'When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.''

A quote by Whitney Houston

"I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside."

'Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.'

- Muhammad Ali (1942-2016)

A quote by award-winning actor Tom Hanks

"We are still in the position of waking up and having a choice. Do I make the world better today somehow, or do I not bother?"

'Follow your enthusiasm. It's something I've always believed in. Find those parts of your life you enjoy the most. Do what you enjoy doing.'

- "Muppets" creator Jim Henson (1936-1990)

'There are only four kinds of people in the world—those who have been caregivers, those who are caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers.'

- Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter (1927–2023)

'I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.'

- "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve (1952 - 2004)

'How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.' - Anne Frank

'No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.'

-Charles Dickens (1812-1870), in "Our Mutual Friend"

'The good ole days weren't always good, and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems.'

- Billy Joel (1949-present)

'Remember, no man is a failure who has friends.'

- 1946 film "It's a Wonderful Life"

'(Kids) don't remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are.'

- "Muppets" creator Jim Henson (1936-1990)

'One man can make a difference and every man should try.'

- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994)

'In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.'

-Poet Robert Frost (1874-1963)

'At every moment, we always have a choice, even if it feels as if we don’t. Sometimes that choice may simply be to think a more positive thought.'

- Singer Tina Turner (1993–2023)

'Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.'

- Senator Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968)

'We are more fulfilled when we are involved in something bigger than ourselves.'

- Astronaut John Glenn (1921–2016)

'You will never feel proud of your work if you find no joy within it; your best work is always joyful work.'

- Stevie Wonder (1950-present)

'All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.'

- "The Lord of the Rings" author JRR Tolkien (1892-1973)

'Adults ask questions as a child does. When you stop wondering, you might as well put your rocker on the front porch and call it a day.'

- Comedian and late night host Johnny Carson (1925–2005)

'Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.'

- Harper Lee from "To Kill a Mockingbird"

'Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.'

- Maya Angelou

A quote by broadcast legend Walter Cronkite

"In seeking truth you have to get both sides of a story."

'Everything you look at can become a fairy tale and you can get a story from everything you touch.'

- Danish author Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875)

A Quote by Sandra Day O'Connor

"Do the best you can in every task, no matter how unimportant it may seem at the time."

'Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors.'

- Polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk (1914–1995)

1978: Thurgood Marshall, commencement address at the University of Virginia

"Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on."

'Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results.'

- Willie Nelson (1933-present)

A quote from Van Gogh

"Find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful."

'One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world'

- Activist and author Malala Yousafzai (1997-present)

'The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.'

- Marine biologist and environmentalist Rachel Carson (1907-1964)

Welles Crowther, the "Man in the Red Bandana," saved up to 18 lives by repeatedly entering the south tower's burning sky lobby to guide survivors to safety before dying in its collapse.

'Most of man's problems upon this planet, in the long history of the race, have been met and solved either partially or as a whole by experiment based on common sense and carried out with courage.'

-Frances Perkins (1880-1965), first female member of US Cabinet

'The true measure of all our actions is how long the good in them lasts.'

- Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022)

Helping support others in older age linked to longer life

Analysis of findings from a long-term study of older couples first interviewed in 1987 and then followed for the next five years found that individuals who lend support to friends, neighbors, and relatives live longer. Non-helpers were more than twice as likely to die as helpers during the five-year period. That's even after controlling for factors including age, gender, and physical and mental health.

'There cannot be mental atrophy in any person who continues to observe, to remember what he observes, and to seek answers for his unceasing hows and whys about things.'

-Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)

'Heroes always have their scars. Some you can see, some you read about later on.'

- Boxer George Foreman (1949 - 2025)

'It takes a lot of courage to be happy, but I've got courage, so I think I will be happy again.'

- Actress Florence Henderson (1934–2016)

A quote by athlete Walter Payton

"When you're good at something, you'll tell everyone. When you're great at something, they'll tell you."

'No one has ever become poor by giving.'

- Anne Frank (1929-1945)

Will Rogers' political humor was an early predecessor to stand-up

Rogers got his start spinning ropes for circus shows and broke through his association with Florence Zeigfeld's Follies and Frolic. It was his humorous political commentary, though, that would solidify his celebrity status. His goodhearted ribbing of society's "big men" predated the common notion of stand-up comedians as truth-telling jesters.

A quote by Magic Johnson

"Celebrate the life you had, not the life you could've had."

'Men and nature must work hand in hand. The throwing out of balance of the resources of nature throws out of balance also the lives of men.'

- President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)

'Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.'

- "Peanuts" cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (1922-2000)

'There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.'

- Philosopher Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980)

See a massive collection of Norman Rockwell's paintings

Rockwell's works sought to capture authentic scenes from American life and, in the process, came to define the American ideal. This collection includes 244 of his paintings, from his early days at the Saturday Evening Post through his more socially minded work for Look, to the end of his career. Below is 1951's "Saying Grace."

'It's those who lie outside ordinary experience who have the most to teach us.'

- Author Malcolm Gladwell (1963 - present)

'The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.'

- Former President Theodore Roosevelt's (1858–1919)

'What each of us must come to realize is that our intent always comes through.'

- First African American Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993)

'I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.'

- Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992)

Fifty-two acts of kindness for each week of 2023

Whether fostering kittens, donating blood, or delivering boxes of biscuits to striking workers, there has never been a better time to help out. Here's a kindness suggestion for each week of 2023.