Giving

The torch which we hand to others reflects its light upon ourselves.
~ William Henry ("W.H.") Davenport Adams, The Threshold of Life; A Book of Illustrations and Lessons for the Encouragement and Counsel of Youth (1876).

It is what we are willing to do for foundation money not what foundations want or ask us to do that makes foundation giving a social and governmental menace.
~ William Harvey Allen, (1930).

Prisoner, God has given you good abilities, instead of which you go about the country stealing ducks.
~ William Saint Julien Arabin

Let us proportion our alms to our ability, lest we provoke God to proportion his blessings to our alms.
~ (Lord Bishop) William Beveridge

You need more tact in the dangerous art of giving presents than in any other social action.
~ William Bolitho, Twelve Against the Gods (1929).

To get a man soundly saved it is not enough to put on him a pair of new breeches, to give him regular work, or even to give him a University education. These things are all outside a man, and if the inside remains unchanged you have wasted your labour.
~ William Booth, In Darkest England and the Way Out (October 1890). Part I. -- The Darkness. Chapter V. On the Verge of the Abyss

Prophecies fail; tongues are forgotten, and knowledge fades like the evening sunlight before the dusky wing of night; but Charity endureth forever.
~ William Cowper Brann, in The Complete Works of Brann, the Iconoclast, Vol. I (1919). Charity

He gives by halves, who hesitates to give.
~ William Broome, Letter to Lord Cornwallis

Gifts are like the gold which adorns the temple, but grace is like the altar which sanctifies the gold.
~ William Burkitt, Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament (1700).

There is a debt of mercy and pity, of charity and compassion, of relief and succour, due to human nature, and payable from one man to another; and such as deny to pay it the distressed in the time of their abundance, may justly expect it will be denied themselves in a time of want.
~ William Burkitt, Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament (1700).

Want what you may, you'll get it -- search no more --
Or imitation of it -- in this store.
~ William McKendree ("Will") Carleton, from Farm Festivals (1881). The Festival Of Anecdote; Or, An Evening in the Country Store

What is the use of heapin' on me a pauper's shame?
Am I lazy or crazy? Am I blind or lame?
True, I am not so supple, nor yet so awful stout:
But charity ain't no favor, if one can live without.
~ William McKendree ("Will") Carleton, Over the Hill to the Poor House (1872).

The worst gift is a fruitcake. There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to each other.
~ "Johnny" William Carson, NBC TV. The Tonight Show

To Others then be this a day of Thrift
They do receive, but you Sir make the Gift.
~ William Cartwright, A New Year's Gift To Brian Lord Bishop Of Sarum Upon The Author's Entering Into Holy Orders, 1638

Likeness to God is the supreme gift.
~ William Ellery Channing (D.D.), Discourse At The Ordination Of The Rev. F.A. Farley, Providence RI (1828). Likeness to God

Our value is a gift, not an achievement.
~ Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., from Credo (2003). Faith, Hope, Love

Each one is a gift, no doubt,
mysteriously placed in your waking hand
or set upon your forehead
moments before you open your eyes.
~ Billy Collins, The Art of Drowning (1995). Days

I'm famous for my bottom dances, but you'll only see my bum and willy if you raise a million pounds within an hour.
~ Billy Connolly, quoted in Ananova Ltd (7 February 2001). Connolly streak will cost Comic Relief viewers £1m

I want to live in such a way that small gifts are meaningful.
~ William S. Coperthwaite, A Handmade Life: In Search of Simplicity (2003). Wealth, Riches, Treasure

Don't spend two dollars to dry clean a shirt. Donate it to the Salvation Army instead. They'll clean it and put it on a hangar. Next morning buy it back for seventy-five cents.
~ Billiam Coronel

What is it about grandparents that is so lovely? I'd like to say that grandparents are God's gifts to children. And if they can but see, hear and feel what these people have to give, they can mature at a fast rate.
~ Bill Cosby, Senior World Online (31 August 1998). Bill Cosby shares memories of his Grandfather

It's more blessed to give than to receive -- especially kittens.
~ Bill Cosby, Fat Albert's Survival Kit (1975).

