Community Service Quotes

“One of the most important things you can do on this earth is to let people know they are not alone.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“If you were born with the ability to change someone’s perspective or emotions, never waste that gift. It is one of the most powerful gifts God can give—the ability to influence.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.”
― H. Jackson Brown Jr.

“It was Carrot who'd suggested to the Patrician that hardened criminals should be given the chance to 'serve the community' by redecorating the homes of the elderly, lending a new terror to old age and, given Ankh-Morpork's crime rate, leading to at least one old lady having her front room wallpapered so many times in six months that now she could only get in sideways.”
― Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

“I spent the last Friday of summer vacation spreading hot, sticky tar across the roof of George Washington High. My companions were Dopey, Toothless, and Joe, the brain surgeons in charge of building maintenance. At least they were getting paid. I was working forty feet above the ground, breathing in sulfur fumes from Satan's vomitorium, for free.

Character building, my father said.

Mandatory community service, the judge said. Court-ordered restitution for the Foul Deed. He nailed me with the bill for the damage I had done, which meant I had to sell my car and bust my hump at a landscaping company all summer. Oh, and he gave me six months of meetings with a probation officer who thought I was a waste of human flesh.

Still, it was better than jail.

I pushed the mop back and forth, trying to coat the seams evenly. We didn't want any rain getting into the building and destroying the classrooms. Didn't want to hurt the school. No, sir, we sure didn't.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Twisted

“Environmental cleanliness begins with each individual desire to be clean.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“In a world where we didn't have to commit most of our energy to making enough money to keep a roof over our heads, we might actually have time to engage in self-reflection, community care and collective healing that will truly sustain us.”
― Cradle Community, Brick By Brick: How We Build a World Without Prisons

“Helping a child today will help prevent a broken adult tomorrow.”
― Kathleen Paydo

“Environmental cleanliness begins with individual desire to be clean.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“We have grace of strength to work, to clear our cities of any dirt.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“One person caring for one neighborhood, that's how we'll change the world, not with policy and policing.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Şehit Sevda Society: Even in Death I Shall Live

“Kindness No Obligation (The Sonnet)

Those who feel kindness is an obligation,
Don't really feel but crawl as walking dead.
Those who think society ain't their responsibility,
Don’t think, they're just specimens of mental midget.
Giants are those who lay themselves down,
For the welfare of every single soul around.
Intellect is a tool for, not a subject of, greatness and glory,
The root of all greatness is a gentle heart unbound.
Kindness is more than a trait, just like accountability,
These things make a human out of an animal.
Selfishness is more than a flaw, just like egotism,
These things keep an animal from becoming human.
Little selfishness is ok so long as your humanity is in charge.
We've been animal long enough, now let's be giants on guard.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Gentalist: There's No Social Work, Only Family Work

“Be proud to support a cause that you believe is a worthy mission because your dedication to promoting civic participation helps the community.”
― Germany Kent

“Nutty Community (The Sonnet)

Crazy am I, crazy are you,
When crazy together, we live anew.
Miserable am I, miserable are you,
When miserable together, I find joy in you.
Broken am I, broken are you,
When broken together, we are each other's glue.
Insecure am I, insecure are you,
When insecure together, we find it all untrue.
Disfunctional am I, disfunctional are you,
When disfunctional together, we function well.
Fallen am I, fallen are you,
When we fall together, we'll rise sure as hell.
Let us go against ourselves in defying self-centricity.
You be a nut, I'll be a nut, let's build a nutty community.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Handcrafted Humanity: 100 Sonnets For A Blunderful World

“Live to serve, serve to live.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Gentalist: There's No Social Work, Only Family Work

“Selfishness is the enemy. And all peddlers of selfishness are my enemy. Anyone who wastes more food than they share with those who are starving is my enemy - anyone who throws away more clothes than they give away to those without is my enemy - anyone who wastes more time in frivolous acts of enjoyment than they spend in helping those in need is my enemy - for they are the cause of all disparities in the world. I don't hate them, for I renounced hate long ago, but as a human it’s my duty to bring them down to earth while lifting the fallen up to their rightful place under the sun.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Gentalist: There's No Social Work, Only Family Work

“People taking care of people, that's how a society is transformed, not by relying on vatican, washington or some other dingdong institution.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Either Reformist or Terrorist: If You Are Terror I Am Your Grandfather

“Charitable initiatives drive the future of our neighborhoods.”
― Germany Kent

“When you sign on to making a positive impact in your community, your story including your life experiences, skills and passions will provide inspiration to others.”
― Germany Kent

“Stay committed to changing the world, volunteering, and creating the good.”
― Germany Kent

“Helping a foster child today may save a broken adult tomorrow.”
― Kathleen Paydo

“Awake, arise, adopt the world.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Amantes Assemble: 100 Sonnets of Servant Sultans

“Burn till you turn to cinders. Your ashes are the cement that'll stabilize the universe.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“The Vatican has been sending out missionaries across the world not to help the poor, but to convert the poor, in exchange for charity. In this respect, empirically speaking, the only religion that has been practicing the tradition of actual selfless service religiously, is Sikhism. Till this day Sikh langars or soup-kitchens across the world feed millions of people regularly, no matter their status, faith or ethnicity, without asking for anything in return. Religious charity in exchange for religious conversion is the most sacrilegious act of all. In the end, it has nothing to do with religion, and everything to do with service. Either serve or don't, there is no spreading the word. Spread good acts, not good news.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

“You can spend thousands on the shallow,
Still it won't be enough to fill their eyes.
Spend a single wise cent on someone in need,
It'll fill their heart with new vigor of life.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yaralardan Yangın Doğar: Explorers of Night are Emperors of Dawn

“Seek yourself in the joy of neighbors,
You shall know the meaning of justice.
Seek yourself in smiles of the world,
You shall emerge as antidote to malice.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yüz Şiirlerin Yüzüğü (Ring of 100 Poems, Bilingual Edition): 100 Turkish Poems with Translations

“Youth is the spirit of play
with the forces of ominosity.
Youth is the conquest of death
into the daring pastures of duty.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

“Youth are absolution to habits of death. Youth are walking illumination manifest.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

“Illumination Manifest
(Youth Sonnet, 1528)

Youth are the cure
for all dividing insanity.
You are the antidote
to all bewitching animosity.

Don't confuse youth as a measure
of agist conventionality.
Youth is but a sanctifying dawn,
out of the dusk of rigidity.

Youth is the spirit of play
with the forces of ominosity.
Youth is the conquest of death
into the daring pastures of duty.

Youth are absolution to habits of death.
Youth are walking illumination manifest.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

“Youth are the cure
for all dividing insanity.
You are the antidote
to all bewitching animosity.

Youth is the spirit of play
with the forces of ominosity.
Youth is but a sanctifying dawn,
out of the dusk of rigidity.

Youth are absolution
to habits of death.
Youth are walking
illumination manifest.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets