Jim Valvano Quotes

Life is not accumulation, it is about contribution.

I run a bunch of charities and I say this line to people: 'I am somebody who has always been helped.' A little thing like that can make people believe it.

I know how I want to try and live my life. I know I don't want to leave any darkness behind me.

Before my accident I was a little too... selfish and self-absorbed and for me, to now be at the place where I can kinda give back and inspire people. I'm blessed. I'm really blessed.

Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.

My concerns have been about myself and not about giving something back and putting something in, even though that's been in the back of my head.

You have to live life to the fullest. I don't want to slow down. I want the giving to be stepped up. So the older I get, the less I will be involved in the business side, the more in the philanthropic side.

I work really hard at trying to see the big picture and not getting stuck in ego. I believe we're all put on this planet for a purpose, and we all have a different purpose... When you connect with that love and that compassion, that's when everything unfolds.

One of the best lessons I learned early is that not everything in life is about you. It is about service. If you want trips and excessive gifts, then don't get into public service.

We must master our egoism, and through this mastery, step outside ourselves and educate ourselves in giving. Fasting requires that we rediscover all that is alive around us, and reconcile ourselves with our environment.

If you want to live a memorable life, you have to be the kind of person who remembers to remember.

What good is my parents' wealth and education and upbringing if I'm not contributing to the world?

I think the most surprising thing about giving is it takes a while to find out what you're really interested in and what you really want to do.

I don't want my life to just be about me.

A lot of people think it takes millions of dollars to give back or inspire, but just you showing up means a lot.

I know where I'm coming from; I know what I bring and what I take. I take more than I bring; I bring hope, but I give nothing. That's not the role I'm proud of.

Life is short. Do whatever you can to help people - not for status, but because the 95-year-old you will be proud if you did help people and disappointed if you didn't.

I think about legacy, of course. I don't want to make my life nothing. I want to know that I died and made a massive difference. I want to know that my life purpose was bigger than myself, and I want to pay forward because the amount of people that have helped me... the list of people that have contributed to where I am now is insane.

To be in the privileged position where I am able to give something back is, for me, perhaps the single most important measure of success.

I hope I can use everything that's being offered to me to do good in other people's lives.

We feel like if we can give back, that's what we are called to do. So we've been fortunate to do a lot of really cool things and touch a lot of people's lives.

Who am I helping, what am I breaking, what am I giving, what am I taking?

In honor of Oprah Winfrey: Even greater than the ability to inspire others with hope is the power to motivate them to give as much to the lives of others as they would give to their own; and to empower them to confront the worst in themselves in order to discover and claim the best in themselves.

The more we have received in silence, the more we give in action.

We only have so much life left. Before I do die, I want to do something good for people.