But charity not feign'd intends alone
Another's good-theirs centres in their own.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). Charity

Give what thou canst, without Thee we are poor;
And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away.
~ William Cowper, The Task (1785). Book V. The Winter Morning Walk

Some men make gain a fountain whence proceeds
A stream of liberal and heroic deeds.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). Charity

True Charity, a plant divinely nurs'd.
Fed by the love from which it rose at first,
Thrives against hope, and, in the rudest scene,
Storms but enliven its unfading green.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). Charity

We're both non-producers, and instead of give a thing to this world, it is our little plan
To calculate how we can each make a living, upon the defects of our dear brother man.
~ William DeVere, from Jim Marshall's New Pianner and Other Western Stories (1897). A Case Equal

A generous and liberal man gives what he can, and not what he will; a covetous man gets what he can, and hoards it at his will.
~ William Scott Downey, Proverbs, by Rev. William Scott Downey (1851 edition). Chapter VII

In Taking sould Discretion be.
~ William Dunbar, in The Poems Of William Dunbar, Now First Collected. Volume II (1834). Discretion in Taking (c. 1505)

Some is for gift sae lang required,
While that the craver be so tired,
That ere the gift delivered be,
The thank is frustrate and expired;
In Giving sould Discretion be.
~ William Dunbar, in The Poems Of William Dunbar, Now First Collected. Volume II (1834). Discretion in Giving (c. 1505)

In relieving the destitute, it must never be forgotten that the means of relief are procured from the labour and self-denial of others who are struggling to support themselves.
~ William Ellis, in the Westminster And Foreign Quarterly Review (April 1850). Relief Measures

The fellow who complains that he is not getting enough is usually not giving enough.
~ William Feather, As We Were Saying (1921).

You create the experience of love by giving the gift of acceptance and appreciation.
~ Bill Ferguson

He was a kindly goodly man, and naturally prone,
Instead of taking others' gold, to give away his own.
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, from More Bab Ballads (1872). Mister William

'Tis in the act of giving that we live.
~ William Hall, from Via Crucis (1906). Renunciation. XVII

In suggesting gifts: Money is appropriate, and one size fits all.
~ William Randolph Hearst

Instead of insight, maybe all a man gets is strength to wander for a while. Maybe the only gift is a chance to inquire, to know nothing for certain. An inheritance of wonder and nothing more.
~ William Least Heat-Moon, Blue Highways: A Journey into America (1982).

The charity which longs to publish itself, ceases to be charity.
~ William Hutton, History of Derby (1791).

Grace is not native but donative.
~ William Jenkyn, from An Exposition Upon the Epistle of Jude (delivered at Christ Church, Newgate Street, London England; 1653).

You see firemen, you see cops, and these guys risk their lives everyday. They do this all the time ... to be able to see a smile on some of these people's faces -- they've gone through so much, they've lost so many of their friends.
~ Billy Joel, at Madison Square Garden (20 October 2001). Concert for the City of New York

[Y]our mother told you all that I could give you was a reputation.
~ Billy Joel, in The Stranger (1977 album). Only the Good Die Young

A generous mind never enjoys its possessions so much as when others are made partakers of them.
~ William Jones (of Nayland), in The Theological, Philosophical and Miscellaneous Works of the Rev. William Jones, Vol. V (1801). Sermon XVII

Gifts make slaves like whips make dogs.
~ William Patrick (W.P.) Kinsella, from Scars (1978).

