Good Deed Quotes & Sayings

God, in His mercy, tells us that a good deed is recorded as soon as a person decides to perform it, while a bad deed is only recorded after it has been performed. — G. Willow Wilson

People often do a good deed without hope of reward, but for an evil deed they always demand payment. — L. Frank Baum

We will take the good-will for the deed. — Francois Rabelais

Without grace, we can do no good deed. — Lailah Gifty Akita

The general consent of all that sect is that God (by his foreknowledge, counsel, and wisdom) has no assured election, neither yet any certain reprobation, but that every man may elect or reprobate himself by his own free will, which he has (say they) to do good or evil ... [All these things are] forged by their own brains, and polished by the finest of their wits, when yet in very deed they are but the rotten heresies of ... Pelagius, long ago confuted by Augustine ... — John Knox

A good deed is the best prayer. — Robert Green Ingersoll

No good deed goes unpunished - Oscar Wilde — Allen Mack

When you want to make a beginning of a good deed, first prepare for temptations, which will come to you, and don't doubt the truth of that which you do for God. — Isaac Of Nineveh

Steal a chicken if you get a chance, Huck, because if you don't want it, someone else does and a good deed ain't never forgotten. — Mark Twain

If a man lives for the glory of God, he stops looking for affirmation from other human beings after every good deed, a pat on the head every time he does his duty. Instead, he throws himself into his role unselfishly. He contents himself with knowing he is fulfilling his purpose in this world and pleasing the God who made him. — Stephen Mansfield

It could be anything, give a homeless guy a sandwich, help an old lady across the street like anything to make this world a better place. If everybody just did one good thing for another person like a selfless good deed just think about how much a better place this would be. — Frank Iero

You didn't really hold back on Braga so Pickering could kill him, did you?" Royce asked after the two were left alone in the hallway.
"Of course not. I held off because it's death for a commoner to kill a noble."
"That's what I thought." Royce sounded relieved. "For a minute, I wondered if you'd gone from jumping on the good-deed wagon to leading the whole wagon train. — Michael J. Sullivan

Which one was it? He'll pay for it with his life, I swear to you."
"Settle down, Gray. And for God's sake, don't go punching yourself in the eye just to even the score."
Gray shot him a look. "Not amusing, Joss."
"Oh yes, it is. Give me credit for a joke when I make one. It's nothing, Gray. I've had worse. You've given me worse. And it's no more than a man can expect, I suppose, when he's an alleged pirate."
"Piracy charges." Gray cracked his neck. "What a joke." This was the voyage he'd finally gone respectable, and what had it gotten him? Jilted and jailed. No good deed went unpunished. — Tessa Dare

Philadelphia, where no good deed goes unpunished . . . - STEVE LOPEZ The Philadelphia Inquirer January 15, 1995 — Craig Johnson

May God continue to give you much more grace for every great deed. — Lailah Gifty Akita

A sign that your good deed has been accepted is that you do more good deeds after it. — Ibn Rajab

Our everyday cares, making a living, the crazy rat race of life, often make us forget the value of a good deed. Thus, the goodness that exists within each and every one of us is covered with layer upon layer of indifference and unawareness. In fact, we almost have to be reminded of the fact that goodness is there inside us. — Shari Arison

A good deed is not just a duty, but above all, a privilege. — Shari Arison

Every man should view himself as equally balanced: half good and half evil. Likewise, he should see the entire world as half good and half evil ... With a single good deed he will tip the scales for himself, and for the entire world, to the side of good. — Maimonides

Do not think little of any good deed, even if it is just greeting your brother with a smile. — Muhammad

But the good deed, through the ages Living in historic pages, Brighter grows and gleams immortal, Unconsumed by moth or rust. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Mario the Magnificent is Orange! His eyes sparkle with eagerness as he winks at me. — Bill Blais

That's the reward for your good deed,' I explained, 'a clear conscience. It really perks you up. — Walter Moers

