Giving quotes
21.9K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside giving — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"It was his subconscious which told him this - that infuriating part of a person's brain which never responds to interrogation, merely gives little meaningful nudges and then sits humming quietly to itself, saying nothing."
"What nobody seems to understand is that love can only be one-sided, that no other love exists, that in any other form it is not love. If it involves less than total giving, it is not love. It is impotent; for the moment it is nothing."
"Giving is living. If you stop wanting to give, there's nothing more to live for."
"Thank God for giving you this world as a moral gymnasium to help your development, but never imagine you can help the world."
"You have to do something. If you do something, you become somebody. Even a daffodil does something, has a profession. It gives off scent, professionally."
"When the ancient Masters said, "If you want to be given everything, give everything up," they weren't using empty phrases. Only in being lived by the Tao can you be truly yourself."
"But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them."
"When you learn, teach. When you get, give. Maya Angelou taught me that."
"I hope it is true that a man can die and yet not only live in others but give them life, and not only life, but that great consciousness of life."
"Fellow workers and peasants, this is the socialist and democratic revolution of the working people, with the working people, and for the working people. And for this revolution of the working people, by the working people, and for the working people we are prepared to give our lives."
"After 9/11, there were a lot of things being said about how the God of Islam and the God of the Christian faith were one and the same, but that's simply not true ... The God that I worship does not require me to kill other people. The God that I worship tells me I am to love my enemy, to give him food when he's hungry and water when he's thirsty."
"Speak not injurious words neither in jest nor earnest; scoff at none, although they give occasion."
"All my life I have risen regularly at four o'clock and have gone into the woods and talked to God. There He gives me my orders for the day."
"The sceptics, like bees, give their one sting and die."
"Give your kids a bloody knife and fork and let me put some fresh food in front of them they can eat."
"Because there is liberating power in each and every truth, the one who walks in the truth in all his ways will be set free. A lie, no matter how "little," gives the powers of darkness an opening for attack, but the truth chases them far away."
"I like every single actor or actress in the world, because we never know what the conditions are like when they are working. I give everyone the benefit of the doubt and root for them like a psychotic sports fan"
"For what God gives I thank indeed; What He withholds I do not need"
"People give ear to an upstart astrologer [Copernicus]...this fool wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy"
"I have found people on both sides of the aisle, white and black, that'll give you the shirt off their back. And I've also found people that won't give you a piece of bread if you're starving to death."
