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Charity Quotes

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Charity Quotes

“You have a hierarchy of values; pleasure is at the bottom of the ladder, and you speak with a little thrill of self-satisfaction, of duty, charity, and truthfulness. You think pleasure is only of the senses; the wretched slaves who manufactured your morality despised a satisfaction which they had small means of enjoying. You would not be so frightened if I had spoken of happiness instead of pleasure: it sounds less shocking, and your mind wonders from the sty of Epicurus to his garden. But I will speak of pleasure, for I see that men aim at that, and I do not know that they aim at happiness. It is pleasure that lurks in the practice of every one of your virtues. Man performs actions because they are good for him, and when they are good for other people as well they are thought virtuous: if he finds pleasure in giving alms he is charitable; if he finds pleasure in helping others he is benevolent; if he finds pleasure in working for society he is public-spirited; but it is for your private pleasure that you give twopence to a beggar as much as it is for my private pleasure that I drink another whiskey and soda. I, less of a humbug than you, neither applaud myself for my pleasure nor demand your admiration.”

ValuesPleasureCharity
Book:Of Human Bondage
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“We are, or rather our natural desire to evade pain and to attain pleasure is, the primary reason we do or say every single thing we do or say.”

PhilosophyHumorPainMotivationHumanityPleasureCompassionHumourEmpathyMercyCharityPhilosopherSelfishSelfishnessMotiveSatireSympathyGenesSelflessAltruismSelflessnessUnselfishSatiristUnselfishnessTeresaMotivesNelson MandelaGenieSocial CriticismMandelaGeneMother TeresaGhandiMahatma Ghandi
Book:The Selfish Genie: A Satirical Essay on Altruism
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“The pleasure or the benefit that the object of our deed derives from it is every now and then greater or even more important than the one we derive from the deed.”

PhilosophyHumorHumanityPleasureCompassionHumourEmpathyAdvantageMercyCharityPhilosopherSelfishSelfishnessSatireSympathyGenesSelflessAltruismSelflessnessUnselfishSatiristUnselfishnessTeresaBenefitNelson MandelaGenieSocial CriticismObjectMandelaGeneMother TeresaGhandiMahatma Ghandi
Book:The Selfish Genie: A Satirical Essay on Altruism
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“Females and boys are the only creatures that propose others for friendship. As for the rest of us, friendship sort of just happens.”

MenPhilosophyHumorHumanityGirlFriendshipCompassionBoysHumourEmpathyFemaleMercyCharityMalesPhilosopherSelfishManSelfishnessSatireGirlsSympathyGenesSelflessAltruismSelflessnessProposalProposeFriendshipsMaleUnselfishBoySatiristUnselfishnessTeresaFemalesNelson MandelaGenieSocial CriticismMandelaGeneMother TeresaGhandiMahatma Ghandi
Book:The Selfish Genie: A Satirical Essay on Altruism
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“{The final resolutions at Robert Ingersoll's funeral, quoted here} Whereas, in the order of nature -- that nature which moves with unerring certainty in obedience to fixed laws -- Robert G. Ingersoll has gone to that repose which we call death. We, his old friends and fellow-citizens, who have shared his friendship in the past, hereby manifest the respect due his memory. At a time when everything impelled him to conceal his opinions or to withhold their expression, when the highest honors of the state were his if he would but avoid discussion of the questions that relate to futurity, he avowed his belief; he did not bow his knee to superstition nor countenance a creed which his intellect dissented. Casting aside all the things for which men most sigh -- political honor, the power to direct the futures of the state, riches and emoluments, the association of the worldly and the well- to-do -- he stood forth and expressed his honest doubts, and he welcomed the ostracism that came with it, as a crown of glory, no less than did the martyrs of old. Even this self-sacrifice has been accounted shame to him, saying that he was urged thereto by a desire for financial gain, when at the time he made his stand there was before him only the prospect of loss and the scorn of the public. We, therefore, who know what a struggle it was to cut loose from his old associations, and what it meant to him at that time, rejoice in his triumph and in the plaudits that came to him from thus boldly avowing his opinions, and we desire to record the fact that we feel that he was greater than a saint, greater than a mere hero -- he was a thoroughly honest man. He was a believer, not in the narrow creed of a past barbarous age, but a true believer in all that men ought to hold sacred, the sanctity of the home, the purity of friendship, and the honesty of the individual. He was not afraid to advocate the fact that eternal truth was eternal justice; he was not afraid of the truth, nor to avow that he owed allegiance to it first of all, and he was willing to suffer shame and condemnation for its sake. The laws of the universe were his bible; to do good, his religion, and he was true to his creed. We therefore commend his life, for he was the apostle of the fireside, the evangel of justice and love and charity and happiness. We who knew him when he first began his struggle, his old neighbors and friends, rejoice at the testimony he has left us, and we commend his life and efforts as worthy of emulation.”

