Vincent de Paul
Saint, Priest
"There is no act of charity that is not accompanied by justice or that permits us to do more than we reasonably can."
Charity quotes
Charity
676 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Walt Whitman
Poet, Essayist
"Behold I do not give lectures or a little charity, When I give I give myself."
John Calvin
Theologian, Reformer
"We should never insult others on account of their faults, for it is our duty to show charity and respect to everyone."
Thomas Aquinas
Philosopher, Theologian
"Whatever a man has in superabundance is owed, of natural right, to the poor for their sustenance. So Ambrosius says, and it is also to be found in the Decretum Gratiani: The bread which you withhold belongs to the hungry: the clothing you shut away, to the naked: and the money you bury in the earth is the redemption and freedom of the penniless."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Civil Rights Leader
"Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary."
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Charity quotes (page 1 of 34)
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"Charity never humiliated him who profited from it, nor ever bound him by the chains of gratitude, since it was not to him but to God that the gift was made."
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"A judicious silence is always better than truth spoken without charity."
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"What the poor need is not charity, but capital, not caseworkers but coworkers."
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". . . [I]n the kingdom of charity, one prefers to suffer some inconvenience rather than inconvenience the neighbor."
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"How often we recall with regret that Napoleon once shot at a magazine editor and missed him and killed a publisher. But we remember with charity that his intentions were good."
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"A charity dollar has only one life; a Social Business dollar can be invested over and over again."
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"Even a smile can be charity."
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"We are responsible for the world in which we find ourselves, if only because we are the only sentient force which can change it."
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"I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for public charity."
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"This is not charity. This is business: business with a social objective, which is to help people get out of poverty."
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"Cook the truth in charity until it tastes sweet."
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"Charity degrades those who receive it and hardens those who dispense it."
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"Giving is the highest expression of potency."
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"Charity only perpetuates poverty by taking the initiative away from the poor."
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"Charity . . . is the opium of the privileged."
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"The existence of poverty is the proof of an unjust and ill-organised society, and our public charities are but the first tardy awakening in the conscience of a robber."
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"Opportunity is the greatest charity."
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"URGE is a grassroots charity. We organized to get some incubators to give to the hospital for the kids. We donate money to orphanages."
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"We have to get out of this mindset that the rich will do the business and the poor will have the charity."
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"It is more difficult to give money away intelligently than to earn it in the first place."
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