QUOTES AND APHORISMS ON CHARITY 1

Charity is a virtue of the heart. Gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence, of this virtue.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719, British essayist, poet, statesman)

Charity is the perfection and ornament of religion.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719, British essayist, poet, statesman)

If you have great wealth, give alms out of your abundance; if you have but little, distribute even some of that. But do not hesitate to give alms.

Apocrypha (A collection of fourteen books written after the last book of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and before the first book of the Christian Scriptures (New Testament).)

Charity brings to life again those who are spiritually dead.

St. Thomas Aquinas

The living need charity more than the dead.

George Arnold (1834–1865, Author of "The Jolly Old Pedagogue")

Should we grieve over a little misplaced charity, when an all knowing, all wise Being showers down every day his benefits on the unthankful and undeserving?

Francis Atterbury (1663-1732, British Anglican clergyman, controversialist)

In charity there is no excess.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626, British philosopher, essayist, statesman)

I give because I want to, not because I ought to. I feel good knowing that my gifts of time and money are making a difference in the community and, hopefully, shaping spiritual moral values.

Robert Bainum

Giving a few dollars to a blind beggar or a destitute orphan may be characterized as charity; a large gift of money to an educational institution or a symphony orchestra is philanthropy.

Carl Bakal

There is a subtle, semantic distinction between charity and philanthropy, although the latter carries with it more of the connotation of large-scale giving -- and not necessarily to the poor and suffering.

Carl Bakal

The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.

Francis Maitland Balfour

He who distributes the milk of human kindness cannot help but spill a little on himself.

James M. Barrie (1860-1937, British playwright)

Every charitable act is a stepping stone towards heaven.

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887, American preacher, orator, writer)

I give that you may give.

Otto Von Bismarck (1815-1898, Russian statesman, Prime Minister)

Your own happiness increases the more you give your happiness away.

Bruce Bogaert

I believe that people will do what is right and good if they are given a chance and are convinced that what they are being asked to do will truly help others.

Helen Boosalis

Pity all you like, but for God's sake give!

Evangeline Cory Booth

Only great souls know the grandeur there is in charity.

Jacques Benigne Bossuet (1627-1704, French orator)

A man who sees another man on the street corner with only a stump for an arm will be so shocked the first time he'll give him sixpence. But the second time it'll only be a three penny bit. And if he sees him a third time, he'll have him cold-bloodedly handed over to the police.

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956, German dramatist, poet)

Having leveled my palace, don't erect a hovel and complacently admire your own charity in giving me that for a home.

Emily Bronte (1818-1848, British novelist, poet)

Be charitable before wealth makes you covetous.

Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682, British author, physician, philosopher)

Charity But how shall we expect charity towards others, when we are uncharitable to ourselves? Charity begins at home, is the voice of the world; yet is every man his greatest enemy, and, as it were, his own executioner.

Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682, British author, physician, philosopher)

He is rich who hath enough to be charitable.

Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682, British author, physician, philosopher)

True charity is sagacious, and will find out hints for beneficence.

Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682, British author, physician, philosopher)

The highest exercise of charity is charity towards the uncharitable.

J. S. Buckminster

I have always heard, Sancho, that doing good to base fellows is like throwing water into the sea.

Miguel De Cervantes (1547-1616, Spanish novelist, dramatist, poet)

Charity is the scope of all God's commands.

St. John Chrysostom (345-407, Patriarch of Constantinople)

In bestowing charity, the main consideration should be to help those who will help themselves; to provide part of the means by which those who desire to improve may do so;... to assist, but rarely or never to do all.

Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919, American industrialist, philanthropist)

I have never felt any hesitation in speaking to my congregation about money. I thrill to it. I revel in it. I love to see the liberal enjoy it; I love to watch the stingy suffer.

Clovis G. Chappell

Giving allows me to touch the lives of people I don't even know, but whose lives I would like to help improve.

Stanley Chauvin Jr.

It is more agreeable to have the power to give than to receive.

Winston Churchill (1874-1965, British statesman, Prime Minister)

Your purse should not be closed so tightly that a kind impulse is not able to open it.

