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About this quote

What does it mean?
The author aimed to show what one person with no resources could achieve for humanity. It is a personal mission statement.
In plain terms
He wanted to prove one poor person could help everyone.
What can you take from it?
Individual effort can serve humanity regardless of resources.

Where it applies

  • personal planning
  • activism
  • career goals

Putting it to work

  • set a cause
  • start small
  • mobilize help

Questions to consider

  • What can you achieve with limited resources?
  • How do you define effective service?

Another view

One person's effort may be insufficient without broader support.

More from Buckminster Fuller

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  2. I do not look upon human beings as good or bad. I don't think of my feet as a right foot and a wrong foot. ... I am a student of the effectiveness of the techn…

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  3. Love is metaphysical gravity.

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