Every man is a missionary, now and forever, for good or for evil, whether he intends or designs it or not. He may be a blot radiating his dark influence outward to the very circumference of society, or he may be a blessing spreading benediction over the length and breadth of the world. But a blank he cannot be: there are no moral blanks; there are no neutral characters.
Interpretation
Every person influences the world, whether positively or negatively, intentionally or not.
This quote emphasizes the idea that each individual has an impact on society and cannot exist as a neutral force. It suggests that our actions and intentions either contribute to the well-being of others or detract from it, reinforcing the responsibility we have to be aware of the influence we wield in our interactions and behaviors.
In practice
In a speech about community involvement, you might use this quote to emphasize the importance of every individual's contribution.
I want to feel my own nothingness, I want to give myself up in absolute resignation to God, to lie prostrate and passive at His feet, with no other disposition in my heart than that of merging my will into His will, and no other language in my mouth than that of prayer for the perfecting of His strength in my weakness.
With the magnificence of eternity before us, let time, with all its fluctuations, dwindle into its own littleness.
It is more blessed to give than to receive, and therefore less blessed to receive than to give.
Faith is like the hand of the beggar that takes the gift while adding nothing to it.
For where is the man that has incontestable evidence of the truth of all that he holds, or of the falsehood of all he condemns; or can say that he has examined to the bottom all his own, or other men's opinions? The necessity of believing without knowledge, nay often upon very slight grounds, in this fleeting state of action and blindness we are in, should make us more busy and careful to inform ourselves than constrain others.
The real question today is not when human life begins, but, what is the value of human life? The abortionist who reassembles the arms and legs of a tiny baby to make sure all its parts have been torn from its mother's body can hardly doubt whether it is a human being. The real question for him and for all of us is whether that tiny human life has a God-given right to be protected by the law - the same right we have.
If I be worthy, I live for my God to teach the heathen, even though they may despise me.
Those who live to live forever, never fear dying.
Be one of the crowd? It went against everything a wizard stood for, and a wizard would not stand for anything if he could sit down for it, but even sitting down, you had to stand out.
When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything.
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