Quotes About Generosity

Wealth meant having enough to give away, social status elevated by generosity.

As the land becomes impoverished, so too does the scope of their (ecology students, any young people) vision. When we talked about this after class, I realized that they could not even imagine what beneficial relations between their species and others might look like. How can we begin to move toward ecological and cultural sustainability if we cannot even imagine what the path feels like? If we can't imagine the generosity of geese?

Hyde reminds us that in a gift economy, one's freely given gifts cannot be made into someone else's capital.

Gifts exist in a realm of humility and mystery—as with random acts of kindness, we do not know their source.

Wealth among traditional people is measured by having enough to give away. Hoarding the gift, we become constipated with wealth, bloated with possessions, too heavy to join the dance.

Strawberries first shaped my view of a world full of gifts simply scattered at your feet. A gift comes to you through no action of your own, free, having moved toward you without your beckoning. It is not a reward; you cannot earn it, or call it to you, or even deserve it. And yet it appears. Your only role is to be open-eyed and present. Gifts exist in a realm of humility and mystery - as with random acts of kindness, we do not know their source.

Gratitude doesn't send you out shopping to find satisfaction; it comes as a gift rather than a commodity

I asked Phil Prentiss what he would do if they never got a baby and he said they'd die with a lot of excess love in their hearts…." "And let's not," Jack said. "Let's spend every drop. On the kids, on our families, on your patients, on the town. On people we don't know yet and the ones who have been our good friends forever. On each other. Let's spend our last drop as we're taking our last breaths.

and there. Sometimes she gave

The lesson God engraved on my heart that day was while I didn't necessarily need the money, she needed to give it. The exchange itself—both the giving and the receiving—illustrates a key characteristic of Christian community. To open-handedly bless others from the riches God has so generously given us and to open-handedly receive blessings from others binds believers together in an interdependent, Jesus-and-others-oriented web of grace.

Her heart felt happy and full, and that was how she learned that love warms the heart when it is given, regardless of whether it is received.

A woman who helps others helps herself.

BE KIND AND BENEVOLENT. MAKE A CASUAL STOP ON THE ENDLESS WAY TO THE FUTURE. and PUT ALL TROUBLES FROM YOUR MIND.

Even though we can't always have affection for every person we meet, we can always treat every person with kindness.

It's lovely when people accept your gift with gratitude, but you can't control that. You can only control your intention.

Emily thought maybe it was simpler than that: Some people gave money instead of love because it was all they had to give. A full bank account and a life of good deeds achieved with money didn't mean a full heart or a giving soul—often just the opposite.

We give because we love, not because we fear. When we give with love, we can disconnect from how things are received. Only the act of pure giving is important.

Every man is a hero if he strives more for others than for himself alone.

For the odd thing about wisdom is the more you use it the more it grows; and the more you share, the more you gain. You'd be amazed how few understand that.

you have more than you know. And people will want what you have.

I brug you two [gifts] . . . I gots the little here in my pockie.' He dug one hand deep into his pocket and pulled out a handful of nuts and a dead grasshopper. 'Nope. Be the other side.' (Matt)

You try to give away what you want yourself.

And that was just how it worked, wasn't it? Happiness handed around and around, never stopping. It wasn't something one could hoard tight like a miser. That would be like trying to hold one's breath for later.

You must learn to give, from sufficiency, not only take, from neediness.