundred people, feed just one.”

– Mother Teresa,  founder of The Missionaries of Charity

3. “Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.”

– Mahatma Gandhi, Indian nationalist and civil rights leader

4. “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”

– Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid activist and former president of South Africa

5. “The destiny of world civilization depends upon providing a decent standard of living for all mankind.”

– Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution and credited with saving over one billion people from starvation

6. “The fact is that ours is the first generation that can look disease and extreme poverty in the eye, look across the ocean to Africa, and say this, and mean it. We do not have to stand for this. A whole continent written off – we do not have to stand for this.”

– Bono (Paul David Lewis), lead singer of U2 and international philanthropist

7. “Since the world has existed, there has been injustice. But it is one world, the more so as it becomes smaller, more accessible. There is just no question that there is more obligation that those who have should give to those who have nothing.”

– Audrey Hepburn, actress and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador

8.  “When we live in a world that is very unjust, you have to be a dissident.”

– Nawal El Saadawi, Egyptian feminist, writer, and psychiatrist

9. “To say that on a daily basis you can make a difference, well, you can. One act of kindness a day can do it.”

– Betty Williams, Irish activist and founder of the Irish peace movement, Community of Peace People

10. “The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners. Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet….Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s places….We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”

– J.K. Rowling, author, philanthropist, and founder of the children’s charity, Lumos

 

– Jordanna Packtor

Sources: Brainy Quote, All That is Interesting, MSN Glo J.K. Rowling, Harvard Gazette, Nobelprize.org
Photo: Flickr

 

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