“If you think you are too small to make a difference, you have never been in bed with a mosquito”

—  Tenzin Gyatso

The earliest known example of this quote comes from a January 1993 article in Time magazine, where it is associated with British businesswoman Anita Roddick:: "Even Body Shop trucks are employed as rolling billboards for pithy slogans. Roddick's current favorite, taken from the side of one of her company's lorries: IF YOU THINK YOU'RE TOO SMALL TO HAVE AN IMPACT, TRY GOING TO BED WITH A MOSQUITO".
IN the 21st century, it was cited as an "African proverb". Earliest attribution to Dalai Lama is from 2004.
Disputed
Source: Philip Elmer-DeWitt, "Anita the Agitator" https://books.google.com/books?id=Cm7uAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22anita+roddick%22+mosquito&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=mosquito, Time, 1993-01-25
Source: https://indianinthemachine.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/if-you-think-youre-too-small-to-make-a-difference-try-sleeping-in-a-closed-room-with-a-mosquito-african-proverb/
Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=K8Q53xW1ie8C&pg=PA1&dq=%22too+small+to+make+a+difference%22+mosquito+lama&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjjxrTbkbnJAhVHLYgKHVfdB84Q6AEIIjAB#v=onepage&q=%22too%20small%20to%20make%20a%20difference%22%20mosquito%20lama&f=false

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "If you think you are too small to make a difference, you have never been in bed with a mosquito" by Tenzin Gyatso?
Tenzin Gyatso photo
Tenzin Gyatso 112
spiritual leader of Tibet 1935

Related quotes

Ralph Klein photo

“[Edmonton is a] fine city with too many socialists and mosquitoes. At least you can spray the mosquitoes.”

Ralph Klein (1942–2013) Canadian politician

Source: Welcome to Ralph's World: 10 of Ralph Klein's most colourful quotes http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/welcome-to-ralph-s-world-10-of-ralph-klein-s-most-colourful-quotes-1.1216791

“Nothing, no one, is too small to matter. What you do is going to make a difference.”

Madeleine L'Engle A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Source: A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh photo

“You have mosquitoes. I have the Press.”

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921) member of the British Royal Family, consort to Queen Elizabeth II

In a 1966 conversation with the matron of a hospital while on a tour of the Caribbean as quoted in The Reality of Monarchy (1970) by Andrew Duncan
1960s

Zig Ziglar photo

“It makes no difference where you go, there you are. And it makes no difference what you have, there’s always more to want. Until you are happy with who you are, you will never be happy because of what you have.”

Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American motivational speaker
Andy Andrews photo

“You have been created in order that you might make a difference. You have within you the power to change the world.”

Andy Andrews (1959) author and corporate speaker

Source: The Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Matters

“Never let your small business make you small-minded.”

Brendon Burchard (1977) author
Gillian Flynn photo

“… and you drink a little too much and try a little too hard. And you go home to a cold bed and think, 'That was fine'. And your life is a long line of fine.”

Gillian Flynn book Gone Girl

Variant: You drink a little too much and try a little too hard. And you go home to a cold bed and think, That was fine. And your life is a long line of fine.
Source: Gone Girl

Patrick Dixon photo

“When you have been close to death it makes you think about life.”

Patrick Dixon book Building a Better Business

Building a Better Business (2005)

Amy Tan photo

“Don't think too much. That makes you believe you have more choices than you do. Then you mind becomes confused.”

Amy Tan The Hundred Secret Senses

Source: The Hundred Secret Senses

Related topics