Anyway

The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith

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 the underdogs anyway.

What you spend in 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.

(c) Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001


The above is usually misattributed to Mother Teresa, probably because she had posted (a slightly different version of) the Paradoxical Commandments on the wall of her children's home in Calcutta (akala siguro ng iba she wrote them?)... this version, I think:

(lifted off wikiquote)

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

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

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.


Dr. Keith wrote the commandments in 1968 and narrates how he encountered them again in 1997, here, which leads him to decide to speak and write about them, 30 years after he first wrote them.

Dr. Keith recently came out with an 11th commandment,

The world is full of violence, injustice, starvation, disease, and environmental destruction.
Have faith anyway.

and has a new book about it. Check it out, here!