Generosity quotes

A Christmas Sermon, section III, first published in Scribner’s Magazine in 1888; Project Gutenberg #14535. Stevenson writes that although a person may not know exactly what goodness is or what will make another person happy, he must still try to be good and try to give happiness to others. The inherited section-II note is corrected here after direct source review. This is historical ethical / Christian-sermon argument rather than a guarantee of emotional outcomes.

The Gospel of Wealth; Carnegie argues that surplus wealth carries social responsibilities during the owner’s lifetime.

Acts 20:35 in the King James Version; Paul recalls the saying while urging support for the weak.

Thrift, Preface; original Preface dated London, November 1875, verified in Project Gutenberg #14418’s represented John Murray Fiftieth Thousand witness (London, 1892). “The essence of generosity is self-sacrifice” immediately follows Smiles’s claim that justice and generosity require self-denial. This collection preserves the Victorian ethical argument rather than treating the maxim as a complete modern definition of generosity.

Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865.

1 Peter 4:9 in the King James Version, among instructions about love, hospitality, and using one’s gifts for others.

De Officiis, Book II, section 32; Cicero lists kind services among the strongest ways of earning goodwill.

The Prophet, “On Giving.”

The Prophet, “On Giving.”

The Crown of Wild Olive, Lecture I, “Work,” Project Gutenberg #26716, printed page 41. Ruskin places the sentence inside a Victorian Christian discussion of what he calls the loving and generous character of “right childhood”; this collection preserves that historical moral framework rather than treating every surrounding prescription as modern child-development evidence.

“The Greatest Thing in the World,” in The Greatest Thing in the World and Other Addresses, Project Gutenberg #16739. Drummond explicitly places Humility among the “ingredients” of Christian love and glosses it as love that does not vaunt itself.

A Christmas Carol, Stave Five.

Little Men; Alcott contrasts durable goodness with forms of success that can disappear, treating moral character as a lasting foundation for life’s work.

Proverbs 22:9 in the King James Version.

Character Building, “Helping Others,” Project Gutenberg #60484. This is Washington’s moral counsel to students, not a guaranteed psychological formula.

Hebrews 13:16 in the King James Version, among practical closing instructions about conduct and mutual care.

James 1:17 in the King James Version; the verse continues with language about God’s constancy.

Proverbs 19:17 in the King James Version, linking compassion for the poor with moral accountability.

The Road, Project Gutenberg #14658. London contrasts prosperous households that refused him food with poor households that shared what they themselves needed; it is autobiographical social commentary from a historical tramping narrative.

De Officiis, Book II, section 64; Cicero discusses generosity while also warning against careless management of one’s property.

A Letter to a Friend, represented by Project Gutenberg #586. The sentence follows Browne’s description of his deceased friend’s desire for public and lasting charities. Its image of foundations in heaven is explicitly Christian consolation and should not be detached into a secular factual promise about charitable intentions.

Plato, Lysis, around 211e–212a (opening inquiry into friendship), Socrates addressing Menexenus; Benjamin Jowett English, Project Gutenberg #1579, dramatic text after Menexenus rejoins the discussion. Gold of Darius is a historical royal-wealth comparison and Socrates goes on to question what it means to be a friend. Do not attribute this speech to Plato as personal autobiography.

Pudd’nhead Wilson, Calendar epigraph before the section following Chapter VII; the lending-money qualification supplies the punch line.