I never saw a mob rush across town to do a good deed. — Wilson Mizner

There are two angels that attend unseen
Each one of us, and in great books record
Our good and evil deeds. He who writes down
The good ones, after every action closes
His volume, and ascends with it to God.
The other keeps his dreadful day-book open
Till sunset, that we may repent; which doing,
The record of the action fades away,
And leaves a line of white across the page.
Now if my act be good, as I believe it,
It cannot be recalled. It is already
Sealed up in heaven, as a good deed accomplished.
The rest is yours. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Humans all have the instinct to determine right from wrong and wrong from right. Religion plays no factor in morals and ethical motive. Did your instinct never tell you that you were doing something wrong when you did? Did your heart never feel the warmth of a good deed? Instinct gave you morals. You gave yourself morals. The whole argument that religion helps us distinguish the difference between right and wrong is buncombe. — J.C. Wickhart

But the moon came slowly up in all her gentle glory, and the stars looked out, and through the small compass of the grated window, as through the narrow crevice of one good deed in a murky life of guilt, the face of Heaven shone bright and merciful. He raised his head; gazed upward at the quiet sky, which seemed to smile upon the earth in sadness, as if the night, more thoughtful than the day, looked down in sorrow on the sufferings and evil deeds of men; and felt its peace sink deep into his heart. — Charles Dickens

A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love. — Basil The Great

You think if someone does a brave deed quite suddenly, then he or she could never do a mean one? You are wrong. We all have good and bad in us, and we have to strive all the time to make the good cancel out the bad. We can never be perfect - we all of us do mean or wrong things at times - but we can at least make amends by trying to cancel out the wrong by doing something worthy later on. — Enid Blyton

Did my good deed for the day. Still not close to heaven, but it's something. — April Mae Monterrosa

Renew your intention EVERY day, EVERY time you pray, and EVERY time you are about to do a good deed or else shaytan will lead your heart and mind astray. — Omar Suleiman

A good deed done to an animal is as meritorious as a good deed done to a human being, while an act of cruelty to an animal is a bad as an act of cruelty to a human being. — Muhammad

Never underestimate a good deed, you don't know which 'Hasanah' will be your ticket to Jannah. — Muhammad Nusair

A good deed never goes unpunished. — Gore Vidal

Tell me,' asked Stas, 'what is a wicked deed?' 'If anyone takes away Kali's cow,' he answered after a brief reflection, 'that then is a wicked deed.' 'Excellent!' exclaimed Stas, 'and what is a good one?' This time the answer came without any reflection: 'If Kali takes away the cow of somebody else, that is a good deed.' Stas was too young to perceive that similar views of evil and good deeds were enunciated in Europe not only by politicians but by whole nations. — Henryk Sienkiewicz

No sinful word, nor deed of wrong, Nor thoughts that idly rove; But simple truth be on our tongue, And in our hearts be love. ST. AMBROSE. Let us all resolve,--First, to attain the grace of SILENCE; Second, to deem all FAULT-FINDING that does no good a SIN, and to resolve, when we are happy ourselves, not to poison the atmosphere for our neighbors by calling on them to remark every painful and disagreeable feature of their daily life; Third, to practise the grace and virtue of PRAISE. HARRIET B. STOWE. — Mary W. Tileston

Despite attending a nominally Christian school, I had not yet been inside a church - and I wasn't about to dare the deed now. I knew very little about the religion. It had a reputation for few gods and great violence. But good schools. — Yann Martel

What good deed can government do for religion? The best deed of all: leave it free and unencumbered, burdened by neither enmity nor amity. — Edwin Gaustad

He reminded himself as he turned another corner - glancing automatically into the shadows to see if anyone lurked there - the deed was the thing, not the praise. — Raymond E. Feist

My Creed

To live as gently as I can;
To be, no matter where, a man;
To take what comes of good or ill
And cling to faith and honor still;
To do my best, and let that stand
The record of my brain and hand;
And then, should failure come to me,
Still work and hope for victory.

To have no secret place wherein
I stoop unseen to shame or sin;
To be the same when I'm alone
As when my every deed is known;
To live undaunted, unafraid
Of any step that I have made;
To be without pretense or sham
Exactly what men think I am.

