101 Quotes for Volunteers: Inspire Your Team to Reach for the Stars
Looking for quotes for volunteers? You’ve come to the right place!
We’ve curated some for the best quotes around to inspire current and future volunteers at your charity, cause, association, membership, agency, department, or movement.
Inspirational quotes can be used almost everywhere to keep your team inspired and committed to success.
They represent a kind of storytelling and can be used to punctuate your communications and volunteer materials with bonus life lessons, extra motivation for a project, empathy through difficult times, reinforcement of a special message, leadership for change, and a compelling vision for the future.
They’re also a wonderful way to reinforce the values that guide your organization and its people.
If you feel your messaging could use a little more pep in its step, quotes can add a little spice and break up the monotony and grab attention.
Let creativity be your guide!
NOTE: Print, bookmark, or PDF this time-saving post so you have it at the ready next time you are creating materials to support your volunteer programming.
Prepping for a volunteer recognition event? Check out How to Crush Your Next Recognition Speech with These Volunteer Appreciation Quotes HERE >>
Where to Share Quotes for Volunteers
There is no end to the different ways you can use inspirational volunteer quotes to motivate your team. Sprinkle them throughout your communications for volunteers, co-workers, leadership, and community partners when you are referring to the efforts of your volunteers and how they make a difference.
Consider how you can consistently show how much you value the work of your supporters both online and on land, in all kinds of marketing materials, reports, employee communications, and volunteer materials.
We list 101 quotes later in this blog post, in four different theme areas. You can also collect testimonials and endorsements from volunteers and staff who work with them and use them (with permission, of course).
Below are only a few places you might consider adding quotes to punch up the power of your communications.
- Volunteer recruitment web page
- Volunteer recruitment postings
- Agency’s annual report
- New volunteer orientation materials
- Progress reports to board of directors
- Invitations to volunteer recognition events
- Your message board in the front of your building
- Volunteer handbook
- Social media posts
- Volunteer position descriptions
- Online volunteer portal or private Facebook group
- Banner for outreach table
- Volunteer in-service training materials
- Welcome slides for Zoom meetings
- Banners at special events
- Grant applications
- Keynote speeches
- New employee orientation materials
- Press releases about the volunteer program
- Volunteer program operations plan
- At the top of sign-in sheets for volunteers
- Signage around your worksite
- Thank you cards for volunteers
- Employee handbook
- Volunteer polices and procedure manual
- Community education materials
- Outreach fliers
- Email signatures
- Newsletters for volunteers and the public
- Fundraising appeals
- Grant reports
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101 Quotes for Volunteers
Below are quotes that are split up by category. If they have an author, be sure to cite them so you give credit where credit is due. 😊
Quotes on the Power of Helping Others
1. “You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.” ~ Winston Churchill
2. “As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands — one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” ~ Audrey Hepburn
3. “I feel the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more.” ~ Jonas Salk
4. “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” ~ Helen Keller
5. “Wherever you turn, you can find someone who needs you. Even if it is a little thing, do something for which there is no pay but the privilege of doing it. Remember, you don’t live in the world all of your own.” ~ Albert Schweitzer
6. “To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
7. “It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
8. “You may not have saved a lot of money in your life, but if you have saved a lot of heartaches for other folks, you are a pretty rich man.” ~ Seth Parker
9. “A candle loses nothing of its light when lighting another.” ~ Kahlil Gibran
10. “The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.” ~ Oscar Wilde
11. “If you don’t believe one person can make a difference, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.” ~ Anita Roddick
12. “There are three kinds of people: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who say, ‘what happened?’“ ~ Casey Stengel
13. “Happiness is thinking of myself; joy is thinking of others.” ~ Author Unknown
14. “The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches but reveal to him his own.” ~ Benjamin Disraeli
15. “You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
