Volunteer Quotes: Bring Passion and Drive to Your Community

There’s no question about it, volunteers are incredibly valuable. The best thing you can do if you want your volunteers to succeed is to ensure your volunteers know that you appreciate them and to inspire them to continue their great work. 

This list has funny quotes about volunteering, quotes to make sure your volunteers are thanked for their work, quotes that are sure to inspire, and so much more! You’ll find the quotes you need in this huge list of quotes for you to share with those who make a difference by helping others.

The Importance of Volunteer Quotes

Volunteer quotes are important because they help volunteers feel recognized and they also inspire others to consider volunteering. Quotes from celebrities and famous people can show the reach that volunteerism has in society. Funny volunteer quotes are great for providing a moment of levity and humor. Quotes about the impact of volunteering can help inspire your volunteer team. 

How to Inspire Volunteers With Volunteer Quotes

If you’re trying to inspire volunteers with volunteer quotes, reminding them that their service to others is having a big impact is important. You also may want to use some examples to show that even the smallest act of kindness has a positive influence in the world. Volunteers make the lives of others so much better and they can even give us a safer world.

Using inspirational volunteer quotes that highlight the significance of your volunteers’ actions can also help with the engagement of volunteers.

Where to Share Volunteer Quotes

Web Page

If your organization has a web page, consider sharing quotes about volunteering there. You could add your favorite quote about volunteering to your homepage. If you have a page on your website dedicated to volunteers, that’s another great place to share volunteer quotes.

Newsletters

Do you have a weekly, monthly, or yearly newsletter? This is a great opportunity for you to share the best quotes about volunteers and explain what they mean to you. You can share as many as you like, or feature new quotes in each newsletter. 

Recruitment Materials

If you’re recruiting for volunteers and have materials like flyers, a banner, sign or invitations, these are all good places to put quotes about volunteering. Quotes about the importance and impact of volunteering are wonderful ways to inspire others to consider volunteering with your organization.

Orientation

At your volunteer orientation, you may want to share quotes about volunteering that help get your new volunteers excited about the significance of their work.

Speeches and Live Events

Giving a speech to your volunteers is a nice time to use quotes about volunteering. Live events, especially those where your volunteers are invited to attend, are another great time to use the volunteer quotes on this list. Praising the importance of your volunteers publicly can help retain volunteers in your organization and thank them for the work they do.

Sign-In Sheets

Volunteer sign in sheets are a place your volunteers will look each time they come in for a shift. Putting a quote next to their sign in space is a great way to help motivate them to do their best and to keep coming back for more shifts. Thinking of the difference they make and seeing their word recognized is important.

Thank-You Cards

When you send your volunteers thank you cards, consider adding a quote about volunteering. Adding the words of others to your thank-you card will serve to reinforce the feeling of gratitude your volunteer receives from your card, but also help them see how much their role is valued by others.

Email Signature

If you work with volunteers, or rely heavily on the volunteers within your organization, you could add a volunteer quote to your email signature where it will be seen by those you interact with. 

50+ Best Quotes for Volunteers

Inspirational quotes, quotes of thanks, funny volunteer quotes and so much more… Here are the best quotes about volunteers to thank them for their hard work and inspire them to lend a helping hand.

Volunteer Appreciation Quotes to Show Recognition

“God cannot be everywhere; that’s why he had created Philanthropists (Volunteers and Donors).” ~ Sabiha Hasan

“No one is more cherished in this world than someone who lightens the burden of another.” ~ Unknown

“Volunteers wear work-boots but leave a trail of angel footprints.” ~ Terri Guillemets

Volunteer Quotes That Inspire

“The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired. One of the great ironies of life is this: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.” ~ Gordon B. Hinckley,

“Give what you possess.” ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

“If you are ever really down on yourself, the best thing you can do is help someone else, and become outwardly focused.” ~ Andrew Lutts

“The sun is never denied the light it gives; likewise, you are never denied the kindness you bestow.” ~ Matshona Dhliwayo

“Those who can, do. Those who can do more, volunteer.” ~ Unknown

Volunteer Quotes to Instill Leadership

“A noble leader answers not to the trumpet calls of self promotion, but to the hushed whispers of necessity.” ~ Mollie Marti

