Clara Barton

“An institution or reform movement that is not selfish, must originate in the recognition of some evil that is adding to the sum of human suffering, or diminishing the sum of human happiness.”

“You must never so much as think whether you like it or not, whether it is bearable or not; you must never think of anything except the need, and how to meet it.”

“I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them.”

“It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I go for anything new that might improve the past.”

“The door that nobody else will go in at, seems always to swing open for me.”

“I have an almost complete disregard of precedent, and a faith in the possibility of something better.”

“This conflict is one thing I've been waiting for. I'm well and strong and young - young enough to go to the front. If I can't be a soldier, I'll help soldiers.”

“I may sometimes be willing to teach for nothing, but if paid at all, I shall never do a man's work for less than a man's pay.”

“The surest test of discipline is its absence.”

“Everybody's business is nobody's business, and nobody's business is my business.”

“What could I do but go with them, or work for them and my country? The patriot blood of my father was warm in my veins.”

“The charities of life are scattered everywhere, enameling the vales of human beings as the flowers paint the meadows.”

“I think of the truly great as those who have been of the greatest service to their fellow men.”

“Others are writing my history and publish it to the world. What I have lived is what I have done.”