You don’t have to walk far down the street before seeing someone down on their luck. A homeless guy sat on the sidewalk. A frantic Mom who’s shopping bag split. A young girl knocked off her bike on her way to work.
Everywhere we turn, there are individuals struggling to get through the day. And for the most, people simply walk on by. Too busy in their own lives to stop. Too wrapped up in their own problems to care.
But if just one person, if you or I, made more time to help, to put aside our own agendas and give back a little, we really could make a difference. And whilst you might think that helping just one person won’t change the world, it could in fact change that one person’s world.
How Can One Person Change the World?
How often have you heard singers, actors, or beauty pageant contestants talk about changing the world? That they want to end poverty and make clean water accessible to everyone.
Powerful words. And whilst we all hope for a better future, for most of us, those kinds of changes are simply statements said with good intentions.
The average Joe doesn’t have billions of dollars to dig wells in Africa. And doesn’t have the influence needed to insist the government gives more to people on the poverty line.
But there are things we can all do to make a difference. Small, but important changes, to how we think, how we act and how we help, even within our local community. And we should.
Check-in with your neighbors, especially the elderly, or the single mom, or the gentleman you’ve not seen since who knows when. Make time to talk to them, and if you can, offer to get some groceries, or walk their dog.
Maybe you could help out at the local community centre, or the homeless shelter. You could share your skills, such as baking and sewing with those who are keen to learn. Or even take lessons in sign language to help those who are hard of hearing, feel included in the world?
And at the very least, share your smile. In a world where far too many people are struggling with their mental health, it may be the single most important thing you give to someone.
Let’s now take a look at these 63 make a difference quotes. And see if we can change the world, by each doing our bit.
63 Make a Difference Quotes to Help Change the World
- “Each one of us can make a difference. Together we make change.” – Barbara Mikulski
- “Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes.” – William Paul Young, The Shack
- “Unless you walk out into the unknown, the odds of making a profound difference in your life are pretty low.” – Tom Peters
- “Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver.” – Barbara De Angelis
- “Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference has never tried to fall asleep with a mosquito in the room.” – The Dalai Lama
- “Everything you do and every decision you make should be from a place of good. You should always be striving to make the world a better place.” – Les Brown
- “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.” – Edward Everett Hale
- “Rosa Parks was the queen mother of a movement whose single act of heroism sparked the movement for freedom, justice and equality. Her greatest contribution is that she told us a regular person can make a difference.” – Marc Morial
- “When you encourage others, you in the process are encouraged because you're making a commitment and difference in that person's life. Encouragement really does make a difference.” – Zig Ziglar
- “You don’t have to know a lot of things for your life to make a lasting difference in the world. But you do have to know the few great things that matter, perhaps just one, and then be willing to live for them and die for them.” – John Piper
- “An individual can make a difference, but a team can make a miracle.” – Doug Pederson
- “It’s the curiosity that drives me. It’s making a difference in the world that prevents me from ever giving up.” – Deborah Meier
- “It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference.” – Tom Brokaw
- “It’s not about what I SEE for our future, or humanity; It’s about what I DO for our future and humanity.” – Steve Maraboli
- “No act of kindness no matter how small is ever wasted.” – Aesop
- “To make a difference in someone’s life, you don’t have to be brilliant, rich, beautiful, or perfect. You just have to care enough and be there.” – Unknown
- “Make a difference today for someone who's fighting for their tomorrow.” – Jim Kelly
- “If there is richness and righteousness in us, then we can make a difference in the lives of others, just as key individuals have influenced the lives of each of us for good and made us richer than we otherwise would have been.” – Spencer W. Kimball
- “Act as if what you do makes a difference, it does.” – William James
- “Ultimately it's the simple things that make a difference.” – Chris Smalling
- “The best way to make a difference in the world is to start by making a difference in your own life.” – Julia Louis-Dreyfus
- “Aim to make a difference in someone’s life every single day, including your own.” – Dow Zantamata
- “Everyone can do simple things to make a difference, and every little bit really does count.” – Stella McCartney
- “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” – Jake Goodall
- “If you cannot feed a hundred people, feed one.” – Mother Teresa
- “We can choose to be affected by the world or we can choose to affect the world.” – Heidi Wills
- “When you believe in what you're doing and use your imagination and initiative, you can make a difference.” – Samuel Dash
- “Your life is your message to the world. Make sure it’s inspiring.” – Unknown
- “There is no greater joy, nor greater reward than to make a fundamental difference in someone’s life.” – Mary Rose McGeady
- “If you believe you can make a difference, then you will make a difference. Believe in yourself, your family and your community and you will win.” – Lindsay Fox
- “Believe with all your heart that how you live your life makes a difference.” – Colin Brown
- “It’s about making a difference in people’s lives. Remembered or not, lived out in a small town or on the world stage, the journey of relevance matters.” – Marian Deegan
