A Quote by Sydney J. Harris

Nice things are done for our own sake, not for the sake of others. The pleasure must reside in the performance, not in the applause. Good deeds are, in a deeper psychological way, a favor to oneself. If this is not grasped, then our whole sense of personal relationships becomes warped.

Sydney J. Harris

Quote Topics

Applause Becomes Deeds Deeper Done Favor Good Good Deed Good Deeds Must Nice Nice Thing Nice Things Oneself Others Our Own Performance Personal Personal Relationships Pleasure Psychological Relationships Sake Sense Then Things Warped Way Whole

Quote Author

Sydney J. Harris
American - Journalist
September 14, 1917 - December 8, 1986

If, then, there is some end of the things we do, which we desire for its own sake (everything else being desired for the sake of this), and if we do not choose everything for the sake of something else (for at that rate the process would go on to infinity, so that our desire would be empty and vain), clearly this must be the good and the chief good.

Aristotle

We must do our work for its own sake, not for fortune or attention or applause.

Steven Pressfield

Because we haven’t been taught to appreciate and love ourselves in this way, we don’t feel like we deserve self-care and pleasure. Instead, we cling to our To Do lists and sacrifice our health and well-being for the sake of others. Then, when we feel deprived of our basic human need for relaxation and enjoyment, we turn to food as our sole source of pleasure. When we then try to deprive ourselves of food through dieting, we deny the last bit of pleasure we have in our lives. And that strategy never works!

Jessica Ortner

It's bad enough for me to make choices that hurt my own relationship with God. How much more serious is it to be the cause of someone else deciding to sin? Not only must I choose the pathway of holiness for God's sake and for my own sake; I must also do it for the sake of others.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss

For how many things, which for our own sake we should never do, do we perform for the sake of our friends.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

For what pleasure can compare the pleasure of bringing joy and hope to other hearts. The more we make others happy the greater will be our own happiness and the deeper our sense of having served humanity.

Shoghi Effendi

The last end of every maker, as such, is himself, for what we make we use for our own sake; and if at any time a man make a thing for the sake of something else, it is referred to his own good, whether his use, his pleasure, or his virtue.

Thomas Aquinas

In all of our deeds God looks at the intention, whether we do it for His sake, or for the sake of some other intention.

Maximus the Confessor

For the sake of our businesses and the sake of our jobs, we must provide Connecticut with a modernized transportation system that works, which requires a sustainable, recurring funding source.

Ned Lamont

We manifest character when self-sacrifice for the sake of our principles becomes more important than compromise for the sake of popularity.

Myles Munroe

We should learn ... to do our best for the sake of our communities and for the sake of those for whom we pave the way.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

But weightier still are the contentment which comes from work well done, the sense of the value of science for its own sake, insatiable curiosity, and, above all, the pleasure of masterly performance and of the chase. These are the effective forces which move the scientist. The first condition for the progress of science is to bring them into play.

Lawrence Joseph Henderson

Hitler can't walk over me as he might have done a year ago; I've seen to that. Don't forget that I have three million men, with every key position in the hands of my own people, Hitler knows that I have friends in the Reichswehr, you know! If Hitler is reasonable I shall settle the matter quietly; if he isn't I must be prepared to use force - not for my sake but for the sake of our revolution.

Ernst Rohm

For the sake of our businesses and the sake of our jobs, we must not only maintain our roads and bridges, but also develop a modernized transportation system that supports continued growth and attracts new businesses and growth.

Ned Lamont

The Daoist appeal to simplicity can be very appealing to the many of us who feel that contemporary life is overwhelming. "Less is more" can be a call to identify what it is we really need and appreciate doing for its own sake, as opposed to what we have been socialized into wanting, often to our detriment, or becoming consumed by activity that we would never do for its own sake but only for the sake of something else.