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About this quote

What does it mean?
Serving others is noble only when done willingly and with full mental and emotional commitment.
In plain terms
Service is only beautiful if done with joy and freedom.
What can you take from it?
True service requires genuine willingness.

Where it applies

  • volunteering
  • caregiving

Putting it to work

  • cultivate genuine intent in work
  • avoid forced charity

Questions to consider

  • Can you serve without joy?
  • What makes service meaningful?

Another view

Sometimes duty requires service without personal joy.

More from Pearl Buck

  1. To find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth.

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  2. We send missionaries to China so the Chinese can get to heaven, but we won't let them into our country.

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  3. The true wisdom of life consists in seeing the extraordinary in the common.

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