Generosity

Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren't any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn't be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life's challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person.

Theologians talk about a prevenient grace that precedes grace itself and allows us to accept it. I think there must also be a prevenient courage that allows us to be brave - that is, to acknowledge that there is more beauty than our eyes can bear, that precious things have been put into our hands and to do nothing to honor them is to do great harm. And therefore, this courage allows us, as the old men said, to make ourselves useful. It allows us to be generous, which is another way of saying exactly the same thing.

Religion is the biggest discovery of man on earth. But religion is his most failed concept as it has divided people more than it has united them by creating a boundary where followers stop at and throw stones at others.

If a person, whether your friend or not, fails in his attempt and your heart is wide enough to clap at his effort, only then you have a human heart in the real sense. Many people feel happy at others' failure, out of jealousy.

If your neighbor falls ill and you feel the pain, if any of your known people is in trouble or misery and your heart aches, only then you have a human heart in the real sense.

G = Gift R = Received A = At C = Christs E = Expense This was the explanation given to me on the first day of my RCIA class. It has now been 20 years and this is the main thing I remember from that experience. Grace is Love.

"If one wishes to know love, one must live love, in action."

Some girls are extremely beautiful in nature.

It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else. Erma Bombeck

To allow poverty in the modern world is the most pervasive form of violence we enact upon one another. As long as we allow peoples to live in poverty, there will be no real or lasting peace – no end to violence, terrorism, and war. Selfishness, greed, and hatred produce poverty, a great adversary to our humanity. If our divinity is to be found in our humanity, then poverty is also an adversary of the divine kingdom.

“The arms of love encompass you with your present, your past, your future, the arms of love gather you together.”

Open hearts will open more hearts.

When a man is wrapped up in himself he makes a pretty small package.

Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me a truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.

The Platinum Rule: Treat others in the way they like to be treated.

Do unto others as they would have you do unto them.

“Charity extends the privelages of insiders to outsiders; while agape erases the line between insiders and outsiders altogether.”

“When we don’t ask, we don’t let others give. When we fear rejection, we don’t let generosity arise.”

The only antidote to stagnancy in the race of attainment is generosity. Giving begets receiving. He who does not give doesn't deserve to be given to; it is unjust for a stingy man to receive. When you give, you don't lose what you have given but have invested into your future, 'cause the hand that receives from you is indebted to you and will pay in the future.

Blessed...considers the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. The righteous considers the cause of the poor: but the wicked regards not to know it. Finally,...whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. ...as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue: ...giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; to virtue knowledge; to knowledge temperance; to temperance patience; to patience godliness; to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

Poverty is a reaper: it harvests everything inside us that might have made us capable of social intercourse with others, and leaves us empty, purged of feeling, so that we may endure all the darkness of the present day.

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitts on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.

When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.

Life is given to us, we earn it by giving it.

Its amazing what you can accomplish when you don't care who gets the credit.

Life's most persistent and urgent question is: what are you doing for others?

If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it.

No one can be always right and be a true Christian. It is a contradiction of terms. It comes from the failure to be real about oneself in the light of the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. It is based on fear, and on the misuse of power. I imagined that I could somehow prevent my children from making mistakes. This is a temptation that many parents have to face, and it can be agonizing. After their early years, in which they must be taught the difference between right and wrong, we need to encourage them to choose to do the very best they can, to obey the deepest thing in their hearts, thoughts good and loving; but we must leave them really free to choose, without fear in ourselves. Perfect love drives out fear, and goes on whichever way they may choose.

Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.

Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out.

It takes generosity to discover the whole through others. If you realize you are only a violin, you can open yourself up to the world by playing your role in the concert.

Happiness exists on earth, and it is won through prudent exercise of reason, knowledge of the harmony of the universe, and constant practice of generosity.

Noblesse oblige; or, superior advantages bind you to larger generosity.

A really great man is known by three signs: generosity in the design, humanity in the execution, moderation in success.

No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure.

It always seemed strange to me that the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, aquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and selfinterest are the traits of sucess. And while men admire the quality of the first, they love the produce of the second.

We'd all like a reputation for generosity, and we'd all like to buy it cheap.

Generosity is another quality which, like patience, letting go, non-judging, and trust, provides a solid foundation for mindfulness practice. You might experiment with using the cultivation of generosity as a vehicle for deep self-observation and inquiry as well as an exercise in giving. A good place to start is with yourself. See if you can give yourself gifts that may be true blessings, such as self-acceptance, or some time each day with no purpose. Practice feeling deserving enough to accept these gifts without obligation-to simply receive from yourself, and from the universe.

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.

There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will be to treat others with respect, kindness, and generosity.

Anticipate charity by preventing poverty; assist the reduced fellow man, either by a considerable gift or a sum of money or by teaching him a trade or by putting him in the way of business so that he may earn an honest livelihood and not be forced to the dreadful alternative of holding out his hand for charity. This is the highest step and summit of charity's golden ladder.

You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.

The habit of giving only enhances the desire to give.

I would hope they would develop some kind of habit that involves understanding that their life is so full they can afford to give in all kinds of ways to other people. I consider that to be baseline spirituality.

There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life -- happiness, freedom, and peace of mind -- are always attained by giving them to someone else.

Think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege.

It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding.

" Want now,and want later, give and never lack"

Recipients of our appreciation are apt to express their own gratitude to others, lengthening the unending, golden chain of connections-in-goodness that stretches across the world.

Giving is an essential for spiritual unfoldment, for until we give and give abundantly, we don’t really realize that we are not the giver; we are just a channel for giving.

Whenever you possibly can, do good to those who need it.

Selfless service to mankind makes you free in the world of mortals.

The man of great wealth owes a particular obligation to the state because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government.

God will not call you to account for what is futile in your oaths, but He will call you to account for your deliberate oaths: for expiation, feed then indigent persons, on a scale of the average for the food of your families; or clothe them; or give a slave his freedom.

He that gives should never remember, he that receives should never forget.

Do not kiss your children so they will kiss you back but so they will kiss their children, and their children’s children.

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.

But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

All you have shall some day be given; Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors'.

To the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.

At the heart of our public morality is the idea that he who gives generously is most virtuous and morally praiseworthy; that there is no greater citizen than she who sacrifices; and that there is no greater measure of worth than contribution.  These are values we can be proud of.  After all, there is no moral system or religion on earth where the guiding ethic is "grab more for yourself."

The higher the rank I attain, the more humbly I behave.  The greater my power, the less I exercise it.  The richer my wealth, the more I give away.  Thus I avoid envy, spite and misery.

Blessed are those who can give without remembering and can take without forgetting.

By what we get, we make a living.
By what we give, we make a life.

When giving to others
do not linger on thoughts of
    I a giving,
    what was given, or
    the one who has received.

Power is the ability to do good things for others.

Happiness never decreased by being shared.

Thousands of candles can be
lighted from a single candle,
and the life of the candle will not
be shortened.

To be able to practice five things everywhere under heaven constitutes perfect virtue...[They are] gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness.

That which is selfish is immoral, and that which is unselfish is moral. 

Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity are the exclusive possesions of no one race or religion.

Generosity gives assistance rather than advice.

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Many men have been capable of doing a wise thing, more a cunning thing, but very few a generous thing.

You will always have to live with yourself, and it is to your best interest to see that you have good company -- a clean, pure, straight, honest, upright, generous, magnanimous companion.

And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. 

Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.

Do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect praise or reward.

He who gives what he would as readily throw away gives without generosity; for the essence of generosity is in self-sacrifice.

Men of the noblest dispositions think themselves happiest when others share their happiness with them.