To leave some simple mark behind
To keep my having lived in mind;
If enmity to aught I show,
To be an honest, generous foe,
To play my little part, nor whine
That greater honors are not mine.
This, I believe, is all I need
For my philosophy and creed. — Edgar A. Guest

The best deed of a great man is to forgive and forget. — Hazrat Ali Ibn Abu-Talib A.S

A good painting should be the equivalent of a good deed. — Vincent Van Gogh

I was going to die and I'd just saved his freaking life. No good deed goes unpunished. — Meghan Ciana Doidge

I think that short films often contain an originality, a creative freedom, an energy and an invention that is inspiring and entertaining. I think they are, as Shakespeare put it, a good deed in a naughty world. — Kenneth Branagh

For even in dreams a good deed is not lost. — Calderon De La Barca

As we have pointed out, the principle of the tree of knowledge is to be independent of God. It means that we make our decisions independently. Although Cain performed a good deed, it was independent of God. Everything that is good yet independent of God results in death. This is similar to insulation which severs the flow of electricity. Regardless of the substance that is used as insulation - it may even be diamond - electricity is cut off nonetheless. As long as it causes insulation, it does not matter whether the material is good or bad. Likewise, if a thing keeps us away from God, it brings death, regardless of how good it is. — Witness Lee

Don't despise your contributions to Humanity. Every little kind deed counts. — Lailah Gifty Akita

I learned to read from Mrs. Augusta Baker, the children's librarian ... If that was the only good deed that lady ever did in her life, may she rest in peace. Because that deed saved my life, if not sooner, then later, when sometimes the only thing I had to hold on to was knowing I could read. — Audre Lorde

Always do at least one good deed a day for someone other then yourself. — Kyo

A good deed that follows upon another is the reward for the first one, and an evil deed that follows upon another is a punishment for the first one. — Junayd

The Buddhist, who thanks no man, who says "Do not flatter your benefactors," but who, in his conviction that every good deed can by no possibility escape its reward, will not deceive the benefactor by pretending that he has done more than he should, is a Transcendentalist. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

In the final analysis there is no other solution to man's progress but the day's honest work, the day's honest decision, the day's generous utterances, and the day's good deed. — Clare Boothe Luce

Do I strike you as a frivolous man, Kelly?"
I look at him, sitting there in another thousand dollar suit. Pompous? Yes. Self-centered? Yes. Careless? "No. — Bill Blais

Most people think of love as some sort of power outside of themselves that will "take them away from all of this." Sadly, this is not the case. Love exists only within our own hearts, and to have happy relationships we must first become truly loving people. And as we fill our hearts with love by expressing love for others in thought, word, and deed ("acting as if" until we make it happen if necessary), that love can heal our own lives, help to solve our problems, and enable us to feel good about ourselves. — John Templeton

I've a habit of placing a happy-face or a frowny-face on my calendar, depending on what kind of day I've had. Often I slap a droopy circle in the box, discouraged by the things I failed to accomplish and the unpleasant encounters endured. But then, invariably, a wise muse stops to ask me these three questions:
Did your children let you hug them today? Yes.
Did you do a kind deed for someone? Anyone? Yes.
Did God forsake you today? No.
Then, my dear, despite your challenges, it was a good day after all.
Standing corrected, I twist that frowny-face upside down and smile. — Richelle E. Goodrich

To reprove a harm-doer, put him to shame by doing a good deed in return. — Thiruvalluvar

We must depend on God's grace for every good deed. — Lailah Gifty Akita

I know people whose lives have been transformed by a good deed. — Walter Moers

[P]erhaps this was how you knew a good deed was truly good: you didn't necessarily feel better afterwards. — Francois Lelord

If we do any deed that is unconditionally good, it gives the Dark Magicians the right to do an evil deed. — Sergei Lukyanenko

Mistrust of good success hath done this deed.
O hateful error, Melancholy's child,
Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men
The things that are not? O Error, soon concieved,
Thou never com'st unto a happy birth,
But kill'st the mother that engendered thee. — William Shakespeare

Once, long years ago, I thought I could set a canoe-load of my people free by breaking the bands at my wrists and killing the white man who held the weapon. I had the strength in my hands to do such a deed and I had the fire within, but I didn't do it."
"What held you back?"
Amos shook his head. "My hand was restrained and I'm glad that it was, for the years between have shown me that it does a man no good to be free until he knows how to live, how to walk in step with God. — Elizabeth Yates