Marcus T. Cicero (c. 106-43 BC, Roman orator, politician)

Did universal charity prevail, earth would be a heaven, and hell a fable.

Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832, British sportsman writer)

Posthumous charities are the very essence of selfishness, when bequeathed by those who. when alive, would not have contributed.

Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832, British sportsman writer)

Riches may enable us to confer favors, but to confer them with propriety and grace requires a something that riches cannot give.

Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832, British sportsman writer)

Gold constitutes treasure, and he who possesses it has all the needs in this world, and also the means of rescuing souls.

Christopher Columbus

To place your name by gift or bequest in the keeping of an active educational institution is to...make a permanent contribution to the welfare of humanity.

Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933, American President (30th))

Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870, British novelist)

There is no real religious experience that does not express itself in charity.

C.H. Dodd

Give to others so that they may grow strong and not dependent.

Robert Dole

I count all that part of my life lost which I spent not in communion with God, or in doing good.

John Donne (1572-1632, British metaphysical poet)

This only is charity, to do all, all that we can.

John Donne (1572-1632, British metaphysical poet)

Sometimes when I'm swimming, I think that maybe someday I'll put my red Speedo up for auction. Or maybe I'll donate it to the Smithsonian. They can stuff it with two  plums and a gherkin and put it on display.

David Duchovny (1960-, American actor)

The appalling thing is the degree of charity women are capable of. You see it all the time... love lavished on absolute fools. Love's a charity ward, you know.

Lawrence Durrell (1912-1990, British author)

Do not tell me of my obligation to put all poor men in good situations. Are they my poor? I tell thee, thou foolish philanthropist, that I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent, I give to such men as do not belong to me and to whom I do not belong.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American poet, essayist)

Give no bounties, make equal laws, secure life and prosperity and you need not give alms.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882, American poet, essayist)

There is no charity in a man's leaving money in his will; he has simply got to leave it. The time to administer your trust is while you are still living.

William E. Gladstone (1809-1888, British liberal Prime Minister, statesman)

A rich man without charity is a rogue; and perhaps it would be no difficult matter to prove that he is also a fool.

Henry Fielding (1707-1754, British novelist, dramatist)

Riches without charity are worth nothing. They are a blessing only to him who makes them a blessing to others.

Henry Fielding (1707-1754, British novelist, dramatist)

If your heart is in the right place, it affords you appropriate opportunity to do things for others, to express your good will, to let yourself go sentimentally, philanthropically.

B.C. Forbes

A man is sometimes more generous when he has but a little money than when he has plenty, perhaps through fear of being thought to have but little.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790, American scientist, publisher, diplomat)

If you as askers do not give generously, could it be that fact transmits itself unknowingly when you ask others to share?

Arthur C. Frantzreb

Charitable planning is the process of doing better by doing good.

Douglas K Freeman

If you want to know the value of an individual, ask not for the sum of all that he owns, but look instead to the total of all that he has given.

Douglas K Freeman

I have never seen a person sacrifice to make a contribution. People contribute only that portion of their income which will not in any way infringe upon their standard of living.

James W. Frick

Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much.

Erich Fromm (1900-1980, American psychologist)

Charity begins at home, but should not end there.

Thomas Fuller (1608-1661, British clergyman, author)

My experience has taught me, and it has become a principle with me, that it is never any benefit to give out and out, to man or woman, money, food, clothing, or anything else, if they are able-bodied and can work and earn what they need, when there is anything on earth for them to do. This is my principle and I try to act upon it. To pursue a contrary course would ruin any community in the world and make them idlers.

Brigham Young Fun

As the purse is emptied, the heart is filled.

Victor Hugo (1802-1885, French poet, dramatist, novelist)

I believe that serving and being served are reciprocal and that one cannot really be had without the other.

Robert K. Greenleaf

Helpfulness to others is the best kind of good.

Fritz Guy

If you don't get the funding sources out to where the action is, funds will soon dry up because the sources' interest had never been whetted.

John W. Hechinger

The truly generous is the truly wise, and he who loves not others, lives unblest.

Henry Home

If you haven't got any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.