LoveTruthHappinessDeathNatureFriendshipJusticeDoubtHonestyHeroHonorGloryRespectBraveryPraiseCharityIntellectTriumphObedienceResolutionRejoiceMartyrSuperstitionSelf SacrificeEulogyCreedIngersollRobert G IngersollRobert IngersollRobert Green Ingersoll
Book:Ingersoll: A Biographical Appreciation
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“To imagine the inner world, both intellectual and emotional, of the other. To use our imagination even in times of strife. To use it also, primarily, in moments when we feel a surge of fury, insult, loathing, righteousness, and the certainty that we have been wronged and that justice is entirely on our side. Perhaps also to ask, once in a while: What if I were her? Or him? Or them? To step, for a moment, into the other's shoes and under his skin, not in order to cross the river or be 'reborn,' but simply to understand, to sense, what is there. What is beyond the river? What do they have in their head? How do they feel over there? And what do we look like from there? Perhaps also to try to find out how deep the dividing river is. How wide? How and where might we build a bridge? This curiosity will not necessarily lead us to a conclusion of sweeping moral relativity, nor to self-abdication in favor of the other's selfhood. It will lead us, sometimes, to an exhilarating discovery, which is that there are many rivers, each of whose banks can show us a different landscape that may be fascinating and surprising. Fascinating even if it is not right for us; surprising even if it does not appeal to us. Perhaps, indeed, in curiosity lies the prospect of openness and tolerance.”

LoveLiteratureImaginationEmpathyCharityCuriosityOpen MindednessDear Zealots
Book:שלום לקנאים
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“We must be willing to accept the bitter truth that, in the end, we may have to become a burden to those who love us. But it is necessary that we face this also. The full acceptance of our abjection and uselessness is the virtue that can make us and others rich in the grace of God. It takes heroic charity and humility to let others sustain us when we are absolutely incapable of sustaining ourselves. We cannot suffer well unless we see Christ everywhere, both in suffering and in the charity of those who come to the aid of our affliction.”

LoveLifeDyingCharityEuthanasiaAssisted Suicide
Book:No Man Is an Island
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“THE NAKED HEART From womb to tomb, There came and went - Only you. Poor or rich, You will die with Only you. All the wealth you harvest In the living, Will go to others when you are dead. But the true test of a lion of God - Is to keep giving with your own hands, Before you rest in your final bed.”

LifeGivingHeartKindGodHandsDeathWealthKindnessDyingBedLivingCharityGreedGenerosityGenerousDeadHarvestGreedyWombGiverGiveKindness To OthersLionScroogeTombHelp OthersGenerous SpiritMiserGive To OthersLion Of GodGive To The Poor
Book:Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
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“the holy art of “giving for Jesus’ sake” ought to be much more strongly developed among us Christians. Never forget that all state relief for the poor is a blot on the honor of your savior. The fact that the government needs a safety net to catch those who would slip between the cracks of our economic system is evidence that I have failed to do God’s work. The government cannot take the place of Christian charity. A loving embrace isn’t given with food stamps. The care of a community isn’t provided with government housing. The face of our Creator can’t be seen on a welfare voucher. What the poor need is not another government program; what they need is for Christians like me to honor our savior.”

