Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on charity

The heights by great men reached and kept, were not obtained by sudden flight. But they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day. Their old, familiar carols play. And wild and sweet the words repeat. Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.

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

Martin Luther King Jr.1929–1968Conquering Self-centeredness (1957)

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

Martin Luther King Jr.1929–1968Conquering Self-centeredness (1957)

Show me your hands. Do they have scars from giving? Show me your feet. Are they wounded in service? Show me your heart. Have you left a place for divine love?

Fulton J. Sheen1895–1979

• God