If not us, who? If not now, when?

This line is attributed to Hillel the Elder (late 1st century BCE–early 1st century CE), a leading Jewish sage of the Second Temple period. It comes from a cluster of ethical maxims preserved in rabbinic literature and associated with Hillel’s teaching style: concise, practical guidance for moral life and communal responsibility. The saying is framed as a pair of rhetorical questions meant to spur immediate action rather than passive reliance on others. In later Jewish tradition it became a frequently cited call to personal initiative and timely responsibility, often invoked in communal, educational, and social-justice contexts as a succinct summary of ethical urgency.

The quote presses the listener to accept responsibility and act without delay. “If not us, who?” challenges the tendency to outsource moral duties to leaders, institutions, or future generations; it insists that agency belongs to the people who recognize the need. “If not now, when?” adds the dimension of time, warning that good intentions can become a form of evasion when perpetually postponed. Read together, the questions frame ethical action as both personal and immediate: one must step forward and do what is necessary in the present moment. The enduring power of the line lies in its simplicity—turning hesitation into a direct moral reckoning.

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?