ChristianityPovertyCharityChristian Behavior
Book:The Problem of Poverty
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“As they were walking, a beggar came up, holding his hand out and crying, "Baksheesh! Baksheesh!" Mike kept on going but Mitchell stopped. Digging into his pocket, he pulled out twenty paise and placed it in the beggar's dirty hand. Mike said, "I used to give to beggars when I first came here. But then I realized, it's hopeless. It never stops." "Jesus said you should give to whoever asks you," Mitchell said. "Yeah, well," Mike said, "obviously Jesus was never in Calcutta.”

JesusPoorPovertyCharityCalcuttaBeggars
Book:The Marriage Plot
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“Death by Starvation or Boredom” Many toil for scraps and cheap wages, surviving one fragile breath at a time— just one more breath... While others, bloated with excess, labor only to escape boredom, pretending they’re saving a world drowning in the greed they created, and the power they refuse to let go. The first walks a tightrope between breath and hunger. The second, cushioned by comfort, drifts closer to spiritual starvation, their soul numbed by excess. And here lies the cruel symmetry— fate, with its blunt hands, levels the field by offering death either way: starvation... or boredom. But the greatest tragedy belongs to those who die of both.”

PovertyCharityBoredomElitesWorking ClassHumanitarianismClass StruggleArabic Poetry
Book:سرطان في كل مكان [Cancer Everywhere]
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“In Iran, when a guest comes, you tell them they may be angels, they are welcome and the whole house is filled with the joy of their presence. And the person always apologizing is the host, that they might have more to offer. But here, it seems guests are supposed to apologize all the time that they're taking anything. It's like they think the host is burdened. I don't understand it. But I know I never want to go to the house of any of these grown-ups, who make you beg for so little. I don't want the cracker sandwiches they made with all the groaning in their hearts. I don't want to be poor. But if I can't have that, then I don't want them to know how hungry I am.”

PovertyCharityHungerGenerosityGuestsHostingHosts
Book:Everything Sad Is Untrue
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“It was a queer, rather disgusting scene. Below were the handful of simple, well-meaning people, trying hard to worship; and above were the hundred men whom they had fed, deliberately making worship impossible. A ring of dirty, hairy faces grinned down from the gallery, openly jeering. What could a few women and old men do against a hundred hostile tramps? They were afraid of us, and we were frankly bullying them. It was our revenge upon them for having humiliated us by feeding us. ... A man receiving charity practically always hates his benefactor—it is a fixed characteristic of human nature; and, when he has fifty or a hundred others to back him, he will show it.”

PovertyCharityPhilanthropy
Book:Down and Out in Paris and London
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“Soul worker: [...] To find peace: it meant she had to stop scorning the souls around her hooked on drugs, reproducing countless babies, living on welfare. Instead she had to minister to their souls, give them dignity by showing basic love and kindness. Her mission was not to save them, help them, change them - just simply to salute the good within them. That is the job of a soul worker. And when people do their job and fulfill their spiritual goals, they become peaceful and secure. Joy wells up from within.”

PovertyAcceptanceCharityWelfarePoor PeopleSocial WorkCharitableSocial WorkerAcceptance Of OthersPoverty Alleviation
Book:The Psychic Pathway: A Workbook for Reawakening the Voice of Your Soul
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“[We] believe, or assume to believe, that [we] satisfy [our] duty to [humanity] if [we] first provide fully for [our] own material wants and then pay [our] tribute to the universal provider by giving a little to the poor. But if [we] were scrupulously just there would be no poor to whom we could give alms and think that we had realized the merit of benevolence. Better than charity, better than giving of our surplus is conscientious and scrupulously fair conduct and a helping hand in need.”

PovertyDutyCharityVoluntarism
Author:Immanuel Kant
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“While I was a servant to Mr. Webster, he often sent me to her with a market-basket full of provisions, and told me whenever I saw anything in the house that I thought she was in need of, to take it to her. I often did this, and occasionally gave her small sums from my own pocket, though I had years before bought my freedom of her.”

MoneyPovertySlaveryCharityFirst Lady Of The United States
Book:A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison
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“Helping strategies, if indeed they are to be ultimately helpful, demand careful examination of long-term implications. There is no guarantee that unexamined charity will have a redemptive outcome simply because it ‘seems right’ or feels good to the giver.”

