Jimmy Carter? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: The things in life that you cannot directly see or touch are the most important, e.g., truth, justice, courage, compassion, and love. Apparently, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said something like this. I do not know the precise phrasing. Would you please help me to find a citation with the proper wording?
Reply from Quote Investigator: In November 1991 the “Columbia Daily Tribune” of Missouri reported on a speech delivered by Jimmy Carter at Stephens College during which he extolled the value of volunteerism. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
“What is a great person? What is a great life?” he asked. “It’s the things you can’t see or touch. Truth, fairness, justice, courage, sharing, compassion, love. Those are the elements of a great life. We have in this country the opportunity to share a great life.”
Carter made similar pronouncements on multiple occasions although the phrasing he employed was variable.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1993 Carter wrote the foreword to “Christianity and Democracy in Global Context” which included the following passage:2
We measure success in life, and I have been enormously successful, economically and politically. But, when I was teaching Sunday School, I read Second Corinthians 4:18, where Paul writes, “[W]e look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
We generally think about the things that we can see—our name in newspaper headlines, our material possessions. But what Paul is talking about are the invisible things that characterize the life of Christ—truth, justice, humility, service, compassion, and love. These are simple things, things that don’t change.
In 1997 Jimmy Carter published “Sources of Strength: Meditations on Scripture for a Living Faith” which contained short essays based on Sunday School classes taught by the former president. The following excerpt includes another list of positive properties:3
Harmony can be reached by referring to the most exalted goals of Christianity. It seems illogical, but these are the ones that require the most modest talents, intelligence, and influence.
When we remember the pure teachings of Jesus, we realize that any human being can espouse truth, justice, humility, and compassion. This is where we find the common foundation for our Christian lives.
In 2005 Carter published “Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis”. He mentioned that a religious magazine had contacted him with a difficult task. The magazine requested Carter’s definition of success in life expressed with just fifty words. He replied as follows:4
I believe that anyone can be successful in life, regardless of natural talent or the environment within which we live. This is not based on measuring success by human competitiveness for wealth, possessions, influence, and fame, but adhering to God’s standards of truth, justice, humility, service, compassion, forgiveness, and love.
In 2015 a columnist in “The Douglas County Herald” of Ava, Missouri printed the following:5
Guess which beloved past President of the United States asked, “What are the things that you can’t see that are important? I would say justice, truth, humility, service, compassion, love. You can’t see any of those, but they are the guiding lights of life.”
In conclusion, Jimmy Carter deserves credit for the words he spoke at Stephens College in November 1991. He made similar remarks in subsequent years.
Image Notes: Silhouette of a couple on bicycles from Everton Vila at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to John Henderson whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Also, thanks to the helpful discussion thread participants: Sue Kamm, S. M. Colowick, Nichael Cramer, and Sarah Bonner.
- 1991 November 13, Columbia Daily Tribune, Carter extolls virtues of volunteerism by Melanie Brubaker (Tribune staff) Quote Page 1, Column 2, Columbia, Missouri. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1993, Christianity and Democracy in Global Context, Edited by John Witte Jr., Foreword by Jimmy Carter (The Carter Center of Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia), Quote Page xv, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1997 Copyright, Sources of Strength: Meditations on Scripture for a Living Faith by Jimmy Carter, Chapter 24: A House with Many Builders, Quote Page 113, Times Books: Random House, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2005, Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis by Jimmy Carter, Chapter 2: My Traditional Christian Faith, Quote Page 28, Simon & Schuster, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2015 August 20, The Douglas County Herald, Champion News by Wilda Moses, Quote Page B9, Column 4, Ava, Missouri. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