QuoteProject
Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.
Albert Schweitzer
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Living for others presents challenges, yet it enriches our lives and brings happiness.

This quote highlights the duality of life when it is lived in service to others. While the act of putting others first can lead to difficulties and complications, it ultimately infuses our lives with deeper meaning and fulfillment, resulting in a richer and happier existence.

Themes

ServiceHappinessFulfillmentEnrichmentSelflessness

In practice

Example use cases

This quote is perfect for a motivational speech on community service.

More from Albert Schweitzer

I do not want to frighten you by telling you about the temptations life will bring. Anyone who is healthy in spirit will overcome them. But there is something I want you to realize. It does not matter so much what you do. What matters is whether your soul is harmed by what you do. If your soul is harmed, something irreparable happens, the extent of which you won't realize until it will be too late.
Albert SchweitzerRead
Within every patient there resides a doctor, and we as physicians are at our best when we we put our patients in touch with the doctor inside themselves.
Albert SchweitzerRead
By ethical conduct toward all creatures, we enter into a spiritual relationship with the universe.
Albert SchweitzerRead
No one can give a definition of the soul. But we know what it feels like. The soul is the sense of something higher than ourselves, something that stirs in us thoughts, hopes, and aspirations which go out to the world of goodness, truth and beauty. The soul is a burning desire to breathe in this world of light and never to lose it--to remain children of light.
Albert SchweitzerRead
The mistake made by all previous systems of ethics has been the failure to recognize that life as such is the mysterious value with which they have to deal. All spiritual life meets us within natural life. Reverence for life, therefore, is applied to natural life and spiritual life alike. In the parable of Jesus, the shepherd saves not merely the soul of the lost sheep but the whole animal. The stronger the reverence for natural life, the stronger grows also that for spiritual life.
Albert SchweitzerRead
The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character.
Albert SchweitzerRead

Similar quotes

Whether you're trying to learn in hockey or trying to learn in life, I've always tried to be observant and tried to learn more, tried to evolve, whether it's as a hockey player or as a person. With each year, I try to do that.
Sidney CrosbyRead
You may try your experiment for a week and see how you like it. I think by Saturday night you will find that all play and no work is as bad as all work and no play
Louisa May AlcottRead
The emotionally sound person should be able to take risks, to ask himself what he really would like to do in life, and then to try to do this, even though he has to risk defeat or failure. He should be adventurous (though not necessarily foolhardy); be willing to try almost anything once, just to see how he likes it; and look forward to some breaks in his usual life routines.
Albert EllisRead
I was born in London in England in 1934. I went through, as a child, the horrors of World War II, through a time when food was rationed and we learned to be very careful, and we never had more to eat than what we needed to eat. There was no waste. Everything was used.
Jane GoodallRead
If we tend to the things that are important in life, if we are right with those we love, and behave in line with our faith, our lives will not be cursed with the aching throb of unfulfilled business. Our words will always be sincere, our embraces will be tight. We will never wallow in the agony of β€˜I could have, I should have’. We can sleep in a storm. And when its time, our goodbyes will be complete.
Mitch AlbomRead
There's something about death that is comforting. The thought that you could die tomorrow frees you to appreciate your life now.
Angelina JolieRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.