CHARITY QUOTES

quotations about charity

Did universal charity prevail, earth would be a heaven, and hell a fable.

CHARLES CALEB COLTON

Lacon


Nothing contributes more to make men polite and civilized, than true and genuine Charity.

WELLINS CALCOTT

Thoughts Moral and Divine


A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.

JACK LONDON

"My Life in the Underworld"


There is so much wretchedness in the world, that we may safely take the word of any mortal professing to need our assistance; and, even should we be deceived, still the good to ourselves resulting from a kind act is worth more than the trifle by which we purchase it.

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

American Note-Books, Aug. 30, 1842


There is a saying, Charity begins at home; and sometimes it is used as a squalid slogan to justify selfishness, to justify us for not bothering about people who are not near to us and dear to us. Family and friends have the first call on us; but the whole point of the saying is that it is there we begin, it is there that we learn how to love, so that, starting from there, our love may grow and grow till it gathers to itself the whole world.

GERALD VANN

The Two Trees


Charity, which renders good for bad, blessings for curses.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Richard III


Where charity keeps pace with gain, industry is blessed.

WILLIAM PENN

Some Fruits of Solitude


That charity which longs to publish itself ceases to be charity.

ELIZA COOK

Diamond Dust


When we do any good to others, we do as much, or more, good to ourselves.

BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE

Moral and Religious Aphorisms


Giving food to the hungry or clothing to the naked is not a charitable handout but an exercise in simple justice -- restoring to the poor what is rightfully theirs, what has been taken from them unjustly.

ROBERT MCAFEE BROWN

Unexpected News: Reading the Bible with Third World Eyes


The bread of charity is life itself for the needy; he who withholds it is a man of blood.

BEN SIRA

Sirach 34:21


When our cup runs over, we let others drink the drops that fall, but not a drop from within the rim, and call it charity; when the crumbs are swept from our table, we think it generous to let the dogs eat them; as if that were charity which permits others to have what we cannot keep.

HENRY WARD BEECHER

Life Thoughts


It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.

MOTHER TERESA

attributed, Voices


For charity literally translated from the original means love, the love that understands, that does not merely share the wealth of the giver, but in true sympathy and wisdom helps men to help themselves.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

speech accepting the renomination for the Presidency, June 27, 1936


Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distresses of every one, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse; remembering always the estimation of the widow's mite, but, that it is not every one who asketh that deserveth charity; all, however, are worthy of the inquiry, or the deserving may suffer.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

letter to Bushrod Washington, Jan. 15, 1783


Do not give, as many rich men do, like a hen that lays her egg and then cackles.

HENRY WARD BEECHER

Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit


I'm not begging charity
Don't confuse the things I say
Give me what belongs to me
Give me what belongs to me

UB40

"Sorry", Promises and Lies


Charity that is always beginning at home stays there.

AUSTIN O'MALLEY

Keystones of Thought


As the furnace purifies the silver, so does charity rid wealth of its dross.

WILLIAM SCOTT DOWNEY

Proverbs


Charity to the deserving is not charity at all, but justice.

G.K. CHESTERTON

Heretics