Paul Harris, who founded the humanitarian Rotary International organization in 1905, was born in 1868 and lived until age 78, passing in 1947, shortly after Rotary played a key role in founding the United Nations. Rotary is a truly global organization. We reflected on the history and philosophy of Rotary, and why I recently joined my local Rotary Club, describing one of the projects our local club is involved in: increasing dementia and mental health awareness..
Reflection on: Why I Joined Rotary, History and Philosophy of Rotary
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/history-and-philosophy-of-rotary-international-and-my-personal-experience/
https://youtu.be/gN6tb3YawI0
Rotary https://youtu.be/EkJhGcE5-Oc
Paul Harris began his law practice in Chicago in 1896. He founded the first Rotary chapter with three clients and businessmen in Chicago in 1905, and subsequently organized chapters in surrounding cities. Initially, the club rotated its meetings in the members’ offices. Rotary quickly evolved into a community service first organization, with business networking a secondary purpose. In 1910, the sixteen Rotary chapters met for the first national Rotary convention. Six years later, the first international Rotary Club was organized in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada.[1]
These quotes from Paul P. Harris encapsulate fundamental principles of Rotary: leadership through service, the importance of kindness and gratitude, the strength in diversity, and making a difference in the community.
Another local Rotary Club compiled these key sayings of Paul Harris:
Fellowship and Global Understanding: “The foundation upon which Rotary is built is friendship; on no less firm foundation could it have stood.”
Rotary’s international student exchange programs foster global understanding by allowing students from different countries to experience new cultures, build international friendships, and understand diverse perspectives.
Ethics and Integrity: “Whatever Rotary may mean to us, to the world it will be known by the results it achieves.” [2]
Early in its history, the Rotary Clubs adopted the Four-Way Test. The Rotary website states that “the Four-Way Test is a nonpartisan and nonsectarian ethical guide for Rotarians to use for their personal and professional relationships.
Of the things we think, say, or do:
- Is it the TRUTH?
- Is it FAIR to all concerned?
- Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
- Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?”[3]
The Four-Way Test is a restatement of the Golden Rule that is the core teaching of all Judeo-Christian traditions, encouraging fellowship among Rotarians. Famously, an enquirer challenged Rabbi Hillel: “Convert me to Judaism on condition that you will teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot.”
Hillel said to him, “That which is hateful unto you, do not do unto your neighbor. This is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary. Now, go and study.”[4]
Hillel and Jesus, Reflections on Rabbi Telushkin’s Observations
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/hillel-and-jesus-reflections/
Comparing Hillel and Shammai to Jesus
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/comparing-hillel-and-shammai-to-jesus/
More Stories and Sayings of Hillel and Shammai
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/more-stories-and-sayings-of-hillel-and-shammai/
Jesus, Hillel, and Shammai, Loving God and Neighbor
https://youtu.be/ygxn2qqGnOI
Although Paul Harris attended church on Sundays, he visited many different churches in many denominations. He did not want to commit to any denomination, although he stated that “these days one can hear the best of preaching over the radio and I generally hear three or four sermons every Sunday.”[5]
Paul Harris would have been at home with CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity, which he summarized from his BBC Broadcasts on Christianity during the challenging days of World War II, when Nazi Germany was bombing London, and afterwards.
Summary of CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity, WWII Ecumenical Broadcast: Morality Not Polemics
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/summary-of-cs-lewis-mere-christianity-wwii-ecumenical-broadcast-morality-not-polemics/
https://youtu.be/6-Hc4X0NN8k
Was CS Lewis a Closet Catholic? Reflections on Mere Christianity, Books 2-4
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/was-cs-lewis-a-closet-catholic-reflections-on-his-mere-christianity/
https://youtu.be/ksWomcEg8C0
Good Friday, Easter, and Trinity: CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity, Narnia, & St Augustine’s Confessions, Books 1-4
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/good-friday-easter-and-trinity-cs-lewis-mere-christianity-narnia-st-augustines-confessions/
https://youtu.be/c71ygBqvPoY
Facing the Nazi Menace: CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity and Viktor Frankl’s Memoirs on Auschwitz, Books 1-4
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/facing-the-nazi-menace-cs-lewis-mere-christianity-and-viktor-frankls-mans-search-for-meaning/
https://youtu.be/x-9FeH9Gyng
Preparing the Way for Vatican II: CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity, Books 1-4
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/preparing-the-way-for-vatican-ii-cs-lewis-mere-christianity/
https://youtu.be/udJQzmqst34
Morality and the Cardinal Virtues in CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity: Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Fortitude, Books 1-3
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/mere-morality-and-the-cardinal-virtues-in-cs-lewis-mere-christianity-prudence-temperance-and-justice/
https://youtu.be/Djbzmeb2nc0
Faith, Hope, Charity, and Love in CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity: The Theological Virtues, Book 3
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/faith-hope-charity-and-love-in-cs-lewis-mere-christianity-the-theological-virtues/
https://youtu.be/avesW8whRSQ
CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity: Forgiveness, Pride, and Envy. Can Pride Ever Be Good?, Book 3
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/cs-lewis-mere-christianity-forgiveness-pride-and-envy-can-pride-ever-be-good/
https://youtu.be/Pmu6hzU5RaQ
CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity: Intimacy, Romance, Marriage, and Divorce, Books 2-3
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/cs-lewis-mere-christianity-reflections-on-intimacy-romance-marriage-and-divorce/
https://youtu.be/fZcOip3WGe8
CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity: Is Living the Christian Life Hard or Easy?, Book 4
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/cs-lewis-mere-christianity-is-christianity-easy-or-hard/
https://youtu.be/jZuWmInLh7s
We return to the sayings of Paul Harris:
Diversity: “Rotary is a cross-section of the business and professional life of the community.”