16. “With a sweet tongue and kindness, you can drag an elephant by a hair.” ~ Persian Proverb
17. “Unless someone like you cares a whole, awful lot. Things aren’t going to get better, they’re NOT!” ~ Dr. Seuss
18. “It’s good to be blessed. It’s better to be a blessing.” ~ Author Unknown
19. “We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” ~ Mother Theresa
20. “We are all like one-winged angels. It is only when we help each other that we can fly.” ~ Luciano De Crescenzo
21. “A true healer is not the one with magical powers, but the one who does everything in their power to help those in need.” ~ Abhijit Naskar
22. “Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.” ~ Lao Tzu
23. “It’s when you’re acting selflessly that you are at your bravest.” ~ Veronica Roth
24. “It is under the greatest adversity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others.” ~ 14th Dalai Lama
25. “Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day.” ~ Sally Koch
Quotes on Leadership & Inspiring Others
26. “Leadership should be more participative than directive, more enabling than performing.” ~ Mary D. Poole
27. “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” ~ Harriet Tubman
28. “It isn’t where you come from; it’s where you’re going that counts.” ~ Ella Fitzgerald
29. “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” ~ William Arthur Ward
30. “The question is whether or not you choose to disturb the world around you, or if you choose to let it go on as if you had never arrived.” ~ Ann Patchett
31. “Work for a cause, not for applause. Remember to live your life to express, not to impress, don’t strive to make your presence noticed, just make your absence felt.” ~ Grace Lichtenstein
32. “There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” ~ Edith Wharton
33. “Every time we choose courage, we make everyone around us a little better and the world a little braver. And our world could stand to be a little kinder and braver.” ~ Brené Brown
34. “I help people as a work on myself, and I work on myself to help people.” ~ Ram Dass
35. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” ~ John Quincy Adams
36. “I learned to always take on things I’d never done before. Growth and comfort do not coexist.” ~ Ginni Rometty
37. “Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.” ~ Oprah Winfrey
38. “Who you are surrounded by often determines who you become.” ~ Vicky Saunders
39. “It’s okay to admit what you don’t know. It’s okay to ask for help. And it’s more than okay to listen to the people you lead – in fact, it’s essential.” ~ Mary Barra
40. “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” ~ Rosa Parks
41. “Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.” ~ Sara Blakely
42. “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” ~ Rosalynn Carter
43. “Success is an exception, so be exceptional.” ~ Malti Bhojwani
44. “I have broken many glass ceilings – so I know it can be done.” ~ Helen Clark
45. “Continuous learning leads to continuous improvement. Commit yourself to advancing your knowledge, skills, and expertise …. Be a lifelong student.” ~ Pamela Gill Alabaster
46. “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” ~ Alice Walker
47. “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” ~ Nelson Mandela
48. “Not the cry, but the flight of a wild duck, leads the flock to fly and follow.” ~ Chinese Proverb
49. “Whatever we believe about ourselves, and our ability comes true for us.” ~ Susan L. Taylor
Quotes on Service & Volunteerism
50. “Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve…. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
51. “Keep Calm and Volunteer On.” ~ Author Unknown
52. “You can study government and politics in school, but the best way to really understand the process is to volunteer your time.” ~ Rob McKenna
53. “Getting what you want is not nearly as important as giving what you have.” ~ Tom Krause
54. “The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others.” ~ Ghandi
55. “Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in.” ~ Author Unknown
56. You tell me and I forget. You teach me and I remember. You involve me and I learn.” ~ Benajmin Franklin
57. “In proportion as one renders service, he becomes great.” ~ Booker T. Washington
58. “If I can do no more, let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth’s sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.” ~ Louisa May Alcott
59. “When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.” ~ Ethiopian Proverb
60. “Not being able to do everything is no excuse for not doing everything you can.” ~ Ashleigh Brilliant
61. “Ain’t Nothin’ to It, But to Do it!” ~ Maya Angelou
62. “I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.” ~ Rabindranath Tagore
63. “I did not find the world desolate when I entered it. My fathers planted for me before I arrived, so I plant for those who come after me.” ~ Talmud
64. “In giving you are throwing a bridge across the chasm of your solitude.” ~ Antoine de Sainte-Exupery