Every time you do a good deed you shine the light a little farther into the dark. And the thing is, when you're gone that light is going to keep shining on, pushing the shadows back. — Charles De Lint

Make life about more than just you. Take the world around you and transform it for the sake of others. Do a good deed for your neighbor; smile at strangers; volunteer for a bigger purpose and don't except anything in return. The first step of redemption is digging yourself out of the hole you dug around yourself and dedicating your time to others. When the world stops revolving around your comfort zone and draws in the needs of others, you may quickly break the chains that hold you down from reaching your ultimate goal. — Leigh Hershkovich

Better do a good deed near at home than go far away to burn incense. — Amelia Earhart

What is Faith? When your good deed pleases you and your evil deed grieves you, you are a believer. What is Sin? When a thing disturbs (the peace of) your heart, give it up. — Anonymous

There is indeed a certain sense of gratification when we do a good deed that gives us inward satisfaction, and a generous pride that accompanies a good conscience ... These testimonies of a good conscience are pleasant; and such a natural pleasure is very beneficial to us; it is the only payment that can never fail. On Repentance — Michel De Montaigne

Karma, simply put, is an action for an action ... good or bad. — Stephen Richards

The interior joy we feel when we have done a good deed is the nourishment the soul requires. — Albert Schweitzer

In the beginning there were two primal spirits,Twins spontaneously active,These are the Good and the Evil, in thought, and in word, and in deed. — Zoroaster

God isn't like a candy machine. We can't insert a good deed and receive a blessing. Then we'd be in charge, not him. — Sarah Sundin

A girl is a good deed and a boy is a bounty. Good deeds are rewarded while people are held accountable for bounties. — Ali Ibn Abi Talib

A good deed hidden in silence dies. — Pindar

There are illusions of popular history which a successful religion must promote: Evil men never prosper; only the brave deserve the fair; honesty is the best policy; actions speak louder than words; virtue always triumphs; a good deed is its own reward; any bad human can be reformed; religious talismans protect one from demon possession; only females understand the ancient mysteries; the rich are doomed to unhappiness. — Frank Herbert

Alan," cried I, "what makes ye so good to me? What makes ye care for such a thankless fellow?"
Deed, and I don't, know" said Alan. "For just precisely what I thought I liked about ye, was that ye never quarrelled: - and now I like ye better! — Robert Louis Stevenson

Men do not value a good deed unless it brings a reward. — Ovid

Goodness preaches constantly, wants to change humanity, to work miracles from one day to the next, makes a show of its substance, wants to question essentials, but in fact is most often just hollow, lacking in substance, essence itself. A good word which has not yet been put into practice holds within itself every virgin possibility and is more than a good deed, the outcome of which is dubious, its effect arguable. In general words are always more than deeds. — Deszo Koszstolanyi

Another last-minute, good-deed job," Royce grumbled as he stuffed
supplies into his saddlebag.
"True," Hadrian said, slinging his sword belt over his shoulder, "but
this is at least a paying job."
"You should have told him the real reason we saved him from Trumbul
because we wouldn't see the hundred tenents otherwise."
"That was your reason. Besides, how often do we get to do royal contracts?
If word gets around, we'll be able to command top salaries."
"If word gets around, we'll be hanged. — Michael J. Sullivan

[In politics] no good deed goes unpunished — Clare Boothe Luce

That the native does not like the tourist is not hard to explain. For every native of every place is a potential tourist, and every tourist is a native of somewhere. Every native everywhere lives a life of overwhelming and crushing banality and boredom and desperation and depression, and every deed, good and bad, is an attempt to forget this. Every native would like to find a way out, every native would like a rest, every native would like a tour. But some natives - most natives in the world - cannot go anywhere. They are too poor. They are too poor to go anywhere. They are too poor to escape the reality of their lives; and they are too poor to live properly in the place they live, which is the very place you, the tourist, want to go - so when the natives see you, the tourist, they envy you, they envy your ability to leave your own banality and boredom, they envy your ability to turn their own banality and boredom into a source of pleasure for yourself. — Jamaica Kincaid

