The Paradoxical Commandments

living on a ball of dirt hurtling around in space

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

These were the commandments hung on the wall of Mother Teresa’s charity in Calcutta, India. These might seem simplistic but there is great power that lies behind each of these lines. In today’s world of everyone for himself, a very, very different perspective. We are all tiny dots living on a ball of dirt hurtling around in space that contains billions and billions of objects.