Bob Hope (1903-2003, American comedian, actor)

Charity begins at home, and usually stays there.

Elbert Hubbard (1859-1915, American author, publisher)

If you haven't experienced the joy of giving, you must learn to. It is a fascinating, ethereal feeling that doesn't come as a result of planning or effort but as a by-product of helping others

Frank M. Hubbard

That charity which longs to publish itself, ceases to be charity.

William Hutton

I hope that young people will strive to contribute not only to their own nation's welfare, but to the benefit of mankind as a whole.

Yasutaro Imai

I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826, American President (3rd))

I deem it the duty of every man to devote a certain portion of his income for charitable proposes; and that it is his further duty to see it so applied; to do the most good of which it is capable.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826, American President (3rd))

If there is one word that describes our form of society in America, it may be the word-voluntary.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973, American President (36th))

He who waits to do a great deal of good at once, will never do anything.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784, British author)

You are much surer that you are doing good when you pay money to those who work, as the recompense of their labor, than when you give money merely in charity.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784, British author)

Be charitable and indulge to everyone, but thyself.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824, French moralist)

Everyone is obliged to contribute to charity.

Rabbi Joseph Karo

He is truly great who hath a great charity.

Thomas a Kempis (1379-1471, German monk, mystic, religious writer)

If we who have, cannot help those who have not, then we cannot help ourselves.

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963, American President (35th))

The habit of giving one's self and one's wealth to other people and higher causes is an acquired characteristic.

David S. Ketchum

Prayer carries us half way to God, fasting brings us to the door of His palace, and alms-giving procures us admission.

The Koran (c. 500 AD, Islamic Religious Bible)

The giving is the hardest part; what does it cost to add a smile?

Jean De La Bruyere (1645-1696, French classical writer)

To talk about doing good all day is not equal to doing one act of charity. If you do good and want people to know about it, then the good done becomes the root of evil.

T. C. Lai

If you want to have a happy life, take up giving as a hobby when you're young.

Arthur F. Leneban

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865, American President (16th))

A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.

Jack London (1876-1916, American novelist)

Teach us to give and not count the cost.

St. Ignatius Loyola (1495-1556, Spanish theologian, founder of The Jesuits)

Help is giving part of yourself to somebody who comes to accept it willingly and needs it badly.

Norman Maclean

I don't think you can do anything for anyone without giving up something of your own.

Bernard Malamud

Charity is that virtue by which part of that sincere love we have for ourselves is transferred pure and unmixed to others.

Bernard Mandeville (1670-1733, Dutch-born British author, physician)

To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is Godlike.

Horace Mann (1796-1859, American educator)

If it is more blessed to give than to receive, then most of us are content to let the other fellow have the greater blessing.

Shailer Matthews

Charity withers in the incessant gale.

Phyllis McGinley (1905-1978, American poet, author)

In all giving, give thought. With thoughtful giving, even small sums may accomplish great purposes.

Fred G. Meyer

As for charity, it is a matter in which the immediate effect on the persons directly concerned, and the ultimate consequence to the general good, are apt to be at complete war with one another.

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873, British philosopher, economist)

His alms are vain who does not know that his need of the reward for giving is greater than the poor man's need of the gift.

Mohammed (c.570-c.632, Mecca spiritual leader)

Every creative act of ours in relation to other people -- an act of love, of pity, of help, of peacemaking -- not merely has a future but is eternal.

Mother Teresa (1910-1997, Albanian-born Roman Catholic missionary)

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But if that drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. I do not agree with the big way of doing things.

Mother Teresa (1910-1997, Albanian-born Roman Catholic missionary)

They take the paper and they read the headlines. So they've heard of unemployment and they've heard of bread-lines. And they philanthropically cure them all by getting up a costume charity ball.

Ogden Nash (1902-1971, American humorous poet)

The organized charity, scrimped and iced, in the name of a cautious, statistical Christ.

John Boyle O'Reilly (1844-1890, Irish author)

To give requires good sense.

Ovid (BC 43-18 AD, Roman poet)

Give to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself -- that is my doctrine.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809, Anglo-American political theorist, writer)

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