- “I believe that every single one of us, celebrity or not, has a responsibility to get involved in trying to make a difference in the world. Our generation faces many challenges, some of which were passed on to us by the past generations, but it's up to us to find solutions today so that we don't keep passing our problems on.” – Shakira
I believe that every single one of us, celebrity or not, has a responsibility to get involved in trying to make a difference in the world. Our generation faces many challenges, some of which were passed on to us by the past generations, but it's up to us to find solutions today so that we don't keep passing our problems on.” – Shakira
- “Regardless of whatever I do, I know what my purpose is: to make a difference in people's lives.” – Tim Tebow
- “Never underestimate the valuable and important difference you make in every life you touch for the impact you make today has a powerful rippling effect on every tomorrow.” – Leon Brown
- “The mind has exactly the same power as the hands: not merely to grasp the world, but to change it.” – Colin Wilson
- “We can change the world and make it a better place. It is in our hands to make a difference.” – Nelson Mandela
- “I'm not the same person I was. I used to act dumb. It was an act. I am 26 years old, and that act is no longer cute. It is not who I am, nor do I want to be that person for the young girls who looked up to me. I know now that I can make a difference, that I have the power to do that.” – Paris Hilton
- “Great leaders don’t set out to be a leader, they set out to make a difference. It’s never about the role, always about the goal.” – Jeremy Bravo
- “The way you treat people who are in no position to help you, further you, or benefit you reveals the true state of your heart.” – Mandy Hale
- “Never doubt that one person can make a difference.” – Ingrid Newkirk
- “Find something that you are passionate about in making a difference and you’ll find a waiting kinship of people willing to unite for the cause.” – Wes Adamson
- “We may not have the ability to change all of the world’s wrongs, but we can make a difference where we are.” – Dillon Burroughs
- “I choose bold. I choose action. I choose what's right for the people. I choose to make a difference.” – Bill Richardson
- “It’s only when we can work with something that brings out our strengths that we’re of any real use.” – Henning Mankell
- “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank
- “Whatever I want to do, I want to make a difference.” – Madelyn Cline
- “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “Small acts of kindness can make a difference in other people's lives more than we can imagine.” – Catherine Pulsifer
- “What material success does is provide you with the ability to concentrate on other things that really matter. And that is being able to make a difference, not only in your own life, but in other people's lives.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “We have the potential to help people out of poverty, out of disease, out of slavery, and out of conflict. Too often, we turn the other way because we think there's nothing we can do.” – Alicia Keys
- “Yes, well I really hope I can make a difference, even in the smallest way. I am looking forward to helping as much as I can.” – Kate Middleton
- “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” – Dr. Seuss
- “By being kind, we have the power of making the world a happier place in which to live, or at least we greatly diminish the amount of unhappiness in it so as to make it a quite different world.” – Lawrence G. Lovasik
- “One person can make a difference, even if it takes forty years.” – Fred Korematsu
- “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
- “Understand and be confident that each of us can make a difference by caring and acting in small as well as big ways.” – Marian Wright Edelman
- “You have the power to make a difference in someone's life. I continually hear personal stories of how one small act of kindness warmed someone's soul.” – Robbie Miller Kaplan
- “I think – you know, I'm a guy that – I don't live on the earth just to walk it. I live on here to make a difference.” – Tracy McGrady
- “We won't always know whose lives we touched and made better for our having cared, because actions sometimes have unforeseen ramifications. What's important is that you do care and you act.” – Charlotte Lunsford
- “Focus on your work. Do what you’re great at. Don’t compare yourself to others and or waste time criticizing the lives and work of others. Do what matters most to you and make a difference doing that.” – Germany Kent
- “You can make a difference in the lives of others. Be a doer – don't only be a hearer.” – James Strand,
- “I think one of the best words in the English language is ‘compassion.’ I think it holds everything. It holds love, it holds care… and if everybody just did something, We would all make a difference.” – Michael Crawford
Final Thoughts on Making a Difference
Changing the world isn’t a one-person job. Nor is it reserved for the wealthy or the famous. And you don’t need to wear a superhero cape to do it (although this is of course entirely optional).
By each doing our little bit, by looking at our community and giving back where we can, big changes can happen.
Let’s not forget how amazing it feels to help someone else. Check out these 9 reasons why helping others makes us happy for more compelling reasons to give back.
And if you want more inspirational quotes, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- 73 Inspirational You Are Amazing Quotes
- 55 Connection Quotes That Bind Us Together
- 71 Grind Quotes to Increase Your Motivation
Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then check out and recite these 57 affirmations for success.
Rebel Jones has been writing from a young age. She first used poetry to organise words – the rhythm and flow brought peace to her chaos. But as she developed (both as a person and as a writer), she embraced her offbeat thought process and found her own style and tone. Writing is definitely her happy place and one that she’s happy to share with the world.