[W]here has the Scripture made merit the rule or measure of charity?
~ William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1728). Chapter VIII

It is a good maxim to ask of no one more than he can give without inconvenience to himself.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, from A Writer's Notebook (1949). 1894 entry

Forget all the figures about debt and bankruptcy and our general failure to save for our old age. Our strategy with Christmas ... has gone slightly awry. We've gotten used to spending more money to make it special. But if money's no longer as valuable as time, we're offering each other a devalued currency. If you spend 10 or 20 hours buying Christmas presents each year, you could use the same 10 or 20 hours to make presents -- time that you'd be able to spend with children, spouses, friends.
~ Bill McKibben, Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case For a More Joyful Christmas (1998).

The point is not to stop giving; the point is to give things that matter. Give things that are rare -- time, attention, memory, whimsy. We run short on these things in our lives, even as we have endless supply of software, hardware, ready-to-wear.
~ Bill McKibben, Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case For a More Joyful Christmas (1998).

Respectable men and women content with the good and easy living are missing some of the most important things in life. Unless you give yourself to some great cause you haven't even begun to live.
~ William P. Merrill

Let dead hearts tarry and trade and marry,
And trembling nurse their dreams of mirth,
While we the living our lives are giving
To bring the bright new world to birth.
~ William Morris, from Poems by the Way (1891). The Voice of Toil

One won't get much enjoyment out of life at this rate, I know well, but that don't matter; I have no right to ask for it at all events -- love and work, these two things only.
~ William Morris, Letter July 1856

The fragrant earth, the sweet sounds everywhere,
Seemed gifts too great almost for man to bear.
~ William Morris, from The Earthly Paradise (1868-70). The Story of Rhodope

The brightest blaze of intelligence is of incalculably less value than the smallest spark of charity.
~ William Nevins, in Practical Thoughts (1836). 18. Detached Thoughts

Beggars, however, one should entirely do away with! Verily, it annoyeth one to give unto them, and it annoyeth one not to give unto them.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra (1885).

Great indebtedness does not make men grateful, but vengeful; and if a little charity is not forgotten, it turns into a gnawing worm.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

He who cannot give anything away cannot feel anything either.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

I do not give alms; I am not poor enough for that.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

People who have given us their complete confidence believe that they have a right to ours. The inference is false; a gift confers no rights.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

There is not enough love and goodness in the world for us to be permitted to give any of it away to imaginary things.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human (1878).

This is hardest of all: to close the open hand out of love, and keep modest as a giver.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra (1885).

We, the generous and rich in spirit, who stand at the sides of the streets like open fountains and would hinder no one drinking from us ...
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

I always say we have to give most of the people what they want most of the time. That's what they expect from us.
~ William S. Paley, in Esquire (1983).

Those who by unselfish lives and consideration for others elevate the tone of the community in which they live and who by their presence make others happier, these are the salt of the earth.
~ William Lyon ("Billy") Phelps, from Essays on Things (1930). Ambition.

He who is not liberal with what he has, does but deceive himself when he thinks he would be liberal if he had more.
~ William S. Plumer

The magi, as you know, were wise men -- wonderfuly wise men who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication.
~ William Sydney Porter (O. Henry), from The Four Million (1906). The Gift of the Magi

The bounds of the greatest nation, or the most extensive empire, cannot circumscribe the generosity of a liberal mind.
~ William Preston, Illustrations Of Masonry (1795 edition). Book I. The Excellency of Masonry Displayed. Section VIII

The sky is God's gift to you ... what you do with it is your gift to him.
~ Bill Purdin (on skydiving), Legend, Inc. (accessed May 2003). Quote Archives.

Oh, if you wish your souls to save,
Be gen'rous of your cash.
~ William Ray, Poems, On Various Subjects: Religious, Moral, Sentimental And Humorous (1821). Cash

And the true law of love is that we should renounce something, not grab everything; that we should give ourselves, all of our best selves, to the healing of the pain of the world.
~ William Marion Reedy, in The Business Philosopher (May 1909). Giving Ourselves to the World

I wonder if it isn't just cowardice instead of generosity that makes us give tips.
~ Will Rogers

People are marvelous in their generosity if they just know the cause is there.
~ Will Rogers

Whatever you spend is gone. Whatever you keep, someone else gets. Whatever you give is yours forever.
~ Dr. Wil Rose

What the hell are they all looking for? A decent way to give it all over to the giver of it all, with thanks for the bother.
~ William Saroyan

Every act of charity is but an act of equity.
~ William Secker, from The Nonsuch Professor in His Meridian Splendor, or the Singular Actions of Sanctified Christians (1660).

