Giving
is Living
“Listen,
O drop, give yourself up without regret, and in exchange gain the Ocean.”
-Rumi
“To give and to be
generous are attributes of Mine; well is it with him that adorneth himself with
My virtues.”
– Baha’u’llah
“You
often say ; I would give , but only to the deserving,
The
trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.
Surely
he who is worthy to receive his days and nights is worthy of all else from you.
And
he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup
from your little stream.
See
first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.
For
in truth it is life that gives unto life-while you,
who
deem yourself a giver is but a witness.”
– K. Gibran
“It's
not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.”
– Mother Teresa
“Man’s
merit lieth in service and virtue and not in the pageantry of wealth and
riches. Take heed that your words be purged from idle fancies and worldly
desires and your deeds be cleansed from craftiness and suspicion”
-Baha’u’llah
“Kindness
in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates love.”
- Lao Tzu
“We
make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”
– W. Churchill
“And
the honor and distinction of the individual consist in this, that he among all
the world’s multitudes should become a source of social good. Is any larger
bounty conceivable than this, that an individual, looking within himself,
should find that by the confirming grace of God he has become the cause of
peace and well-being, of happiness and advantage to his fellow men.”
-Abdu’l-Baha
“Lord,
make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where
there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where
there is injury, pardon;
Where
there is doubt, faith;
Where
there is despair, hope;
Where
there is darkness, light;
And
where there is sadness, joy.
O
Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to
be consoled as to console,
to
be understood as to understand,
to
be loved, as to love.
For
it is in giving that we receive,
It
is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and
it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
-Francis of Assisi
“You
give but little when you give of your possessions.
It
is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
– K. Gibran
“We
must be like the fountain or spring that is continually emptying itself of all
that it has and is continually being refilled from an invisible source. To be
continually giving out for the good of our fellows undeterred by fear of
poverty and reliant on the unfailing bounty of the Source of all wealth and all
good—this is the secret of right living.”
-Shoghi Effendi
“Remember
that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that have
received--only what you have given.”
-Francis of Assisi
“Generosity
is the most natural outward expression of an inner attitude of compassion and
loving-kindness.”
-Dalai Lama
“As desire abates, generosity is born. When
we are connected and present, what else is there to do but give?”
-Jack Kornfield
“Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in
adversity. Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him with a
bright and friendly face. Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich,
an answerer to the cry of the needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge.
Be fair in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech. Be unjust to no man, and
show all meekness to all men. Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a
joy to the sorrowful, a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an
upholder and defender of the victim of oppression. Let integrity and uprightness
distinguish all thine acts.”
-Baha’u’llah
“Therefore
do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has
enough trouble of its own.”
-Matthew 6:25-34”
“Be a home for the stranger, a balm to the
suffering, a tower of strength for the fugitive. Be eyes to the blind, and a
guiding light unto the feet of the erring. Be an ornament to the countenance of
truth, a crown to the brow of fidelity, a pillar of the temple of
righteousness, a breath of life to the body of mankind, an ensign of the hosts
of justice, a luminary above the horizon of virtue, a dew to the soil of the
human heart, an ark on the ocean of knowledge, a sun in the heaven of bounty, a
gem on the diadem of wisdom, a shining light in the firmament of thy
generation, a fruit upon the tree of humility.”
-Baha’u’llah
“Give a bowl of rice to a man and you will
feed him for a day. Teach him how to grow his own rice and you will save his
life.”
-Confucius
“I expect to pass through this world but
once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any
fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall
not pass this way again.”
-Quaker saying
“Be
anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your
deliberations on its exigencies and requirements.”
-Baha’u’llah
“All you have shall some day be given;
Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your
inheritors'.”
-K. Gibran
“Happiness never decreased by being shared.”
-Buddha
“The purpose of human life is to work for the
betterment of the world.”
-Baha’u’llah
“I've learned that you shouldn't go through
life with a catcher's mitts on both hands. You need to be able to throw
something back.”
-Maya Angelou
“As His divine power has given unto us all
things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that
has called us to glory and virtue: ...giving all diligence, add to your faith
virtue; to virtue knowledge; to knowledge temperance; to temperance patience;
to patience godliness; to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly
kindness charity.”
-Psalms 41:1
“Now
is the time to cheer and refresh the down-cast through the invigorating breeze
of love and fellowship, and the living waters of friendliness and
charity."
-Baha’u’llah
“A
generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion
are the
things which renew humanity.”
-Buddha
“He
that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed;
for he giveth of his bread to the
poor.”
-Proverbs 22:9
“Now the end of the commandment
is charity out of a pure heart,
and of a good conscience, and of faith
unfeigned.”
-Timothy 1:5
“BEHOLD, God enjoins justice,
and the doing of good, and generosity towards [one's] fellow-men.”
-Quran
"Forget
thou entirely the ease, tranquility, composure and living of this transitory
world and occupy thyself with the well-being and service of the human world and
conduct thyself in accord with the advices and exhortations of God."
-Abdu'l-Baha
“Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity
are the exclusive possessions of no one race or religion.”
-Gandhi
“Every man according as he purposeth in his
heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a
cheerful giver.”
-The Bible
“Tend
the sick, raise the fallen, care for the poor and needy, give shelter to the
destitute, protect the oppressed, comfort the sorrowful and love the world of
humanity with all your hearts, then I say unto you that ere long this
meeting-place will see a wonderful harvest.”
-Abdu’l-Baha
“Before
death takes away what you are given, give away what there is to give.”
-Rumi
“It is well to give when asked, but it is
better to give unasked, through understanding.”
-K. Gibran
“To
whom much has been given, much more will be expected.”
-The Bible
“The
ground submits to the sky and suffers whatever comes. Tell me, is the Earth worse for giving in
like that?”
-Rumi
“Therefore
strive that your actions day by day may be beautiful prayers. Turn towards God,
and seek always to do that which is right and noble. Enrich the poor, raise the
fallen, comfort the sorrowful, bring healing to the sick, reassure the fearful,
rescue the oppressed, bring hope to the hopeless, shelter the destitute!”
- Abdu'l-Baha
“Silence
the angry man with love. Silence the ill-natured man with kindness. Silence the
miser with generosity. Silence the liar with truth.”
- Buddha
“I
am yours. Don’t give myself back to me.”
-Rumi
"Be
thou loving to every afflicted one, a dispeller of sorrows to every grieved
one, a refuge to every fearful one, a heavenly food to every destitute one, a
balm to every wounded one, a consolation to dejected hearts, a blessing to
unfortunate souls, a treasure to every begging one and a succor to every
lamenting one -- so that thou mayest be a banner of guidance and the essence of
piety among the maid-servants of thy Supreme Lord."
-Abdu'l-Baha,
