60 Quotes About Making a Difference

Published May 30, 2021
Most of us want to make a difference – to not just live, but to live with a purpose. But making a difference usually entails sacrifices. Unfortunately, few are willing to give up the relative comfort of their safe zones for the sake of making the world a better place.
As we make our way into the world, we tend to become so wrapped up in all our concerns. We forget that others have their own struggles too. Or that we can do something to ease their sufferings, even if we are having a tough time ourselves.
Truth is, we can all make a difference. No matter how small or how insignificant your effort may seem, it can make an impact. Just like how a small drop of water can cause ripples, you too can effect change. Small actions like giving a sandwich to a homeless man or even just being there can make a world of difference for that person. Now, imagine if all of us will do that for each other.
If you’re still not convinced, these quotes about making a difference will change your mind:
- In a gentle way, you can shake the world. – Mahatma Gandhi
- The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better. – Robert F. Kennedy
- We rise by lifting others. – Robert Ingersoll
- Each of us can make a difference. Together we make change. – Barbara Mikulski
- No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence. – Martin Luther King Jr.
- Never underestimate the difference YOU can make in the lives of others. Step forward, reach out, and help. This week reach to someone that might need a lift. – Pablo
- Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference has never tried to fall asleep with a mosquito in the room. – Christine Todd Whitman
- If you can find ways to give people hope that they can achieve something or make a difference, then there’s an opportunity for something good to happen. – Jeffrey Skoll
- No act of kindness no matter how small is ever wasted.- Aesop
- Great leaders don’t set out to be a leader, they set out to make a difference. It’s never about the role, always about the goal. – Jeremy Bravo
- Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good. – Minor Myers
- Kindness can transform someone’s dark moment with a blaze of light. You’ll never know how much your caring matters. Make a difference for another today. – Amy Leigh Mercree
- Even though the world is large, one person can still make a world of difference. – Frank Sonnenberg
- You are never too insignificant to make a difference. – Gift Gugu Mona
- We’re here to bring beauty to the world and make a difference in this planet. That’s what art forms are about. – Charlie Haden
- The question is not whether you can make a difference in the world but what useful difference you can make! – Mehmet Murat Ildan
- You may find that making a difference for others makes the biggest difference in you. – Brian Williams
- Stand for something. Make your life mean something. Start where you are with what you have. You are enough. – Germany Kent
- You do only live once, and I feel like if I’m able to make a difference on this planet and make it just a little better than I found it, then I’ve done my job. – Bindi Irwin
- The best the world has to offer comes from the best you have to give to others. – Matshona Dhliwayo
- When you are called for a great duty because you have been given a great ability, do your very best to leave great footprints no matter what! – Ernest Agyemang Yeboah
- Love people who hate you. Pray for people who have wronged you. It won’t just change their life…it’ll change yours. – Mandy Hale
- When you believe in what you’re doing and use your imagination and initiative, you can make a difference. – Samuel Dash
- It is our job to make a difference and leave the world a better place. – Karol G.
- Love is a great gift, cherish it, share it, and make this world a better place with the love you have to give. – Heather Wolf
- Make a difference in someone’s life every day. It does make a difference. Everyone has the ability to make a difference. It doesn’t take much to give someone encouragement. The wheel always comes full circle, and whatever we give out will always return to us. The most meaningful acts are often the ones we commit without prompting or expectations. We have such profound power when we lend an ear, a hand, or an act of kindness. – Angie Karan
- If you have much, give of your wealth; if you have little, give of your heart. – Arabian Proverb
- It is better to have a meaningful life and make a difference than to merely have a long life. – Bryant H. McGill
- Whatever change you desire for the world, create that change in your own life. You are here for a purpose. Seek it out. Hunt it down. The greatest misery is to be purposeless. The great depression of our age is not economic, but spiritual. Our spiritual poverty is rooted in our purposelessness. – Matthew Kelly
- We all owe everyone for everything that happens in our lives. But it’s not owing like a debt to one person- it’s really that we owe everyone for everything. Our whole lives can change in an instance- so each person who keeps that from happening, no matter how small a role they play, is also responsible for all of it. Just by giving friendship and love, you keep the people around you from giving up – and each expression of friendship or love may be the one that makes all the difference. – Will Schwalbe

