Humanitarian Quotes

Start working my friend – start working towards humanizing the world. Because the world needs humans – conscientious humans, not some dumb manikins, driven by prejudice and discrimination.

~ Abhijit Naskar

Become a human and call upon the humans in others. And in time the world shall become a real abode of peace.

~ Abhijit Naskar

We can all make a difference in the lives of others in need, because it is the most simple of gestures that make the most significant of differences.

~ Miya Yamanouchi

At times we feel outnumbered in our attempts to improve the world—to brighten and beautify, to preserve and heal and do what’s best for humanity. Selfless efforts can start to feel beleaguering, discouraging, even pointless with so little support. It is at these times I remind myself that I would rather be the last Good Samaritan standing than to join the ranks of selfish multitudes creating misery.

~ Richelle E. Goodrich

A God out there and values out there, if they existed, would be utterly useless and unintelligible to us. There is nothing to be gained by nostalgia for the old objectivism, which was in any case used only to justify arrogance, tyranny, and cruelty. People [forget] ... how utterly hateful the old pre-humanitarianism world was.

~ Don Cupitt

Sentiments that glorify humanity know no racial distinction.

~ Abhijit Naskar

Call up the ever-pure, the effulgent and the ever-radiant character of true humanism in yourself and in others, and no racism shall have the power to thrive in such society even for a few seconds.

~ Abhijit Naskar

Tolstoy was a Caucasian, Gandhi was an Asian, and Martin Luther King Jr. was a Negro, yet all of their hearts were inspired by the one idea of nonviolent resistance. King received it from Gandhi, Gandhi received it from Tolstoy, and Tolstoy received it from Christ.

~ Abhijit Naskar

It is character that should be the sole measure of judgement in the society of thinking humanity, and nothing short of that would do.

~ Abhijit Naskar

If not as a true human, let me tell you as a Biologist, color of the skin does not define an individual’s intelligence – it does not define an individual’s ambitions - it does not define an individual’s dreams – and above all, it does not define an individual’s character.

~ Abhijit Naskar

In the biological sense, race does not exist.

~ Abhijit Naskar

In this miasma of forgotten wars, torture and the war on terror, there are no easy answers, especially in the face of a very real terrorism. But I can live my questions. As a humanitarian, I can act from a feeling of shared vulnerability with the victims of preventable suffering. I have a responsibility to bear witness publicly to the plight of those I seek to assist and to insist on independent humanitarian action and respect for international humanitarian law. As a citizen, I can assume my responsibility for the public world - the world of politics - not as a spectator, but as a participant who engages and shapes it. The larger force that can push back against the wrong use of power can be the force of a citizen's politics that openly debates the right use of power and the reasoned pursuit of justice. Catherine Lu, a political philosopher and my friend, has described justice as a boundary over which we must not go, a bond of common humanity between us, a balance among people of equal worth and dignity. I fight not for a utopian ideal, but each day I make a choice, against nihilism and towards justice.

~ James Orbinski

If origin defines race, then we are all Africans – we are all black.

~ Abhijit Naskar

The humanitarian is a treasure hunter seeking gems of remedy and appreciation.

~ Richelle E. Goodrich

The departure of the church-going element had induced a more humanitarian atmosphere.

~ Dorothy L. Sayers

Not everyone who has helped or is helping you wanted or wants to help you.

~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana

Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors.

~ Dr. Jonas Salk

A humanitarian seldom makes a good lover. For a lover’s world revolves around their lover, while a humanitarian’s world revolves around the world.

~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana

The thinking man must oppose all cruel customs, no matter how deeply rooted in tradition and surrounded by a halo. When we have a choice, we must avoid bringing torment and injury into the life of another, even the lowliest creature; but to do so is to renounce our manhood and shoulder a guilt which nothing justifies.

~ Albert Schweitzer

You are the Jehovah of goodness, Allah of brotherhood, Buddha of reasoning and Krishna of love. And that’s more than enough gods, that the world will ever need.

~ Abhijit Naskar

The secret is...good and evil are a myth. There is only the selfish, selfless, and those in between.

~ Belart Wright

I was hell-bent on being an effective humanitarian in Cambodia and Somalia. But a naïve fog is finally lifting. Revealed is a train wreck of illusions, the depravity of someone else's war, the futility of a competence stillborn there. To understand this you have to become this.

~ Kenneth Cain

The purpose of any charity is simply to turn people's mirrors into windows. An outward view of the world's needs are vast in comparison to an inward one.

~ Shannon L. Alder

I am no God. I am no Messiah. I am no divine incarnation. I am but a human in the service of humans.

~ Abhijit Naskar

Life is short. Life is uncertain. But we know that we have today. And we have each other. I believe that for each of us, there is a place on the frontlines.

~ Eric Greitens

Helping others is the oxygen of paradise.

~ J.f. Anstead

We've killed a million Iraqis since the start of the Gulf war - mostly by blocking humanitarian aid.

~ Woody Harrelson