Giving quotes
21.9K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside giving — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"Do not be afraid of spending quality time by yourself. Find meaning or don’t find meaning but “steal” some time and give it freely and exclusively to your own self. Opt for privacy and solitude. That doesn’t make you antisocial or cause you to reject the rest of the world. But you need to breathe. And you need to be."
"Charity is the filthiest invention of the human mind: first you steal what belongs to everyone; then you use the law and various other means to protect it. You give charity to prevent the have-nots from rebelling against you. It also makes you feel less guilty. All do-gooders feel 'high' when they do good."
"Before you come alive, life is nothing; it 's up to you to give it a meaning, and value is nothing else but the meaning that you choose."
"God is not a slot machine. We don't go to God to get something; we go to give something."
"Dare to love and to be a real friend. The love you give and receive is a reality that will lead you closer and closer to God as well as those whom God has given you to love."
"Virtue means doing the right thing, in relation to the right person, at the right time, to the right extent, in the right manner, and for the right purpose. Thus, to give money away is quite a simple task, but for the act to be virtuous, the donor must give to the right person, for the right purpose, in the right amount, in the right manner, and at the right time."
"If you can't give me poetry, can't you give me poetical science?"
"As I give thought to the matter, I find four causes for the apparent misery of old age; first, it withdraws us from active accomplishments; second, it renders the body less powerful; third, it deprives us of almost all forms of enjoyment; fourth, it stands not far from death."
"You don't have to live next to me / Just give me my equality."
"If I could give you only one advice, I would say: Don't identify with anything. Be completely empty - no one. Be no-body and see if you lose anything but delusion."
"The fact is that people are good, Give people affection and security, and they will give affection and be secure in their feelings and their behavior."
"You can always give something, even if it is only kindness."
"There are long periods when life seems a small, dull round, a petty business with no point, and then suddenly we are caught up in some great event which gives us a glimpse of the solid and durable foundations of our existence."
"Jesus is giving you such an opportunity to be holy, holier than all the saints that have ever been, because the world is in such need of shining lives, beacons to see by."
"I love idleness. I love to busy myself about trifles, to begin a hundred things and not finish one of them, to come and go as my fancy bids me, to change my plan every moment, to follow a fly in all its circlings, to try and uproot a rock to see what is underneath, eagerly to begin a ten-years' task to give it up after ten minutes: in short, to fritter away the whole day inconsequentially and incoherently, and to follow nothing but the whim of the moment."
"You are my sunrise. Your smile lights up my world. I could give anything just to see you happy. True love is not in getting things from others but in giving and sharing more and more."
"When you please your mother by doing something, it gives you confidence that you can please other people."
"Why is it, that giving guns is so easy, but giving books is so hard?"
"Above all else, know this: Be prepared at all times for the gifts of God and be ready always for new ones. For God is a thousand times more ready to give than we are to receive"
"Wealth is not to feed our egos but to feed the hungry and to help people help themselves."