65. “How wonderful that no one need wait a single moment to improve the world.” ~ Anne Frank
66. “I have an almost complete disregard of precedent, and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I go for anything new that might improve the past.” ~ Clara Barton
67. “Better one friend with a dish of food than a hundred with a sigh.” ~ Yiddish Proverb
68. “Let … individuals make the most of what God has given them, have their neighbors do the same, and then do all they can to serve each other. There is no use in one man, or one nation, to try to do or be everything. It is a good thing to be dependent on each other for something, it makes us civil and peaceable.” ~ Sojourner Truth
69. “We can never get a re-creation of community and heal our society without giving our citizens a sense of belonging.” ~ Hunter Campbell “Patch” Adams
70. “The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.” ~ Barack Obama
71. “There’s no time like the present, no present like time.” ~ Georgia Byng
72. “Volunteering is an act of heroism on a grand scale. And it matters profoundly. It does more than help people beat the odds; it changes the odds.” ~ Bill Clinton
73. “You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” ~ John Bunya
74. “If our hopes of building a better and safer world are to become more than wishful thinking, we will need the engagement of volunteers more than ever.” ~ Kofi Annan
75. “Volunteerism is the voice of the people put into action. These actions shape and mold the present into a future of which we can all be proud.” ~ Helen Dyer
Quotes on Volunteers
76. “Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.” ~ Elizabeth Andrew
77. “Volunteers are the only human beings on the face of the earth who reflect this nation’s compassion, unselfish caring, patience, and just plain loving one another.” ~ Erma Bombeck
78. “Don’t ever question the value of volunteers. Noah’s Ark was built by volunteers; the Titanic was built by professionals.” ~ Author Unknown
79. “Volunteering is so pervasive it’s invisible. We take for granted all the things that have been pioneered by concerned, active volunteers.” ~ Susan J. Ellis
80. “In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.” ~ Marianne Williamson
81. “A civilization flourishes when people plant trees under which they will never sit.” ~ Greek Proverb
82. “Some people see things as they are and say ‘why’, I look at things that never were and say, ‘why not’.” ~ Robert F. Kennedy
83. “Volunteer activities can foster enormous leadership skills. The nonprofit professional volunteer world is a laboratory for self-realization.” ~ Madeleine Kunin
84. “A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses.” ~ Chinese Proverb
85. “If every American donated five hours a week, it would equal the labor of twenty million full-time volunteers.” ~ Whoopi Goldberg
86. “A pessimist, they say, sees a glass as being half empty; an optimist sees the same glass as half full. But a giving person sees a glass of water and starts looking for someone who might be thirsty.” ~ G. Donald Gale
87. “How can we expect our children to know and experience the joy of giving unless we teach them that the greater pleasure in life lies in the art of giving rather than receiving.” ~ James Cash Penney
88. “Volunteering is at the very core of being a human. No one has made it through life without someone else’s help.” ~ Heather French Henry
89. “Volunteers wear working boots but leave a trail of angel footprints.” ~ Terri Guillemets
90. “The heart of a volunteer is never measured in size, but by the depth of the commitment to make a difference in the lives of others.” ~ DeAnn Hollis
91. “Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless.” ~ Sherry Anderson
92. “The broadest, and maybe the most meaningful definition of volunteering: Doing more than you have to because you want to, in a cause you consider good.” ~ Ivan Scheier
93. “We are all MAD here – Making A Difference.” ~ Author Unknown
94. “A volunteer is a person who can see what others cannot see, who can feel what most do not feel. Often, such gifted persons do not think of themselves as volunteers, but as citizens – citizens in the fullest sense; partners in civilization.” ~ George H. W. Bush
95. “The world is hugged by the faithful arms of volunteers.” ~ Terri Guillemets
96. “Volunteers will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no volunteers.” ~ Ken Wyman
97. “Volunteers are love in motion!” ~ Author Unknown
98. “If you have much, give of your wealth; if you have little, give of your heart.” ~ Arabic Proverb
99. “Giving is not just about making a donation, it’s about making a difference.” ~ Kathy Calvin
100. “Selfless giving is the art of living.” ~ Frederic Lenz
101. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” ~ Margaret Mead
For even more quotes for volunteers, check out Quotes for Volunteerism That’ll Motivate and Inspire Action HERE >>
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