If ever you hope that your charity should live after you, then let resentment die before you.
~ William Secker, from The Nonsuch Professor in His Meridian Splendor, or the Singular Actions of Sanctified Christians (1660).

Though the sun of charity rise at home; yet it should always set abroad.
~ William Secker, from The Nonsuch Professor in His Meridian Splendor, or the Singular Actions of Sanctified Christians (1660).

A giving hand, though foul, shall have fair praise.
~ William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost. Act IV, scene i

Come, give us a taste of your quality.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act II, scene ii

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgement.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act I, scene iii

God give you good rest!
~ William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors. Act IV, scene iii

He will give the devil his due.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part I. Act I, scene ii

I am not in the giving vein to-day.
~ William Shakespeare, King Richard III. Act IV, scene ii

Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act III, scene i

Seven hundred pounds and possibilities is good gifts.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor. Act I, scene i

She stripped it from her arm. I see her yet:
Her pretty action did outsell her gift,
And yet enriched it too.
~ William Shakespeare, Cymbeline. Act II, scene iv

[T]hou hast given me in this beauteous face
A world of earthly blessings to my soul,
If sympathy of love unite our thoughts.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part II. Act I, scene i

Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brain
Full character'd with lasting memory,
Which shall above that idle rank remain,
Beyond all date, even to eternity.
~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 122

When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian.
~ William Shakespeare, The Tempest. Act II, scene ii

I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah.
~ William Tecumseh Sherman, Message to President Lincoln (22 December 1864).

Our true acquisitions lie only in our charities. We gain only as we give.
~ William Gilmore Simms, Egeria: Or, Voices of Thought and Counsel for the Woods and Wayside (1853).

Writing checks for charities is necessary and important. But it can't compare with corporal works of mercy, which are infinitely greater.
~ William E. Simon, in The Chronicle of Philanthropy (18 June 1998). Giving Away a Personal Treasury

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now?
~ William Stafford, from The Way It Is (1993). You Reading This, Be Ready

Be generous! Give to those you love; give to those who love you; give to the fortunate; give to the unfortunate -- yes, give especially to those you don't want to give. Your most precious, valued possessions and your greatest powers are invisible and intangible. No one can take them. You, and you alone, can give them. You will receive abundance for your giving. The more you give, the more you will have!
~ William (W.) Clement Stone, in Success Unlimited magazine (August 1964). Be Generous!

Give a smile to everyone you meet (smile with your eyes) -- and you'll smile and receive smiles.
~ William (W.) Clement Stone, in Success Unlimited magazine (August 1964). Be Generous!

He who gives a child a book
Gives that child a sweeping look
Through its pages
Down the ages;
Gives that child a ship to sail
Where the far adventures hail
Down the sea
Of destiny.
~ William Leroy "Bill" Stidger, I Saw God Wash the World (1934). A Book And A Child

What have you given the world it never possessed before you came?
~ William A. "Billy" Sunday

What money is better bestowed than that of a school-boy's tip? How the kindness is recalled by the recipient in after days? It blesses him that gives and him that takes.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The Newcomes (1853-55). Chapter XVI

[C]harity gives peace to the soul.
~ W. (William) Bernard Ullathorne, The Groundwork of the Christian Virtues (1882). Lecture III. On the Difficulties of Virtue

Charity, taken in its largest extent, is nothing else but the sincere love of God and our neighbour.
~ William Wake (Archbishop of Canterbury)

Thou hadst, for weary feet, the gift of rest.
~ William Watson, from Wordsworth's Grave: And Other Poems (1890). Wordsworth's Grave

After today, I'll bet Santa takes a shovel to the reindeer stalls to fill your stocking.
~ Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes (3 December 1989).

