“We may not look forward to any reward for our labours, but it is my firm conviction that all good action is bound to bear fruit in the end.”
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Probable attribution
This saying is widely associated with Mahatma Gandhi, but the attribution is not supported by a reliable primary source.
Likely origin: Attributed to Gandhi (reward / fruit-of-action theme drawn from the Gita); listed under his autobiography by some sources, but the exact wording is not confirmed in a primary.
About this quote
Detach the work from the payoff and something steadies: you act because the action is right, not because a reward is promised. The quiet faith underneath is that decent effort compounds unseen, surfacing later in ways you may never trace back — so the absence of applause is no reason to stop.
When to use it
- A mentor pours years into a student and only hears, decades later, how it changed a life.
- A volunteer plants trees she'll never sit under, trusting the shade will matter to someone.
- An employee does careful, unglamorous work that quietly averts a crisis nobody notices.