1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

3. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

4. The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

6. 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.

7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

8. What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

9. People really need help but may attack you if you help them.
Help people anyway.

10. Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the best you've got anyway.

The Origins of "Anyway"

The inspiring manifesto above was written by Kent M. Keith when he was a 19-year-old student at Harvard. Its original title is "The Paradoxical Commandments," and it was published in a booklet that Kent wrote for student leaders back in 1968. The Paradoxical Commandments immediately began circulating among students and later the general public in the U.S. and overseas. Occasionally, those who shared them changed a few words or changed the title and format. The author's name was often left off. One well-known version, with eight of the ten Paradoxical Commandments, was posted by Mother Teresa on the wall of Shishu Bhavan, her children's home in Calcutta.

Beliefnet is grateful to its members for alerting us to the source, and to Dr. Keith for allowing us to reprint it in its original form.