Quotes About Generosity

If you want the best the world has to offer, offer the world your best.

There are few character traits that stand out in this world more than a generous heart.

What we should see is that there is none among us with nothing to give, and that giving is our purpose.

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

There is nothing I fear more than waking up without a program that will help me bring a little happiness to those with no resources, those who are poor, illiterate, and ridden with terminal disease.

What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.

I always knew that deep down in every human heart, there is mercy and generosity. No one is born hating another person because of the color of his kin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than the opposite.

I never lost hope that this great transformation would occur (...) I always knew that deep down in every human heart, there was mercy and generosity. No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. page 749

The purpose of freedom is to create it for others. Prison desk calendar, written on Robben Island, June 2, 1979

I always knew that deep down in every human heart, there was mercy and generosity.

la virtud y la generosidad son recompensadas de un modo inescrutable.

There is little favorable to be said about poverty, but it was often an incubator of true friendship. Many people will appear to befriend you when you are wealthy, but precious few will do the same when you are poor. If wealth is a magnet, poverty is a kind of repellent. Yet, poverty often brings out the true generosity in others.

It is a simple tale, but its message is an enduring one: virtue and generosity will be rewarded in ways that one cannot know.

But internal factors may be even more crucial in assessing one's development as a human being. Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others – qualities which are within easy reach of every soul – are the foundation of one's spiritual life.

Siempre he sabido que en el fondo del corazón de todos los seres humanos hay misericordia y generosidad. Nadie nace odiando a otra persona por el color de su piel, su procedencia o su religión. El odio se aprende, y si es posible aprender a odiar, es posible aprender a amar, ya que el amor surge con mayor naturalidad en el corazón del hombre que el odio.

What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made in the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.

The one thing in life that costs us nothing is a smile - give it away and makes someones day.

From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.

Whosoever hath, to him it shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that

It was where once, in town, I watched my grandfather come out of Brews, take a big copper penny from his pocket, place it on the path, and walk away. When I asked him why, he smiled an iceberg smile whose depths were unknown, and said, 'The man, woman or child that finds that will think it's their lucky day.' He delivered a large wink, added: 'And it will be.

I realize that the times I have known some sort of inner peace in my life, those have always been times when I focused on helping others more than myself... babysitting, cooking dinner for my family, cleaning up the house, talking to a friend on the phone and just listening to them vent about something or other without offering an opinion or judging. Those have been the moments when I get to stop obsessing about myself and really feel a sense of liberation. 'Freedom from the bondage of self...

It was a relief to be helping someone instead of being the one in need.

Bread for myself is a material question. Bread for my neighbor is a spiritual one.

I have their letters in front of me, three from Priscilla and one from Winnie. Together, they dramatise the proverb: 'When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry.