Sayings about Generosity
The poorer, the more generous. ~ Russian Proverb
Men would not be richer for being miserly; generosity does not make a man poorer. ~ Yiddish Proverbs
Three things that can’t be taught: generosity, poetry and a singing voice. ~ Irish Proverbs
There is nothing better than a rich wife and a generous mother-in-law. ~ Russian Proverbs
No one is as generous as he who has nothing to give. ~ French Proverb
Indifference is a generous kind of intolerance. ~ Japanese Proverbs
He who is narrow of vision cannot be big of heart. ~ Chinese Proverb
The best act of generosity is that which is quickly done. ~ Arabian Proverb
He who allows his day to pass by without practicing generosity and enjoying life’s pleasures is like a blacksmith’s bellows: he breathes but does not live. ~ Indian Proverbs
The maker of laws must be severe; who executes them must be generous. ~ Chinese Proverb
In this world generous people have no money and those with money are not generous. ~ Iranian Proverb
The lover who gives you her body but not her heart is generous with thorn less roses. ~ Iranian Proverbs
The generous man enriches himself by giving; the miser hoards himself poor. ~ Dutch Proverbs
Quotations about Generosity
How much easier it is to be generous than just! Men are sometimes bountiful who are not honest. ~ Junius
Generosity wins favour for every one, especially when it is accompanied by modesty. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe Quotes
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
It’s hard to outdo the Lord in generosity. ~ Jerold Panas
All my experience of the world teaches me that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the safe and just side of a question is the generous and merciful side. ~ Anna Jameson
There is a greatness in being generous, and there is only simple justice in satisfying creditors. Generosity is the part of the soul raised above the vulgar. ~ Oliver Goldsmith
Be kind, generous and loving in your thoughts, words and actions. ~ Ann Sykes Walter
When you give, take to yourself no credit for generosity, unless you deny yourself something in order that you may give. ~ Sir Henry Taylor
How much easier is it to be generous than just. ~ Junius
Generosity is a principle — not an amount. ~ Millie Thornton
Generosity is the accompaniment of high birth; pity and gratitude are its attendants. ~ Pierre Corneille
If you’re a generous person you’ll have no trouble admitting that somebody else is good. If you’re a better person you’ll find its total impossibility. ~ Author Unknown
Generosity is not in giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is in giving me that which you need more than I do. ~ Kahlil Gibran Quotes
Each of you who has been the recipient of somebody’s generosity should try to remember that in your life, and preferably while you are living, do something about that. ~ Terry Bennett
One of the finest virtues is generosity — a quality characteristic of the person who thinks more highly of others than he does of himself. ~ Malcolm D. Maxwell
Be generous, and you will be prosperous. Help others, and you will be helped. ~ Bible
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
True generosity does not consist in obeying every impulse of humanity… so as to render us incapable of future ones. ~ Oliver Goldsmith
A generous action is its own reward. ~ William T. Walsh
Generosity is more charitable than wealth. ~ Joseph Roux
Generosity is not merely a trait that pleases God; it is a practice which releases us from bondage to the ego, and also to things. ~ Albert E. Day
Watch lest prosperity destroy generosity. ~ Henry Ward Beecher
Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment. ~ Jean De La Bruyere
Be generous, good and just, when anything is to be gained by virtue. ~ Billy Boy Franklin
Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need. ~ Kahlil Gibran
The record of a generous life runs like a vine around the memory of our dead, and every sweet unselfish act is now a perfumed flower. ~ Robert Green Ingersoll
Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present. ~ Albert Camus
Generosity is good deeds that are done quietly, inconspicuously and are immediately forgotten. ~ Dave Grant
Don’t let those who take advantage of your generosity stop you from being generous. ~ Author Unknown
Almost always the most indigent are the most generous. ~ Leszczynski Stanislaus
The test of generosity is not how much you give, but how much you have left. ~ Author Unknown
If we should deal out justice only, in this world, who would escape? No, it is better to be generous, and in the end more profitable, for it gains gratitude for us, and love. ~ Mark Twain Quotes
All my experience of the world teaches me that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the safe side and the just side of a question is the generous side and the merciful side. ~ Mrs. Anna Brownell Jameson
Never suppress a generous impulse. ~ Author Unknown
How delightful is the company of generous people, who overlook trifles and keep their minds instinctively fixed on whatever is good and positive in the world about them. ~ Van Wyck Brooks
Sometimes we don’t give generously because we don’t see the generous Giver to whom it all belongs anyway! ~ Kent R. Hunter
We’d all like a reputation for generosity, and we’d all like to buy it cheap. ~ Mignon McLaughlin
As a rule, only the poor are generous. Rich people can always find excellent reasons for not handing over twenty thousand francs to a relative. ~ Honore de Balzac
