Random Acts of Kindness and Why They Matter: 25 Inspirational Quotes About Helping Others

For me personally, there’s no greater joy than lending a helping hand to someone. The joy I get from seeing someone’s smile that radiates happiness or relief is indescribable.

I often try to focus on others when I’m feeling down, depressed, or when I’m struggling. Not only does helping others distract me from wallowing in my own misery, but it also makes me feel better. It’s killing two birds with one stone!

If you’re having a hard time or something is troubling you, try to make someone’s day by helping them. If you don’t know how, here are the best inspirational quotes about helping others to inspire you.

25 Best Quotes About Helping Others to Inspire You to Lend a Helping Hand

Altruistic Quotes About Helping Others

#1. “No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” — Charles Dickens

#2. “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” — Buddha

#3. “When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better.” — Pauline R. Kezer

#4. “I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.” — Maya Angelou

#5. “If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. But if you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.” — Chinese Proverb

#6. “Children must be impressed with the fact that the greatest heroes are those who fight to help others, not those who fight for power or glory. They must be made to understand that victory does not prove that the thing fought for is right, nor that defeat proves that a cause is wrong.” — Ellen Key

Most Inspiring Quotes About Helping Others

#7. “Selfless giving is the art of living.” — Frederic Lenz

#8. “There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” — John Holmes

#9. “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” — Mahatma Gandhi

#10. “Use your gifts to teach and help others. Acknowledge them as gifts (even if only in your mind). Take some time to list your strengths as well as the ways in which you could share them with the world around you and how that truly is a gift to others.” — Beth Bunchman

#11. “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.” — Edward Everett Hale

#12. “Try to help others. Consult their weaknesses, relieve their maladies; strive to raise them up, and by so doing, you will most effectually raise yourself up also.” — Joseph Barber Lightfoot

#13. “Developing our capacity for compassion makes it possible for us to help others in a more skillful and effective way. And compassion helps us as well.” — Joan Halifax

#14. “Let us ask ourselves, ‘What kind of people do we think we are?’ And let us answer, ‘Free people, worthy of freedom and determined not only to remain so but to help others gain their freedom as well.’” — Ronald Reagan

Motivational Quotes About Helping Others

#15. “The real point is that we all need help somewhere along life’s path, whether we think we will or not. And if you are the one giving and helping, just remember this — no matter what happens later, you will always be secure in the fact knowing that you have remained strong and true to assist those that need your help.” — Catherine Pulsifer

#16. “To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.” — Abraham Lincoln

#17. “But even with the inspiration of others, it’s understandable that we sometimes think the world’s problems are so big that we can do little to help. On our own, we cannot end wars or wipe out injustice, but the cumulative impact of thousands of small acts of goodness can be bigger than we imagine.” — Queen Elizabeth II

#18. “Nothing exalts the soul or gives it a sheer sense of buoyancy and victory so much as being used to change the lives of other people.” — E. Stanley Jones

#19. “Being a man or a woman is a matter of birth. Being a man or a woman who makes a difference is a matter of choice.” — Byron Garrett

#20. “If you have an opportunity to help others or incite change, it feels like a moral obligation to do so.” — Elizabeth Chambers

Quotes About Helping Others to Stir Your Imagination

#21. “The purpose of life is to help others, and if you can’t help them, won’t you at least not hurt them? I know that is a platitude, that that is sentimental and can easily be attacked. But loving, caring is simple, and we make it complex. Our own neuroses make it complex.” — Leo Buscaglia

#22. “You can have everything you want in life if you just help enough people get what they want in life.” — Zig Ziglar

#23. “It’s also selfish because it makes you feel good when you help others. I’ve been helped by acts of kindness from strangers. That’s why we’re here, after all — to help others.” — Carol Burnett

#24. “Help your old neighbor, give your seat in the subway to someone who needs it, buy a coffee for a homeless man that you see, bring flowers for your colleagues without a reason. Make someone smile, even for a brief second, and you will see how your day will change instantly for the best.” — Lucas Bailly

#25. “The greatest sympathy gift you can give a hurting friend or loved one is you. Your presence, compassion, patience, and caring are the greatest gifts you could ever give to help them get through a difficult time.” — Michelle Pommells

To Conclude

If you think that you can’t make someone’s day at least a bit better, you’re wrong. All it takes is one simple act of kindness. Remember, we can’t expect people to help us if we don’t do the same for others. Hopefully, these quotes will inspire you to look around, see someone who needs help, and give it to them.