Quotations on Generosity

Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.

~ Kahlil Gibran

The only gift is a portion of thyself.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

What seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition, which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one.

~ Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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

~ Mignon McLaughlin

We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know.

~ W.H. Auden

All strangers and beggars are from Zeus, and a gift, though small, is precious.

~ Homer

Generosity during life is a very different thing from generosity in the hour of death; one proceeds from genuine liberality and benevolence, the other from pride or fear.

~ Horace Mann

Gifts are hooks.

~ Martial