#usefulness

Be unselfish. That is the first and final commandment for those who would be useful and happy in their usefulness. If you think of yourself only, you cannot develop because you are choking the source of development, which is spiritual expansion through thought for others. ↗

— Charles William Eliot

#cannot #choking #commandment #develop #development

[God] is able to take your life, with all of the heartache, all of the pain, all of the regret, all of the missed opportunities, and use you for His glory. ↗

— Charles R. Swindoll

#glory-of-god #god #pain #usefulness #life

It is inevitable that those to whom is vouchsafed a long life of usefulness should outlive the friends of their youth. ↗

— Cleveland Abbe

#inevitable #life #long #long life #outlive

It is a remarkable honor to receive a Nobel Prize, because it not only recognizes discoveries, but also their usefulness to the advancement of fundamental science. ↗

— Peter Agre

#also #because #discoveries #fundamental #honor

The press briefing today I believe has lost much of its usefulness. ↗

— Marlin Fitzwater

#briefing #i #i believe #lost #much

Two important characteristics of maps should be noticed. A map is not the territory it represents, but, if correct, it has a similar structure to the territory, which accounts for its usefulness. ↗

— Alfred Korzybski

#characteristics #correct #important #map #maps

But today’s society is characterized by achievement orientation, and consequently it adores people who are successful and happy and, in particular, it adores the young. It virtually ignores the value of all those who are otherwise, and in so doing blurs the decisive difference between being valuable in the sense of dignity and being valuable in the sense of usefulness. If one is not cognizant of this difference and holds that an individual’s value stems only from his present usefulness, then, believe me, one owes it only to personal inconsistency not to plead for euthanasia along the lines of Hitler’s program, that is to say, ‘mercy’ killing of all those who have lost their social usefulness, be it because of old age, incurable illness, mental deterioration, or whatever handicap they may suffer. Confounding the dignity of man with mere usefulness arises from conceptual confusion that in turn may be traced back to the contemporary nihilism transmitted on many an academic campus and many an analytical couch. ↗

— Viktor E. Frankl

#existentialism #human-dignity #meaning #nihilism #usefulness

God uses those who seem ill-fitted for a significant life. ↗

— Charles R. Swindoll

#god #significance #usefulness #life

Usefulness! It is not a fascinating word, and the quality is not one of which the aspiring spirit can dream o' nights, yet on the stage it is the first thing to aim at. ↗

— Ellen Terry

#aspiring #dream #fascinating #first #first thing

A life placed in the hands of God will be used by Him. ↗

— Matilda Wrede

#life #usefulness #life