There are people, who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves.

You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.

The worst thing you can do for those you love is the things they could and should do themselves.

The worst things you can do for the ones you love are the things they could and should do for themselves” — and

It is true that when we harm others, we harm ourselves; but it is just as true that when we help others, we also help ourselves.

The trick is to help others without believing yourself to be, or acting like you are, their savior.

If we fail to look after others when they need help, who will look after us?

Every time we have opportunity and fail to live up to that truth which is within us, every time we fail to express a good thought, every time we fail to perform a good act, we weaken ourselves, and make it more difficult to express that thought or perform that act in the future. Every time we perform a good act, every time we express a noble feeling, we make it the more easy to perform that act or express that feeling another time.

Our only consolation, as we feel our strength failing us, is to feel that we may help those who come after us to do more and to do better than ourselves.

We can stop asking what others can do for us, and start asking what we can do for others.

Give your weakness to one who helps.

We must do what we can to mend our lives, we owe that to ourselves – but we need to be careful not to break others while achieving that.

Why God sometimes allows people who are genuinely good to be hindered in the good that they do. God, who is faithful, allows his friends to fall frequently into weakness only in order to remove from them any prop on which they might lean. For a loving person it would be a great joy to be able to achieve many great feats, whether keeping vigils, fasting, performing other ascetical practices or doing major, difficult and unusual works. For them this is a great joy, support and source of hope so that their works become a prop and a support upon which they can lean. But it is precisely this which our Lord wishes to take from them so that he alone will be their help and support. This he does solely on account of his pure goodness and mercy, for God is prompted to act only by his goodness, and in no way do our works serve to make God give us anything or do anything for us. Our Lord wishes his friends to be freed from such an attitude, and thus he removes their support from them so that they must henceforth find their support only in him. For he desires to give them great gifts, solely on account of his goodness, and he shall be their comfort and support while they discover themselves to be and regard themselves as being a pure nothingness in all the great gifts of God. The more essentially and simply the mind rests on God and is sustained by him, the more deeply we are established in God and the more receptive we are to him in all his precious gifts – for human kind should build on God alone.

Why do I always have to be helping people . . . and getting no help myself?