Rotary clubs worldwide are composed of members from various professions, races, genders, and cultures, reflecting their commitment to diversity and inclusivity.
Vocational Expertise, Service, and Leadership: “It is the privilege of each Rotarian to represent his or her vocation to other club members.”
Rotary’s Vocational Service Month encourages members to use their professional skills to support service projects, mentor young professionals, and lead community improvement initiatives.
Impact and Leadership: “Success is not measured by wealth, but by the positive impact you have on others.”
Harris believed that true success comes from the positive impact on others, emphasizing the essence of leadership as inspiring others to be their best, noting, “True leadership is about inspiring others to be their best selves” .
Kindness and Service: “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”
Harris also believed in the transformative power of service, asserting, “The only way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
Diversity and Personal Growth: “Our differences make us stronger; let’s celebrate diversity.” In the 1980s, Rotary started admitted women as members, and today many women are in the leadership ranks of Rotary.
On personal development and societal change, he advised, “The best way to change the world is to start with yourself.”
Proactivity and Gratitude: “Don’t wait for opportunities, create them.”
He highlighted gratitude’s transformative role, stating, “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.”[6]
The BrainyQuotes website has other sayings by Paul Harris, some of which we edited for clarity.
Individuals and nations owe it to themselves and the world to become informed.
In the clashes between ignorance and intelligence, ignorance is generally the aggressor.
If there is anything worse than international warfare, is civil warfare, and this has brought extreme bitterness to the United States.
The higher the general average of intelligence, all things else being equal, the less the disposition to be meddlesome, critical, and overbearing.
While the struggle for religious liberty had proceeded without large-scale bloodshed in New England and elsewhere in the United States, the struggle for political liberty had not fared so well.
Ignorance is a menace to peace.
Motherhood is at its best when the tender chords of sympathy have been touched.
One’s religion is one’s own possession, and he has a right to it.
It has been the way of Rotary to focus thought upon matters in which members agree rather than disagree.
One’s nativity is not of his own choosing, but whatever it may be, it is entitled to respect; and all nations have an honorable place in the world’s family.
When an individual, a sect, a clique or a nation hates and despises another individual, sect, clique or nation, he or they simply do not know the objects of their hatred. They show their ignorance.
In the cold, shivering twilight, preceding the daybreak of civilization, the dominating emotion of man was fear.
Segregation never brought anyone anything except trouble.
Ideas have unhinged the gates of empires.
The less one knows, the more he thinks he knows. The less one knows, the more willing he is try to force his views upon others.
In the course of time, religion came with its rites invoking the aid of good spirits which were even more powerful than the bad spirits, and thus, for the time being, tempered the agony of fears.
Attempting to impose our views by force seldom exercises intelligence; it is far more often demonstrating ignorance.
There is nothing in the genius of America more precious today than the spirit of religious and political tolerance.[7]
Many Rotarians are inspired by the sayings of the Stoic philosophers and other modern thinkers, in particular the sayings of the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, including Epictetus, Rufus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. Modern thinkers include the psychologists Viktor Frankl, who survived the Auschwitz work camps of Nazi German, and Paul Tournier, and civil rights leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King.
Major Roman Stoic Philosophers, My Favorite Maxims: Epictetus, Rufus, Seneca & Marcus Aurelius
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/major-roman-stoic-philosophers-my-favorite-maxims-epictetus-rufus-seneca-marcus-aurelius/
https://youtu.be/E0qQgqGkoOE
Greek Stoic and Cynic Philosophers: My Favorite Maxims: Heraclitus, Antisthenes, Diogenes, and Zeno
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/greek-stoic-and-cynic-philosophers-my-favorite-sayings/
https://youtu.be/rq3oRftjM4c
Modern Stoic Philosophers: My Favorite Maxims: Viktor Frankl, Nelson Mandela, and Others
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/modern-stoic-philosophers-my-favorite-maxims-viktor-frankl-nelson-mandela-and-others/
https://youtu.be/rq3oRftjM4c
Hesiod: Works and Days, Early Greek Moral Philosophy
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/hesiod-works-and-days-early-greek-moral-philosophy/
https://youtu.be/HH9t2eTh8RE
Was Paul Harris influenced by Stoicism? Although there may not be any direct evidence confirming this, he was quite fond of coining moral aphorisms that follow the Golden Rule, which is a key characteristic of Stoicism.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Harris_(Rotary)
[2] https://www.sjcrotary.org/post/the-wisdom-of-paul-harris
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four-Way_Test
[4] Joseph Telushkin, “Hillel, If Not Now, When?,” (New York: Schocken Books of Random House, 2010) p. 19, from Shabbat 31a.
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Harris_(Rotary) The Rotary webpage referred to by the footnote no longer contains this quote, it was likely from Paul Harris’ autobiography.
[6] https://www.sjcrotary.org/post/the-wisdom-of-paul-harris
[7] https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/paul-p-harris-quotes
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