Sacrifice Quotes

Sacrifice weighs heavy in these words—sometimes as a quiet, unspoken surrender, other times as a fire lit to prove devotion. It lingers in the spaces between what we hold onto and what we let go.

1,912 QUOTES — PAGE 1 OF 96

“The true artist will let his wife starve, his children go barefoot, his mother drudge for his living at seventy, sooner than work at anything but his art. To women he is half vivisector, half vampire. He gets into intimate relations with them to study them, to strip the mask of convention from them, to surprise their inmost secrets, knowing that they have the power to rouse his deepest creative energies, to rescue him from his cold reason, to make him see visions and dream dreams, to inspire him, as he calls it. He persuades women that they may do this for their own purpose whilst he really means them to do it for his. He steals the mother’s milk and blackens it to make printer’s ink to scoff at her and glorify ideal women with. He pretends to spare her the pangs of child-bearing so that he may have for himself the tenderness and fostering that belong of right to her children. Since marriage began, the great artist has been known as a bad husband. But he is worse: he is a child-robber, a blood-sucker, a hypocrite, and a cheat. Perish the race and wither a thousand women if only the sacrifice of them enable him to act Hamlet better, to paint a finer picture, to write a deeper poem, a greater play, a profounder philosophy! For mark you, Tavy, the artist’s work is to shew us ourselves as we really are. Our minds are nothing but this knowledge of ourselves; and he who adds a jot to such knowledge creates new mind as surely as any woman creates new men. In the rage of that creation he is as ruthless as the woman, as dangerous to her as she to him, and as horribly fascinating. Of all human struggles there is none so treacherous and remorseless as the struggle between the artist man and the mother woman. Which shall use up the other? that is the issue between them. And it is all the deadlier because, in your romanticist cant, they love one another.”

George Bernard Shaw

About Sacrifice quotes

Sacrifice here is not only about loss. In these quotes, it is a test of motive, a cost attached to love, work, faith, and change. Some writers treat it as a private tradeoff, giving up ease for a goal or a calling. Others frame it as service, where what is given is measured by what others receive. A strong thread runs through the sample, especially in Lailah Gifty Akita, where sacrifice is tied to success, devotion, and spiritual offering. You will also find sharper moral cautions from Debasish Mridha and others, along with reflections on selflessness from Craig D. Lounsbrough and Shannon L. Alder. Altogether, the page shows sacrifice as burden, discipline, and chosen generosity.

Sacrifice as the price of purpose

Several quotes treat sacrifice as the cost of getting anywhere meaningful. Lailah Gifty Akita asks, "Are you willing to pay the price", and says that accomplishment demands personal sacrifice and hard work. Israelmore Ayivor makes the same point in a more practical key, linking change to leaving the comfort zone. Shannon L. Alder narrows the idea further, urging a person to sacrifice what they are now for what they can become tomorrow. In these lines, sacrifice is not drama. It is the ordinary surrender of ease, money, habit, or certainty when a goal matters more than comfort.

Sacrifice as service to others

Another group of quotes places sacrifice inside care for other people. Lailah Gifty Akita pairs sacrifice with sharing and serving, while Debasish Mridha describes the willingness to sacrifice oneself to save another. Craig D. Lounsbrough also pushes sacrifice beyond private ambition, calling it selflessness that does not ask what is in it for the giver. Abhijit Naskar goes even further, speaking of sacrificing what is yours to call up the humans in others. Here sacrifice is not self-erasure. It is a deliberate giving of time, energy, safety, or pride so another person can live more fully.

The spiritual cost and meaning of sacrifice

Many of the strongest sample quotes connect sacrifice with faith. Lailah Gifty Akita writes about holy sacrifice and the sacrifice of Jesus, and Sunday Adelaja says believers are God’s carriers because of that sacrifice. Billy Graham gives the idea a formal, theological shape, describing Christ as the sacrifice required by justice. Craig D. Lounsbrough adds that Easter is the story of utter selflessness at an inestimable cost. These quotes do not present sacrifice as mere hardship. They present it as something sacred, something offered, received, and remembered as central to redemption.

When sacrifice is chosen, and when it is questioned

The sample does not treat sacrifice as automatically noble. Debasish Mridha rejects animal sacrifice as cruelty when it is used to seek favor or purify the heart. That challenge matters because it separates sacrifice from violence and superstition. Elsewhere, Sunday Adelaja notes that dedication requires a specific sacrifice, which suggests that not every demand deserves the same response. Criss Jami, meanwhile, suggests that a meaningful life may not be easy, but the right path often is not. Taken together, these lines ask a useful question, what kind of sacrifice serves truth, and what kind merely repeats harm?

Questions people ask

How can I use a sacrifice quote in a card or caption?

Choose a line that matches the tone you want, quiet resolve, gratitude, faith, or determination. Short quotes about service or paying the price work well in a caption, while a fuller thought suits a card or speech when you want to sound reflective.

How should I attribute a sacrifice quote?

Name the author exactly as shown on the page, and keep the wording unchanged. If the quote is part of a longer message, use the quote in quotation marks and place the author after it. Do not add a source you cannot verify from the page.

How do I choose between sacrifice quotes?

Pick by emphasis. If you mean effort toward a goal, choose quotes about price, hard work, or change. If you mean devotion to others, choose service and selflessness. If the context is spiritual, select the faith-based lines and avoid the more critical ones.

Authors quoted on Sacrifice