Oh look, yet another Christmas TV special! How touching to have the meaning of Christmas brought to us by cola, fast food, and beer conglomerates. Who'd have ever guessed that product consumption, popular entertainment, and spirituality would mix so harmoniously? It's a beautiful world, all right.
~ Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes (14 December 1992).

Pour blessings round thee like a shower of gold.
~ Carlos Wilcox, in Remains of the Rev. Carlos Wilcox (1828). The Religion of Taste. CI

For here lies the pleasure of living:
In taking God's bounties, and giving
The gifts back again.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, from New Thought Pastels (1906). Our Souls

Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, from Poems of Passion (1883). Miscellanious Poems. Solitude

This is the way of it, wide world over,
One is beloved, and one is the lover,
One gives and the other receives.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, from How Salvator Won, and Other Recitations (1895). The Way of It

If you want it, you've got to give it.
~ Lenny Wilkens

Sometimes life gives us lessons sent in ridiculous packaging ...
~ Dar Williams, The Pointless, Yet Poignant, Crisis of a Co-ed

You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it.
~ Robin Williams

Charity is one of the nobler human motivations. The act of reaching into one's own pockets to help a fellow man in need is praiseworthy and laudable. Reaching into someone else's pocket is despicable and worthy of condemnation.
~ Walter E. Williams, in Jewish World Review (6 June 2007). Compassion Versus Reality

That's the only thing I don't like about it -- all the shopping. But I do it anyway. Once it's over, you feel good about yourself.
~ Willie Williams (on adopting three families for Christmas through the Seattle Emergency Housing Service), in The SunLink/The SUN Newspaper (25 December 2002). Having a Willie Merry Christmas

And consider what we do at Christmas, the so-called season of giving. We enjoy thinking of ourselves as basically generous, benevolent, giving people. That's one reason why everyone, even the nominally religious, loves Christmas. Christmas is a season to celebrate our alleged generosity.
~ William H. Willimon, in the Christian Century (December 21-28, 1988). From a God We Hardly Knew

We prefer to think of ourselves as givers -- powerful, competent, self-sufficient, capable people whose goodness motivates us to employ some of our power, competence and gifts to benefit the less fortunate. Which is a direct contradiction of the biblical account of the first Christmas. There we are portrayed not as the givers we wish we were but as the receivers we are.
~ William H. Willimon, in the Christian Century (December 21-28, 1988). From a God We Hardly Knew

A woman may race to get a man a gift but it always ends in a tie.
~ Earl Wilson

Blessings be with them -- and eternal praise,
Who gave us nobler loves and nobler cares.
~ William Wordsworth, from Poems in Two Volumes, Volume II (1807). Personal Talk. Stanza IV

Give all thou canst; high Heaven rejects the lore
Of nicely-calculated less or more.
~ William Wordsworth, from Ecclesiastical Sonnets. In Series (1821-22). Part III. XLIII: Inside of King's College Chapel, Cambridge

What do we gather hence but firmer faith
That every gift of noble origin
Is breathed upon by Hope's perpetual breath.
~ William Wordsworth, from Poems in Two Volumes, Volume II (1807). October, 1803

If there isn't any Santa Claus, what does he put all the sample toys in the stores for every Christmas so boys and girls can see what they want? If he doesn't fill the stockings, who does, I'd like to know. Some folks say that father and mother do it - but s'posin, they do, it's only to help Santa Claus sometimes when he's late or overworked, or something like that. ... The Spirit of Christmas is Santa Claus -- else how could he get around to everybody in the whole world at exactly the same time of the night?
~ Jacob William Wright, The Long Ago (1916). Christmas