Yudhishthira answers Yaksha's question - what is man? by saying, 'The repute of a good deed touches heaven and earth; one is called a man as long as his repute lasts. — Gurcharan Das

Look, I didn't ask for any of this, but I'm here now. I get that it's dangerous. I get that I'm fat. I get that I'm about as far from prepared for this insanity as you can get. But I'll tell you something about me: I don't quit. So enough with the let's-scare-the-fat-girl routine, okay? — Bill Blais

God's grace is the strength for every good deed. — Lailah Gifty Akita

One should see the world, and see himself, as a scale with an equal balance of good and evil. When he does one good deed, the scale is tipped to the good - he and the world are saved. When he does one evil deed, the scale is tipped to the bad - he and the world are destroyed.'" "Interesting. Who said that, your grandmother?" "Maimonides. The great Jewish scholastic." "I didn't know you read Jewish philosophers." "It is said, 'You must accept the truth from whatever source it comes.'" "And who said that?" "Also Maimonides. — Gregory Maguire

No good deed goes unpunished, I guess. — Richelle Mead

You can only do righteous acts and good deed by grace. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Good men and bad men alike are capable of weakness. The difference is simply that a bad man will be proud all his life of one good deed - while an honest man is hardly aware of his good acts, but remembers a single sin for years on end. — Vasily Grossman

As far as I am concerned, any deed done with good motivation is a religios one. — Dalai Lama XIV

I'm in a secret underground hideout of a group of monster hunters, filled with magical totems, brass monkeys that move and enough firepower to take over a small country. — Bill Blais

Whenever I hear and see a politician or a military leader, a bank of American flags at his back, trying to convince us of the rightness of a policy or a deed that will cause harm to others; when I am almost convinced myself that setting humanitarian concern in abeyance can be justified in the interest of a greater good, I pause and ask myself what my brain-smoked friends would have to say. — James Lee Burke

If you set out to do a good deed, you may do a hundred small kindnesses on the way. — Sarah Doudney

Both as to high and low indifferently, men are prepossessed, charmed, fascinated by success; successful crimes are praised very much like virtue itself, and good fortune is not far from occupying the place of the whole cycle of virtues. It must be an atrocious act, a base and hateful deed, which success would not be able to justify. — Jean De La Bruyere

One little deed done in time is worth more than a thousand good intentions. — Cindy Woodsmall

Every day, nay every moment, try to do some good deed. — Abu Bakr

The glorious memory of brave men is continually renewed; the fame of those who have performed any noble deed is never allowed to die; and the renown of those who have done good service to their country becomes a matter of common knowledge to the multitude, and part of the heritage of posterity. — Polybius

Did you ever see a mob rush across town to do a good deed? Dave Robicheaux — James Lee Burke

If we follow the traces of our own actions to their source, they intimate some understanding of the good life. This understanding may be hard to articulate; bringing it more fully into view is the task of moral inquiry. Such inquiry may be helped along by practical activities in company with others, a sort of conversation in deed. In this conversation lies the potential of work to bring some measure of coherence to our lives. — Matthew B. Crawford

One good deed is more worth than a thousand brilliant theories. Let us not wait for large opportunities, or for a different kind of work, but do just the things we "find to do" day by day. — Charles Haddon Spurgeon

You who wronged a simple man
Bursting into laughter at the crime,
And kept a pack of fools around you
To mix good and evil, to blur the line,
Though everyone bowed down before you,
Saying virtue and wisdom lit your way,
Striking gold medals in your honor,
Glad to have survived another day,
Do not feel safe. The poet remembers.
You can kill one, but another is born.
The words are written down, the deed, the date.
And you'd have done better with a winter dawn,
A rope, and a branch bowed beneath your weight. — Czeslaw Milosz

Discipleship is rooted in a deep belief in the universal reign of God through Christ. To be a disciple is to acknowledge that reign and to embrace the lifelong journey of submitting more and more of every aspect of your life to His good, just, and peaceable reign, as well as alerting others to God's kingship by both word and deed. — Michael Frost