“The sole way to save oneself is to save others. Or to struggle to save others -even that is sufficient.”

1860s, Letter to Horace Greeley (1862)
Context: My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union.

The Saviors of God (1923)
Context: God is imperiled. He is not almighty, that we may cross our hands, waiting for certain victory. He is not all-holy, that we may wait trustingly for him to pity and to save us.
Within the province of our ephemeral flesh all of God is imperiled. He cannot be saved unless we save him with our own struggles; nor can we be saved unless he is saved.
We are one. From the blind worm in the depths of the ocean to the endless arena of the Galaxy, only one person struggles and is imperiled: You. And within your small and earthen breast only one thing struggles and is imperiled: the Universe.

Source: Incantation

Source: Gone with the Wind

In Place of Fear, 1952
1950s

As quoted in The Inner Kingdom (2000) by Kallistos Ware, p. 133.
As quoted in The Folly of Prayer : Practicing the Presence and Absence of God (2009) by Matt Woodley, p. 156.
Variant: Acquire a peaceful spirit, and then thousands around you will be saved.
Variant: Acquire a peaceful spirit, and around you thousands will be saved.

The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), VII : Love, Suffering, Pity

World Upon Your Shoulders
Song lyrics, Diorama (2002)