Virtues

"When you give, therefore, take to yourself no credit for generosity, unless you deny yourself something in order that you may give."

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

"I wonder if those who advocate generosity for its rewards notice the inconsistency, or if what they call generosity is an attractive investment strategy."

"Be generous! Give to those whom you love; give to those who love you; give to the fortunate; give to the unfortunate; yes — give especially to those to whom you don’t want to give."

"By no means shall you attain to righteousness until you spend (benevolently) out of what you love; and whatever thing you spend, God surely knows it."

"You've been so kind and generous. I don't know how you keep on giving. For your kindness, I'm in debt to you. For your selflessness, my admiration. And for everything you've done, you know I'm bound... I'm bound to thank you for it."

"Generosity is a virtue more frequently found in the small top layers than among the masses. After all, it takes intelligence to suspect that generosity very often pays while egotism does not."

"And having looked up, He saw the rich ones putting their gifts into the treasury. And He also saw a certain poor widow putting two lepta there. And He said, Truly I say to you, This poor widow put in more than all. For all these out of their abundance put into the gifts of God, but she out of her poverty put in all the living which she had."

"Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

"Generosity is a virtue for individuals, not Governments. When governments are generous it is with other people's money, other people's safety, other people's future."

"Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish."

"My friends, Dr. King realized that the only real wealth comes from helping others."

"I have confidence not so much in my own abilities as in the generosity of everyone else."

"There are people who are known to be very liberal, yet they never give without scolding or pride or even insolence."

"GENEROUS, adj. Originally this word meant noble by birth and was rightly applied to a great multitude of persons. It now means noble by nature and is taking a bit of a rest."

"Generosity is to help a deserving person without his request, and if you help him after his request, then it is either out of self-respect or to avoid rebuke."

"Taking pain to remove the pain of others is the true essence of generosity."

"ACCOUNTABILITY, n. The mother of caution."

"He says in his heart: “God has forgotten. He has turned away his face. He never notices. Why has the wicked one disrespected God? He says in his heart: “You will not hold me accountable.”"

"And there is not a creation that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and openly exposed to the eyes of the one to whom we must give an account."

"But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you also look down on your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says Jehovah, ‘to me every knee will bend, and every tongue will make open acknowledgment to God.’” So, then, each of us will render an account for himself to God."

"Addiction may be something to which some of us are predisposed, like diabetes, rather than a voluntary behavior — but it’s also reversible. A "disease model" of alcoholism and other addictions in no way diminishes our personal accountability once we know the facts. It simply suggests how hard recovery will be, and how much help we need."

"I tell you that men will render an account on Judgment Day for every unprofitable saying that they speak; for by your words you will be declared righteous, and by your words you will be condemned."

"Political freedom is neither easy nor automatic, neither pleasant nor secure. It is the responsibility of the individual for the decisions of society as if they were his own decisions--as in moral truth and accountability they are."

"When illusions are over, when the distractions of sense, the vagaries of fancy, and the tumults of passion have dissolved even before the body is cold, which once they so thronged and agitated, the soul merges into intellect, intellect into conscience, conscience into the unbroken, awful solitude of its own personal accountability; and though the inhabitants of the universe were within the spirit's ken, this personal accountability is as strictly alone and unshared, as if no being were throughout immensity but the spirit and its God."

"Think of three Things, whence you came, where you are going, and to whom you must account."

"Moral conduct includes every thing in which men are active and for which they are accountable. They are active in their desires, their affections, their designs, their intentions, and in every thing they say and do of choice; and for all these things they are accountable to God."

"Every day should be distinguished by at least one particular act of love."

"What do you think God gave you more wealth than is requisite to satisfy your rational wants for, when you look around and see how many are in absolute need of that which you do not need? Can you not take the hint?"

"So quickly sometimes has the wheel turned round, that many a man has lived to enjoy the benefit of that charity which his own piety projected."

"Every man who becomes heartily and understandingly a channel of the Divine benef1cence, is enriched through every league of his life. Perennial satisfaction springs around and within him with perennial verdure. Flowers of gratitude and gladness bloom all along his pathway, and the melodious gurgle of the blessings he bears is echoed back by the melodious waves of the recipient stream."

"I have heard of a monk who in his cell, had a glorious vision of Jesus revealed to him. Just then, a bell rang, which called him away to distribute loaves of bread among the poor beggars at the gate. He was sorely tried as to whether he should lose a scene so inspiring. He went to his act of mercy; and when he came back, the vision remained more glorious than ever."

"My brethren, surely the time has come for us to return to the Lord's plan. Among us there are children to be clothed, widows to be aided, and afflicted ones to be cared for. As you draw near to the poor, the Saviour will come nearer to you."

""Not for ourselves, but for others," is the grand law inscribed on every part of creation."

"Be charitable before wealth makes thee covetous."

"Open your hands, ye Whose hands are full! The world is waiting for you! The whole machinery of the Divine beneficence is clogged by your hard hearts and rigid fingers. Give and spend, and be sure that God will send; for only in giving and spending do you fulfill the object of His sending."

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

"Poverty is the load of some, and wealth is the load of others, perhaps the greater load of the two. It may weigh them to perdition. Bear the load of thy neighbor's poverty, and let him bear with thee the load of thy wealth. Thou lightenest thy load by lightening his."

"Give with a heart glowing with generous sentiments; give as the fountain gives out its waters from its own swelling depths; give as the air gives its vital breezes, unrestrained and free; give as the sun gives out its light, from the infinite abysses of its own nature."

"Proportion thy charity to the strength of thy estate, lest God proportion thy estate to the weakness of thy charity. Let the lips of the poor be the trumpet of thy gift, lest in seeking applause thou lose thy reward. Nothing is more pleasing to God than an open hand and a close mouth."

"Wealth tends to materialize the soul. Every contribution to spiritual objects counteracts the tendency. It is another step up the ladder, whose foot is deep down in materialism, but whose top reaches to the holy heavens of spirit and love. Liberality consists not so much in giving a great deal as in giving seasonably."

"By doing good with his money, a man, as it were, stamps the image of God upon it, and makes it pass current for the merchandise of heaven."

"Learn the luxury of doing good."

"Never try to save out of God's cause; such money will canker the rest. Giving to God is no loss; it is putting your substance in the best bank. Giving is true having, as the old gravestone said of the dead man: "What I spent I had, what I saved I lost, what I gave I have.""

"Great minds, like heaven, are pleased in doing good."

"There cannot be a more glorious object in creation than a human being replete with benevolence, meditating in what manner he might render himself most acceptable to his Creator by doing most good to His creatures."

"Through this toilsome world, alas! Once and only once I pass; If a kindness I may show, If a good deed I may do To a suffering fellow man, Let me do it while I can. No delay, for it is plain I shall not pass this way again."

"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."

"[Only by] the good influence of our conduct may we bring salvation in human affairs; or like a fatal comet we may bring destruction in our train."

"A beneficent person is like a fountain watering the earth and spreading fertility: it is therefore more delightful and more honourable to give than receive."