CompassionPovertyCharityAltruismCommunity Development
Book:Charity Detox: What Charity Would Look Like If We Cared About Results
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“Violence is as much a part of what is means to be poor as being hungry, sick, homeless, or jobless. In fact, as we shall see, violence is frequently the problem that poor people are most concerned about. It is one of the core reasons they are poor in the first place, and one of the primary reasons they stay poor. Indeed, we will simply never be able to win the battle against extreme poverty unless we address it.”

SufferingCompassionPovertyViolenceCharityAltruism
Book:The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence
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“And then one day you realise that if you want to be rich, you'd have to give away almost everything you own.”

WorldLoveLifeInspirationalHelpingInspirationTogetherHumanityCommunityWealthPoorConsciousnessPovertySupportRichSocietyShareAwarenessInspireQuoteUnityCharityHelping OthersOnenessUpliftingVanityVainMaterialismWealthyHelpOwnershipThinkSuperficialSharingTogethernessNeighbourActKamandKojouriKamand KojouriMaterial ThingsEncourageOwnPossessionsMaterialOne WorldPossessAidAssistNeighbourhoodRich In SpiritUplft
Author:Kamand Kojouri
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“A majority of people in these surveys also said that America gives too much aid--but when they were asked how much America should give, the median answers ranged from 5 percent to 10 percent of government spending. In other words, people wanted foreign aid 'cut' to an amount five to ten times greater than the United States actually gives!”

PovertyEthicsCharityMoral PhilosophyForeign Aid
Book:The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty
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“Earning money from, and supporting, a system that keeps these people in poverty in the first place and then gives them some of the profits in the form of "strings-attached" aid or World Bank and IMF loans is no more ridiculous than Shell or Esso giving Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth £10,000 to help clear up the destruction that they inevitably cause. Would it not be better not to cause the destruction in the first place?”

MoneyPovertyCharityProfitMoneylessFreeconomy
Book:The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living
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“In many cases, it was the woman’s stomach—not her heart—that fell for her man.”

MenLovePhilosophyHumorHumanityWomenLossCompassionMarriagePovertySecurityFoodHumourFailureLoversEmpathyMercyCharityPhilosopherDivorceDebtPartnersSelfishManSelfishnessWomanKitchenSatireOccupationStomachJobSympathyGenesSelflessNutritionLoverAltruismUnemploymentSelflessnessSpouseFailStarvationMortgagePartnerUnselfishSatiristUnselfishnessTeresaSpousesFeedNelson MandelaGenieSocial CriticismRentMandelaGeneMother TeresaRentalGhandiMahatma GhandiTummy
Book:The Selfish Genie: A Satirical Essay on Altruism
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“In some cases, it is the woman’s stomach—not her heart—that has left her man for another.”

MenLoveHeartPhilosophyHumorRomanceHumanityWomenLossCompassionMarriagePovertySecurityFoodHumourFailureLoversEmpathyMercyCharityPhilosopherDivorceDebtPartnersSelfishManSelfishnessWomanKitchenBreakupSatireOccupationStomachJobSympathyGenesSelflessNutritionLoverAltruismUnemploymentSelflessnessSpouseFailStarvationMortgageHeartsBreakupsPartnerUnselfishSatiristUnselfishnessTeresaSpousesFeedNelson MandelaGenieSocial CriticismRentMandelaGeneMother TeresaRentalGhandiMahatma GhandiTummy
Book:The Selfish Genie: A Satirical Essay on Altruism
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“Whoever cannot survive without taking charity, such as an old, sick, or greatly suffering individual, but who stubbornly refuses to accept aid, is guilty of murdering himself…yet one who needs charity but postpones taking it and lives in deprivation so as to not trouble the community, shall live to provide for others." —Rabbi Joseph Karo (1488–1575), Shulkhan Arukh (The Code of Jewish Law), Yoreh Deah 255:2”

SufferingWealthPovertyPrideCharityDeprivationStubbornnessJewishAccepting HelpJewish LawShulkhan Arukh
Book:Jewish Wisdom
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