Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.
Where these words come from
- 55% sureLots of sources credit Mother Teresa with this, and they agree with each other. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
- Quoted in Mary Alice Warner & Dayna Beilenson, 'Women of Faith and Spirit' (1987), p. 42 — a secondary compilation published while she was alive (not posthumous), but not a primary transcript I could independently verify this session.
- Women of Faith and Spirit (Mary Alice Warner & Dayna Beilenson)
- 1987 · undated
More from Mother Teresa
See allNot all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.
Mother TeresaKind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.Mother TeresaI do not agree with a big way of doing things. What matters is the individual.Mother TeresaIf we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.Mother TeresaWe 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 TeresaBe kind to each other in your homes.Mother Teresa
Mother TeresaKind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.Mother TeresaI do not agree with a big way of doing things. What matters is the individual.Mother TeresaIf we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.Mother TeresaWe 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 TeresaBe kind to each other in your homes.Mother TeresaMore on courage
You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
Marcus AureliusYou can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.
Rabindranath TagoreStrength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
Mahatma GandhiFor sometimes it is an act of bravery even to live.
SenecaIf you see what is right and fail to act on it, you lack courage.
ConfuciusNever let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.Marcus Aurelius
Marcus AureliusYou can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.Rabindranath TagoreStrength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.Mahatma GandhiFor sometimes it is an act of bravery even to live.SenecaIf you see what is right and fail to act on it, you lack courage.ConfuciusNever let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.Marcus Aurelius