A Call to Serve

A few years ago at an ASPA conference I picked up a little book called "A Call to Serve: Quotes on Public Service" compiled by Marc Holzer, Mahako Etta, and Yetunde A. Odugbesan. A few of the quotes include:

On a call to serve: "And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." John F. Kennedy

On compassion: "How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong."  George Washington Carver

On quality of life: "The care of human life and happiness is the first and only legitimate objective of good government." Thomas Jefferson

On purpose: "When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die." Eleanor Roosevelt

On ethics: "My creed is that public service must be more than doing a job efficiently and honestly. It must be a complete dedication to the people and to the nation with dull recognition that every human being is entitled to courtesy and consideration, that constructive criticism is not only to be expected but sought, that smears are not only to be expected but fought, that honor is to be earned, not bought. Margaret Chase Smith, Senator from Maine

On citizenship: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." Mahatma Gandhi

On volunteerism: "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