“Man cannot really help the world. God alone does that”

—  Ramakrishna

He who has created the sun and the moon, who has put love for their children in parents' hearts, endowed noble souls with compassion, and holy men and devotees with divine love. The man who works for others, without any selfish motive, really does good to himself. There is gold buried in your heart, but you are not yet aware of it. It is covered with a thin layer of earth. Once you are aware of it, all these activities of yours will lessen. … Through selfless work, love of God grows in the heart. Then, through His grace, one realizes Him in course of time. God can be seen, one can talk to Him, as I am talking to you.
As quoted in Ramakrishna : Prophet of New India (1948) by Swami Nikhilananda, p. 80

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Nov. 15, 2024. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Man cannot really help the world. God alone does that" by Ramakrishna?
Ramakrishna photo
Ramakrishna 142
Indian mystic and religious preacher 1836–1886

Related quotes

Martin Buber photo
David Lange photo

“When asked, "Does God help you?": "He's not really in caucus lately."”

David Lange (1942–2005) New Zealand politician and 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand

Source: A New Zealand Dictionary of Political Quotations, p. 94.

Steven Curtis Chapman photo

“As soon as you're willing to humble yourself and say, God, please help — then you can find out that His strength really is perfect, that He really does care for you, that He does really want to meet your need.”

Steven Curtis Chapman (1962) American Christian music singer-songwriter, record producer, actor, author, and social activist

"The Live Adventure" album, "Family Talk" track, recorded live in Seattle

Arthur Schopenhauer photo
Etty Hillesum photo

“And if God does not help me to go on, then I shall have to help God.”

Etty Hillesum (1914–1943) Jewish diarist

The surface of the earth is gradually turning into one great prison camp, and soon there will be nobody left outside. … I don't fool myself about the real state of affairs, and I've even dropped the pretense that I'm out to help others. I shall merely try to help God as best I can, and if I succeed in doing that, then I shall be of use to others as well. But I mustn't have heroic illusions about that either.
11 July 1942, p. 484-85
Etty: The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943

John Ruskin photo

“There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey.”

John Ruskin (1819–1900) English writer and art critic

According to Ruskin scholar George P. Landow, there is no evidence that this quotation or its variants can be found in any of Ruskin's works.
[Landow, George P., A Ruskin Quotation?, VictorianWeb.org, 2007-07-27, http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/ruskin/quotation.html, 2013-01-07]
Disputed

Sarah Dessen photo

Related topics