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About this quote

What does it mean?
There is value in serving many people, even if their lives seem small in the grand scheme.
In plain terms
Helping many people matters even if they seem small.
What can you take from it?
Do your best for others regardless of scale.

Where it applies

  • public service
  • leadership
  • daily work

Putting it to work

  • serve others
  • respect feelings
  • do your best

Questions to consider

  • Does scale matter for meaning?
  • How do we honor feelings?

Another view

One person's best effort might not solve systemic issues.

More from Robert A. Heinlein

  1. The death rate is the same for us as for anybody...one person, one death, sooner or later.

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  2. We lived like that 'Happy Family' you sometimes see in traveling zoos: a lion caged with a lamb. It is a startling exhibit but the lamb has to be replaced freq…

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  3. The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed.

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