“Even if you just change one life, you’ve changed the world forever.” ~ Mike Satterfield

“Volunteerism is the voice of the people put into action. These actions shape and mold the present into a future of which we can all be proud.” ~ Helen Dyer

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” ~ Margaret Mead

“No matter how big and powerful government gets, and the many services it provides, it can never take the place of volunteers.” ~ Ronald Reagan

Volunteer Quotes About Service

“Doing nothing for others is the undoing of ourselves.” ~ Horace Mann

“Service to humanity is service to God.” ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

“Joyfully we undertake our daily work.” ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

“Humanity progresses because of attempts to serve. and the more you serve others, the more you’re serving yourself.” ~ Aniekee Tochukwu Ezekiel

“Selfless giving is the art of living.” ~ Frederic Lenz

“When we give cheerfully, and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.” ~ Maya Angelou

Volunteer Quotes of Thanks

”Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless.” ~ Sherry Anderson

“Volunteering is a work of heart.” ~ Unknown

“Volunteers make the world a better place.” ~ Unknown

“I wouldn’t want to live in a world without volunteers.” ~ Unknown

“I want to thank and pay tribute to all of our volunteers — those dedicated people who believe in all work and no pay.” ~ Robert Orben

“Volunteers are paid in six figures — S-M-I-L-E-S.” ~ Gayla LeMaire

Volunteer Quotes of Heroism

”Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.” ~ Elizabeth Andrew

“Don’t look any further than your own reflection for a hero.” ~ Allyson Patridge

“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something greater than oneself.” ~ Joseph Campbell

“Volunteering is an act of heroism on a grand scale. And it matters profoundly. It does more than help people beat the odds; it changes the odds.” ~ William J. Clinton

Funny Volunteer Quotes to Spread Laughs

“If you don’t believe one person can make a difference, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.” ~ Anita Roddick

“There are three kinds of people: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who say, ‘what happened?’“ ~ Casey Stengel 

“Keep Calm and Volunteer On.” ~ Unknown

Don’t ever question the value of volunteers. Noah’s Ark was built by volunteers; the Titanic was built by professionals. ~ Dave Gynn

Famous Quotes by Famous People

“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.” ~ Barack Obama

“We can find meaning and reward by serving some higher purpose than ourselves, a shining purpose, the illumination of a thousand points of light.” ~ George H.W. Bush

“You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.” ~ Winston Churchill

“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands — one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” ~ Audrey Hepburn

“To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

“Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve…. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Quotes That Display the Power of Volunteering

“It is in the pursuits for the good of humanity and through purposeful deeds and endeavors that you own your power and soar to extraordinary levels of living.” ~ Germany Kent

“It is conceivable that the psychological and physical benefits of volunteering eventuate in longer life. Two recent studies found that among community-dwelling older adults, volunteering led to reduced risk of early death.” ~ Christopher Peterson

“30 or 40 of such voluntary gentlemen would do more in a day than 100 of the rest that must be press’d to it by compulsion.” ~ John Smith

Quotes That Celebrate Giving Back

“Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.” ~ H. Jackson Brown Jr.

“Not everything must be done in exchange for money. Some of the greatest moments in our lives are generated from experiences with no monetary value.” ~ Torron-Lee Dewar

“You don’t have to be a billionaire to believe you can make a difference. Give your resources to a charity and volunteer in your community.” ~ Germany Kent

“The more you give of yourself, the more you find yourself.” ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

“The interior joy we feel when we have done a good deed is the nourishment the soul requires.” ~ Albert Schweitzer

Quotes That Encourage a Positive Change

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” ~ John Quincy Adams

“Getting what you want is not nearly as important as giving what you have.” ~ Tom Krause

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” ~ Aesop

“It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.” ~ Tom Brokaw

“Those humble, quiet, behind-the-scenes people are the reason anything ever gets done.” ~ Terri Guillemets

“Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.” ~ Mother Teresa

Volunteer Quotes- Bottom Line

There are so many great ways to recognize and inspire the volunteers in your community. By using the quotes on this list in your speeches, cards, newsletters and training, your volunteers will begin to understand the depth of the impact their volunteer work and unselfish caring has and see that they are appreciated by your organization.