quotations about sacrifice
People disagree on a vast range of important issues. They argue over whether God exists, whether man has free will, whether capitalism is superior to socialism, whether rights pertain to fetuses. But one crucial question generates almost no debate: the question of whether self-sacrifice is morally good. Sacrificing yourself for the needs of others is universally seen as the essence of morality. The tenets of altruism are widely regarded not simply as true, but as practically self-evident. Acting for the benefit of others is deemed virtuous, while acting for your own benefit is not. People may, of course, choose not to behave ethically, but they take as incontrovertible the premise that if one does wish to be ethical one must be altruistic. Even questioning this premise is, to most people, equivalent to entertaining the notion that the earth is flat.
PETER SCHWARTZ
In Defense of Selfishness: Why the Code of Self-Sacrifice is Unjust and Destructive
In addition to the fact that life is daily sacrificed for the sustentation of life, the belief of a higher sacrifice would seem to be one of man's most unconquerable instincts.
THOMAS RAGG
attributed, Day's Collacon
Our virtues are dearer to us the more we have had to suffer for them. It is the same with our children. All profound affection admits a sacrifice.
VAUVENARGUES
attributed, Treasury of Thought: Forming an Encyclopedia of Quotations
Faith is best realized in sacrifice.
MADAME SWETCHINE
The Writings of Madame Swetchine
Long long way
Between sin and sacrifice
DEVILDRIVER
"Sin & Sacrifice"
Sacrifice is always about life directed to the person in control of human life. The fact that humans cannot spontaneously, technologically, or mechanically produce life makes life itself the prime natural symbol of gift--life always comes from another.
BRUCE J. MALINA
The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology
I was going to be rich no matter how much it cost
And I was going to win no matter how much I lost
Grindstones and rhinestones have made up my life
But I've shined like a diamond through sacrifice
DOLLY PARTON
"The Sacrifice"
He who never sacrificed a present to a future good or a personal to a general one can speak of happiness only as the blind do of colors.
OLYMPIA BROWN
sermon, January 13, 1895
Maybe this was what love meant after all: sacrifice and selflessness. It did not mean hearts and flowers and a happy ending, but the knowledge that another's well-being is more important than one's own.
MELISSA DE LA CRUZ
Lost in Time
The whole earth, perpetually steeped in blood, is nothing but an immense altar on which every living thing must be sacrificed without end, without restraint, without respite until the consummation of the world, the extinction of evil, the death of death.
JOSEPH DE MAISTRE
"Seventh Dialogue", St Petersburg Dialogues: Or Conversations on the Temporal Government of Providence
When we make little sacrifices we like to have them appreciated, at least.
LOUISA MAY ALCOTT
Little Women
Fundamentally, to sacrifice is to have power. This power may take many forms. Animal and human sacrifice, of course, include the literal power over life and death. But sacrifice is also primarily about material power. To sacrifice is both to have something of one's own -- be it created, earned, given, or purchased -- and the ability to destroy it. It is, in essence, a display of possession, ownership, and control.
NICOLE J. RUANE
Sacrifice and Gender in Biblical Law
How difficult it is to get men to balance a present sacrifice with a future advantage! How hard to induce them to wish an end, and not hesitate at the means! How many mingle together means and ends, rejoicing in the first without having the other before their eyes. We can offer up much in the large, but to make sacrifices in little things is what we are seldom equal to.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
attributed, Day's Collacon
The whole point of sacrifice is that you give up something you never really wanted in the first place.... People are doing it around you all the time. They give up their careers, say--or their beliefs--or sex.
JOHN OSBORNE
Look Back in Anger
It wasn't necessary to win for the story to be great, it was only necessary to sacrifice everything.
DONALD MILLER
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
Having the ability to recognize and act on the importance of sacrifice and integrity are conduits to achieve excellence in everyday life.
RYAN T. BLYSTONE
"Mass of the Holy Spirit: Message of Sacrifice, Integrity Seek to Inspire Toreros", USD News Center, September 15, 2017
As we live
Moving side by side
May we learn to give
Learn to sacrifice
MICHAEL W. SMITH
"Give It Away"
No man knows the genuineness of his convictions until he has sacrificed something for them.
E. H. CHAPIN
Living Words
No one can make sacrifice for another, without establishing a new bond of interest between them.
ELON FOSTER
New Cyclopaedia of Prose Illustrations
Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to.
MITCH ALBOM
The Five People You Meet in Heaven