Maxim
Leave things better than you found them.
“That man himself found a world full of carob trees. Just as my ancestors planted for me, I too am planting for my descendants.”
Judaism · Classical (200 BCE – 600 CE)
Translation: William Davidson Edition English translation, CC BY-NC (via Sefaria)
Watch on YouTube: BimBam: Honi and the carob tree ↗BimBam retells the carob tree story
A simple measure for a day, a campsite or a life: did the world come out a little ahead for your having passed through?
Related expressions
“Leave this world a little better than you found it.”
— Robert Baden-Powell, Last message to Scouts (published 1941); checked via Wikiquote, not the original. The sentence as printed begins "Try and leave this world…" (e.g. The Children's Newspaper, 8 March 1941, and Blassingame, Baden-Powell: Chief Scout of the World, 1966, both seen via Internet Archive full-text search); original manuscript not checked“Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.”
— Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life (2018), Rule 6 (rule title); Random House Canada edition, checked against the book's contents as shown on Google Books (that listing drops punctuation)Watch on YouTube: Jordan Peterson: Rule 6 (fan upload) ↗Jordan B. Peterson discusses this rule (fan upload)
Score
Moral Rank 40.2 · Evidence E = 9.01
E = ln(1+1.33) + √1.33 + 3·1.33 + 1.5·2 = 9.01