120 Helping Others Quotes to Inspire Compassion & Love

Know the importance of being there for each other by reading through these quotes about helping others!

Lending a helping hand to other people is one of the most fundamental values taught to us from a young age. However, it is also one of the most unpracticed behaviors as we grow old.

As we enter adulthood, we focus too much on ourselves that we fail to think of extending our blessings to other people. Most of us also forget its importance and the impact it causes on the world.

Helping Others Quotes to Inspire Compassion

So, to remind you about the good things you need to do to help others’ lives become better, we’ve compiled great quotes that will inspire you to make a difference by helping those in need.

Let’s get started.

And make sure to read these encouraging quotes and support quotes.

Best Helping Others Quotes

1. “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” – John Bunyan

2. “Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day.” – Sally Koch

3. “At the end, it’s not about what you have or even what you’ve accomplished. It’s about who you’ve lifted up, who you’ve made better. It’s about what you’ve given back.” – Denzel Washington

4. “People appreciate and never forget that helping hand, especially when times are tough.” – Catherine Pulsifer

5. “Never underestimate the difference you can make in the lives of others. Step forward, reach out, and help. Reach out to someone that might need a lift.” – Pablo

6. “Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, ‘What’s in it for me?'” – Brian Tracy

7. “No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” – Charles Dickens

8. “Part of being a person is about helping others.” – Regis Murayi

9. “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

11. “Helping others, serving others—this is the real meaning of life.” – Dalai Lama

12. “It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.” – Napoleon Hill

13. “Everyone suffers some injustice in life, and what better motivation than to help others not suffer in the same way.” – Bella Thorne

14. “Take the time to help other people without expecting a reward or gratitude is definitely important in living an optimistic life.” – Krista Weatherspoon

15. “Helping others is a good effort to instill human dignity.” – Gift Gugu Mona

Also read: Inspirational Quotes

Famous Quotes About Helping Others

16. “Always have a willing hand to help someone. You might be the only one that does.” – Roy T. Bennett

17. “Helping others, encouraging others are often acts of being kind that have more meaning than you may realize.” – Catherine Pulsifer

18. “Time and money spent in helping men to do more for themselves is far better than mere giving.” – Henry Ford

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

20. “It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

21. “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others, and if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” – Dalai Lama

22. “Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.” – Booker T. Washington

23. “If you’re not making someone else’s life better, then you’re wasting your time. Your life will become better by making other lives better.” – Will Smith

24. “The real road of compassion, that is, giving, helping, assistance, and community service is a road that can be set and declared as your life’s purpose.” – Byron Pulsifer

25. “Life is too short not to create, not to love, and not to lend a helping hand to our brothers and sisters.” – Eric Maisel

26. “We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.” – Loretta Scott

27. “You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins.” – Jim Stovall

28. “Helping other people can be a cure, not just for those who are in need, but for your soul as well.” – Anonymous

29. “If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path.” – Buddha

30. “Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping him up.” – Jesse Jackson

Also read: Compassion Quotes, Moving On Quotes

Inspirational Quotes on Helping Others

31. “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mahatma Gandhi

32. “There is nothing more beautiful than someone who goes out of their way to make life beautiful for others.” – Mandy Hale

33. “Remember this. Hold on to this. This is the only perfection there is—the perfection of helping others. This is the only thing we can do that has any lasting meaning. This is why we’re here. To make each other feel safe.” – Andre Agassi

34. “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” – Albert Einstein

35. “Helping others is the way we help ourselves.” – Oprah Winfrey 

36. “The more I help others to succeed, the more I succeed.” – Ray Kroc

37. “Each of us owes someone. We all benefit by reaching out and helping others.” – Les Brown

38. “Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you’ll find one at the end of your arm. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” – Audrey Hepburn

39. “Helping others in need is not only a responsibility for life. It is what gives meaning to life.” – Mollie Marti

40. “I don’t want to live in the kind of world where we don’t look out for each other. Not just the people that are close to us, but anybody who needs a helping hand. I can’t change the way anybody else thinks or what they choose to do, but I can do my bit.” – Charles de Lint

41. “Nothing liberates our greatness like the desire to help, the desire to serve.” – Marianne Williamson

42. “A hero is someone who is willing to help others in his or her best capacity.” – Ricky Martin

43. “A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.” – Nelson Mandela

44. “Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light.” – Norm Rice

45. “A person’s most useful asset is not a head full of knowledge, but a heart full of love, an ear ready to listen, and a hand willing to help others.” – Anonymous