Generosity is only benevolence in practice. ~ Bishop Thomas Ken
The truly generous is the truly wise; And he who loves not others, lives unblest. ~ Quintus Horatius Flaccus
It is good to be unselfish and generous; but don’t carry that too far. It will not do to give yourself to be melted down for the benefit of the tallow-trade; you must know where to find yourself. ~ George Eliot
The generous who is always just, and the just who is always generous, may, unannounced, approach the throne of heaven. ~ John Caspar Lavater
Be just before you are generous. ~ Richard Brinsley Sheridan
The poor don’t know that their function in life is to exercise our generosity. ~ Jean-Paul Sartre Quotes
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 Quotes
Generosity with strings is not generosity: it is a deal. ~ Marya Mannes
Generosity, to be perfect, should always be accompanied by dash of humor. ~ Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own. ~ Benjamin Disraeli Quotes
Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out. ~ Frank A. Clark
Generous deeds would be repeated oftener if more gratitude had been shown for the first ones. ~ William Feather
Generosity should never exceed ability. ~ Marcus T. Cicero
It is not in everyone’s power to secure wealth, office, or honors; but everyone may be good, generous, and wise. ~ Luc de Clapiers de Vauvenargues
Generosity is something we learn, from our parents, schools and community. ~ H. Ross Perot
Let them do good, and be rich in well-doing. Be ready to give generously and share with others. ~ Bible
Our generosity never should exceed our abilities. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
A generous man places the benefits he confers beneath his feet; those he receives, nearest his heart. ~ Lord Greville
Many people are capable of doing a wise thing, more a cunning thing, but very few a generous thing. ~ Alexander Pope
I take as my guide the hope of a saint: in crucial things, unity… in important things, diversity… in all things, generosity. ~ George H. Bush
There is not another country in the world that can come close to matching the generosity of Americans. And each year we give more. ~ Jerold Panas
It is always so pleasant to be generous, though very vexatious to pay debts. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes
Generosity, when once set going, knows not how to stop; as the more familiar we are with the lovely form, the more enamored we become of her charms. ~ Pliny the Younger
Lavishness is not generosity. ~ Thomas Fuller
Too many have dispensed with generosity to practice charity. ~ Albert Camus Quotes
Good will comes to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice. ~ Bible
People who think they’re generous to a fault usually think that’s their only fault. ~ Sidney J. Harris
Sir, he throws away his money without thought and without merit. I do not call a tree generous that sheds its fruit at every breeze. ~ Samuel Johnson
One can love any man that is generous. ~ James Henry Leigh Hunt
He who gives what he would as readily throw away gives without generosity; for the essence of generosity is in self-sacrifice. ~ Sir Henry Taylor
True generosity is a duty as indispensably necessary as those imposed upon us by the law. It is a rule imposed upon us by reason, which should be the sovereign law of a rational being. ~ Oliver Goldsmith
It needs as much generosity to take as to give. ~ Ivan Panin
How seldom is generosity perfect and pure! How often do men give because it throws a certain inferiority on those who receive, and superiority on themselves! ~ Fulke Greville
There were in him candor and generosity, which, unless tempered by due moderation, lead to ruin. ~ Caius Cornelius Tacitus
If a man be endowed with a generous mind, this is the best kind of nobility. ~ Plato
You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. ~ Bible
Generosity, wrong placed, becometh a vice; a princely mind will undo a private family. ~ Thomas Fuller
Never measure your generosity by what you give, but rather by what you have left. ~ Fulton John Sheen
Kindness and generosity … form the true morality of human actions. ~ Anne Germain De Stael
Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud. ~ Maya Angelou
What is called generosity is usually only the vanity of giving; we enjoy the vanity more than the thing given. ~ Francois De La Rochefoucauld
To generous souls every task is noble. ~ Euripides
Wherever I find a great deal of gratitude in a poor man, I take it for granted there would be as much generosity if he were a rich man. ~ Alexander Pope
I can remember way back when a liberal was one who was generous with his own money. ~ Will Rogers
A man who suddenly becomes generous may please fools, but he will not deceive the wise. ~ Phaedrus
One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others. ~ Archibald Rutledge
The best practical advice I can give to the present generation is to practice the virtue which the Christians call love. ~ Bertrand Russell
To be generous, guiltless, and of a free disposition is to take those things for bird-bolts that you deem cannon-bullets. ~ William Shakespeare Quotes
Generosity is the flower of justice. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne
No one ever sowed the grain of generosity who gathered not up the harvest of the desire of his heart. ~ Moslih Eddin Saadi
There is wisdom in generosity, as in everything else.~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Some people think they are generous because they give away free advice. ~ Author Unknown