- We’re given a choice in our lives, to make things better, or worse, or merely endure like sheep. I choose to make things better, as much as I can. – Mercedes Lackey
- I made a pact with myself when I was younger that if I were to ever grow up to be someone, I would be someone who would make a difference, instead of being just another person on the planet who doesn’t look into anything. – Hannah Teter
- Tomorrow, smile at a perfect stranger and mean it. – John O’Callaghan
- Find something that you are passionate about in making a difference and you’ll find a waiting kinship of people willing to unite for the cause. – Wes Adamson
- If your presence doesn’t make an impact, your absence won’t make a difference. – Trey Smith
- There is nothing more beautiful than someone who goes out of their way to make life beautiful for others. – Mandy Hale
- The abundant life begins from within and then moves outward to other individuals. If there is richness and righteousness in us, then we can make a difference in the lives of others, just as key individuals have influenced the lives of each of us for good and made us richer than we otherwise would have been. – Spencer W. Kimball
- It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as you’re doing something. – Renni Eddo-Lodge
- If you cannot feed a hundred people, feed one. – Mother Teresa
- Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light. – Norman B. Rice
- I think we forget sometimes how blessed we are to be able to help others and make a difference. – Gautam Rode
- There is no greater joy, nor greater reward than to make a fundamental difference in someone’s life. – Mary Rose McGeady
- You and I were put on this earth to serve something greater than our narrow interests. When our focus becomes self-centered instead of God-centered we lose our greatest source of power. Our God-given talents are meant to benefit others. – Nick Vujicic
- The way you treat people who are in no position to help you, further you, or benefit you reveals the true state of your heart. – Mandy Hale
- Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth. – Muhammad Ali
- We can do no great things, only small things with great love. – Mother Teresa
- Don’t accept that you can’t make a difference. Because if you can’t make a difference, you won’t make a difference, and if you put a multiplier on that we will continue on an unsustainable pathway. – Maurice Strong
- You can’t go through life and leave things the way they are. We can all make a difference, and if I die today, I know I made a difference. – Gene Simmons
- I think I began learning long ago that those who are happiest are those who do the most for others. – Booker T. Washington
- Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. – Buddha
- I think everyone can make a difference, I think even smiling at someone in the morning can make her day. – Manushi Chillar
- If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it. – Lucy Larcom
- Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference. That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume. When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying. And that can make a world of difference. – Nikki Haley
- Love and kindness is never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who received them, and they bless you, the giver. – Barbara de Angelis
- You will find it will almost always be more comfortable to sit on the sidelines and critique the builders from afar. But at the end of the day, the people who make a difference, the people who shape history, are not the haters. – Wendy Kopp
- Make a difference about something other than yourselves. – Toni Morrison
- One person can make a difference, even if it takes forty years. – Fred Korematsu
- Regardless of whatever I do, I know what my purpose is: to make a difference in people’s lives. – Tim Tebow
- When I choose what to do, I ask, “Does it make a difference?” – Frances Hesselbein
People think they have to give up things to make a difference to the world but you don’t have to. – Waris Ahluwalia
Donate To The Poor & Homeless Of South Florida
Our Father’s House Soup Kitchen has fed the poor and homeless in South Florida over 900,000 hot meals since 1993. Our tax deductible non profit organization also accepts and distributes donations such as clothing, toiletries, shoes, bicycles, and more. You can donate to help the poor and homeless through our website.

Reviewed For Factual Accuracy
Our team meticulously fact-checks all website content before publishing. Discover more about our website’s editorial standard here and the dedication we uphold.

About The Author
Judy Ponio is a professional writer and devoted Christian. She has a passion for writing about topics related to morality and helping the poor and homeless. She is the lead author for the Our Father’s House Soup Kitchen blog.
Correct Digital, Inc is paid by private donors to provide website digital marketing services to this non-profit organization.