I want to be remembered as the girl who always smiles even when her heart is broken. And the one that could always brighten up your day even if she couldnt brighten her own.
—Anonymous
Too many have dispensed with generosity in order to practice charity.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
Favors cease to be favors when there are conditions attached to them.
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) American Novelist, Playwright
Watch lest prosperity destroy generosity.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
If a man be gracious to strangers, it shows that he is a citizen of the world, and his heart is no island, cut off from other islands, but a continent that joins them.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will treat others with respect, kindness, and generosity. People who do not experience self-love have little or no capacity to love others.
—Nathaniel Branden (1930–2014) American Psychotherapist
A generous man places the benefits he confers beneath his feet; those he receives, nearest his heart.
—George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick (1746–1816) British Nobleman, Politician
For this I bless you most: You give much and know not that you give at all.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
You must be willing to do the things today others don’t do in order to have the things tomorrow others won’t have.
—Les Brown
One great reason why men practise generosity so little in the world is, their finding so little there: generosity is catching; and if so many men escape it, it is in a great degree from the same reason that countrymen escape the smallpox,—because they meet with no one to give it them.
—George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick (1746–1816) British Nobleman, Politician
It is not enough to help the feeble up, but to support him after.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
We would all like a reputation for generosity and we’d all like to buy it cheap.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
It is one of the beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another, without helping himself.
—Gamaliel Bailey (1807–59) American Journalist
The generous man enriches himself by giving; the miser hoards himself poor
—Dutch Proverb
Generous gestures yield the most when that isn’t their purpose.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
The only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves.
—E. M. Forster (1879–1970) English Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist
Generosity is not giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is giving me that which you need more than I do.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
As the sword of the best tempered metal is most flexible, so the truly generous are most pliant and courteous in their behavior to their inferiors.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
—Unknown
Liberality consists less in giving a great deal than in gifts well-timed.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
The more he cast away the more he had.
—John Bunyan (1628–88) English Puritan Writer, Preacher
There is wisdom in generosity, as in everything else.—A friend to everybody is often a friend to nobody; or else, in his simplicity, he robs his family to help strangers, and so becomes brother to a beggar.
—Charles Spurgeon (1834–92) English Baptist Preacher
All that is not given is lost.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
Every charitable act is a stepping stone towards heaven.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Being generous, just helping one’s relatives and being blameless in one’s actions; this is the best good luck.
—Buddhist Teaching
Of all virtues magnanimity is the rarest; there are a hundred persons of merit for one who willingly acknowledges it in another.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Generosity gives assistance, rather than advice.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
Is it not odd that the only generous person I ever knew, who had money to be generous with, should be a stockbroker.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist
Generosity is nothing else than a craze to possess. All which I abandon, all which I give, I enjoy in a higher manner through the fact that I give it away. To give is to enjoy possessively the object which one gives.
—Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80) French Philosopher, Playwright, Novelist, Screenwriter, Political Activist
How much easier it is to be generous than just! Men are sometimes bountiful who are not honest.
—Junius Unidentified English Writer
True generosity is a duty as indispensably necessary as those imposed on us by law.—It is a rule imposed by reason, which should be the sovereign law of a rational being.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
For his bounty, there was no winter in’t; an autumn ’twas that grew the more by reaping.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
To the generous mind the heaviest debt is that of gratitude, when it is not in our power to repay it.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.
—Albert Pike (1809–91) American Masonic Scholar, Orator, Jurist
To know when to be generous and when to be firm—this is wisdom.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
Generosity is toe accompaniment of high birth; pity and gratitude are its attendants.
—Pierre Corneille (1606–84) French Poet, Dramatist
Lavishness is not generosity.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
I am convinced that the majority of people would be generous from selfish motives, if they had the opportunity.
—Charles Dudley Warner (1829–1900) American Essayist, Novelist
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
—John Wesley (1703–91) British Methodist Religious Leader, Preacher, Theologian
Be generous with kindly words, especially about those who are absent.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
All my experience of the world teaches me that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the safe and just side of a question is the generous and merciful side.
—Anna Brownell Jameson (1794–1860) Irish-born Literary, Art Critic
Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who’ll never find out.
—Frank A. Clark
Noblesse oblige; or, superior advantages bind you to larger generosity
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
If there be any truer measure of a man than by what he does, it must be by what he gives.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
The return we reap from generous actions is not always evident.
—Francesco Guicciardini (1483–1540) Italian Historian, Political leader
Sometimes we hold on to our possessions because we fear we might run out – life seems scarce. But when we believe that giving is the way to live, we will produce more in the future – life seems abundant.
—John C. Maxwell (b.1947) American Christian Professional Speaker, Author, Clergyman
The generous who is always just, and the just who is always generous, may, unannounced, approach the throne of heaven.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
It is always so pleasant to be generous, though very vexatious to pay debts.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
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