Also read: Deep Meaningful Quotes

Quotes That Zoom in on Helping Others and Making a Difference

46. “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

47. “Kindness can transform someone’s dark moment with a blaze of light. You’ll never know how much your caring matters. Make a difference for another today.” – Amy Leigh Mercree

48. “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” – Dr. Seuss

49. “People helping people makes this world a better place!” – Catherine Pulsifer

50. “Even the smallest act of caring for another person is like a drop of water. It will make ripples throughout the entire pond.” – Jessy and Bryan Matteo

51. “Somewhere along the way, we must learn that there is nothing greater than to do something for others.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

52. “The test of a civilization is in the way that it cares for its helpless members.” – Pearl S. Buck

53. “I cannot do all the good that the world needs. But the world needs all the good that I can do.” – Jana Stanfield

54. “Advantages of helping people include you being a good example for your children, family, and friends, and you having a direct impact on the trajectory of the lives of a lot of people.” – Rafael Bettencourt

55. “Help others and give something back. I guarantee you will discover that while public service improves the lives and the world around you, its greatest reward is the enrichment and new meaning it will bring to your own life.” – Arnold Schwarzenneger

56. “Helping one person might not change the whole world, but it could change the world for one person.” – Anonymous

57. “It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your actions. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.” – Mahatma Gandhi

58. “The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better.” – Robert F. Kennedy

59. “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill

60. “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James

Encouraging Quotes to Motivate You to Help Those in Need

61. “We rise by lifting others.” – Robert G. Ingersoll

62. “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

63. “A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal.” – Steve Maraboli

64. “But you on earth, your job’s not done, your mission still means sharing. Not for the dead with sweet bouquets, but for the needy, caring.” – Greta Zwaan

65. “Kindness and helping others will return to you when you least expect it, and maybe when you need it.” – Catherine Pulsifer

66. “If we always helped one another, no one would need luck.” – Sophocles

67. “When you become detached mentally from yourself and concentrate on helping other people with their difficulties, you will be able to cope with your own more effectively. Somehow, the act of self-giving is a personal power-releasing factor.” – Norman Vincent Peale

68. “The duty of helping one’s self in the highest sense involves the helping of one’s neighbors.” – Samuel Smiles

69. “Love is not patronizing, and charity isn’t about pity. It is about love. Charity and love are the same. With charity, you give love, so don’t just give money but reach out your hand instead.” – Mother Teresa

70. “In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us.” – Flora Edwards

71. “It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of person kind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.” – Leo Buscaglia

72. “When you reach out to those in need, do not be surprised if the essential meaning of something occurs.” – Stephen Richards

73. “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

74. “It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers but in our daily lives.” – Dalai Lama

75. “They say to serve is to love. I think to serve is to heal, too.” – Viola Davis

Quotes on the Positive Impacts of Helping Others

76. “Only by giving are you able to receive more than you already have.” – Jim Rohn

77. “I firmly believe that a soul that is not healthy cannot help others to heal. A gentle soul does not need to put up walls or false fronts to protect itself.” – Cathy Grant

78. “When we help ourselves, we find moments of happiness. When we help others, we find lasting fulfillment.” – Simon Sinek

79. “You feel alive to the degree that you feel you can help others.” – John Travolta

80. “I think when you work really hard, and you help others, God helps you get what you want.” – Gina Rodriguez

81. “Maybe we feel good when we help others because some small part within us remembers and connects to the knowledge that we are all one.” – Akiroq Brost

82. “No amount of knowledge, technique, or quick-wittedness can substitute for honesty and the genuine desire to help others.” – John Maxwell

83. “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. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.” – Chinese Proverb

84. “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, and 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

85. “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

86. “Helping others is the secret sauce to a happy life.” – Todd Stocker

87. “The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.” – Oscar Wilde

88. “The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired. One of the great ironies of life is this, he or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.” – Gordon B. Hinckley

89. “Make each new day count by helping someone or just making someone smile.” – Catherine Pulsifer

Insightful Quotes About Helping Others Even if You’ll Get Nothing in Return

90. “Helping others, without expecting anything in return, is what true self-worth is all about.” – Gavin Bird

91. “Help others! Even if you know that they won’t help you back.” – Anonymous

92. “Give freely to the world these gifts of love and compassion. Do not concern yourself with how much you receive in return, just know in your heart it will be returned.” – Steve Maraboli

93. “When you help someone, you also help yourself. Instead of worrying about how much you get in return, you are better off helping as many people as you can.” – Tapan Ghosh

94. “The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was, ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But the good Samaritan reversed the question, ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'” – Martin Luther King Jr.

Quotes That Will Urge You to Help Each Other and Spread Compassion to the World

95. “We are not put on this earth for ourselves, but are placed here for each other. If you are always there for others, then in time of need, someone will be there for you.” – Jeff Warner

96. “I’m starting to think this world is just a place for us to learn that we need each other more than we want to admit.” – Richelle E. Goodrich

97. “What do we live for if not to make the world less difficult for each other.” – George Eliot

Quotes on Helping People and Leading a Life of Selflessness

98. “The strongest people make time to help others, even if they’re struggling with their own personal problems.” – Anonymous

99. “Through our willingness to help others we can learn to be happy rather than depressed.” – Gerald Jampolsky

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

101. “Be the help to humanity, be the answer to humanity, be the light to humanity, and be 911 to humanity.” – Abhijit Naskar

102. “Doing nothing for others is the undoing of ourselves.” – Horace Mann

103. “Don’t deceive yourself. Laughing at someone’s weakness is not the way to reveal your strength. Your strength is in the help you offer, not the mockeries you deliver!” – Israelmore Ayivor

104. “When a person is down in the world, an ounce of help is better than a pound of preaching.” – Edward Bulwer-Lytton

105. “The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others.” – Albert Schweitzer

106. “Don’t hold back your gift because you never know when you might be helping someone. We all have a gift to give.” – Laya Saul

107. “Most importantly, my father was taught that charity begins at home. This basically meant that doing good deeds and helping people started in your own household.” – Kelvin Waites

108. “The difference between a helping hand and an outstretched palm is a twist of the wrist.” – Laurence Leamer

Religious Quotes About Helping Others

109. “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.” – Mother Teresa

110. “Service to humanity is service to God.” – Anonymous

111. “Be consistently aware of the need to serve God and to serve others in any and all of your actions. This is the way of the miracle worker.” – Wayne Dyer

112. “What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.” – Saint Augustine

113. “If you are truly concerned about helping people and creating value for them in your business and life, God will take care of you, and the universe will reward you.” – Bernard Kelvin Clive

114. “None of us can help everyone. But all of us can help someone. And when we help them, we serve Jesus. Who would want to miss a chance to do that?” – Max Lucado

Bible Quotes and Verses on Helping Others

115. “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ.” – Galatians 6:2

116. “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:11

117. “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” – Romans 12:13

118. “In all things, I have shown you that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.'” – Acts 20:35

119. “Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.” – Proverbs 11:25

120. “God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” – Hebrews 6:10

Did These Quotes Make You Want to Start Doing Good Deeds to Help Others?

The pandemic has been going on for years, and the number of people being isolated has only increased. In these times, showing small acts of kindness can save a life and cause a significant impact on others.

As humans, it is wrong to only think about ourselves. People may be weak, but if united, we are strong. So, extend a hand to those in need and trust that when you are going through a tough time, someone will also be there to lend you support.

Changing the world doesn’t always need big gestures. Sometimes, it is in the little smiles, compliments, and being a friend to a stranger. 

Which helping other quote is your favorite? Which of these quotes inspired you to help other people? Comment your answers below!

Read Next:

Karen Danao

Hi, I’m Karen, a content curator and writer for Quote Ambition; I’m also a marketing and advertising professional. Beyond the keyboard and the screen, I’m someone who’s out to enjoy every bit that life has to offer!

Poetry, philosophy, history, and movies are all topics I love writing about! However, my true passion is in traveling, photography, and finding common ground to which everyone from different cultures can relate.

With the many places I’ve been to, I found that love, inspiration, and happiness are some things that bring people together. No matter how different we are on the outside, I’m a true believer that our emotions don’t lie; if you dig deep into our psyche, we’re all the same inside.

This belief was further amplified when I joined Quote Ambition. Through the quotes I’ve read, collected, organized, and written about, I found that humans are resilient, creative, and compassionate.

We take from each others’ hearts and courage, and it’s through our individual experiences that we learn how to rise above our challenges and pain. In so many ways, Quote Ambition is a platform that allows people from all over the world to gain the inspiration they need anytime, anywhere!

You can find me on MuckRack and LinkedIn.