Charity never humiliated him who profited from it, nor ever bound him by the chains of gratitude, since it was not to him but to God that the gift was made.
Interpretation
Charity should be given selflessly and not create a sense of indebtedness in the recipient.
This quote highlights the true nature of charity as an act of selflessness where the giver does not seek acknowledgment or gratitude from the recipient. Instead, it emphasizes that charitable acts should be understood as gifts from a higher power, which liberates both the giver and the receiver from any societal or emotional burdens associated with gratitude.
In practice
This quote can be shared in a speech at a charity event to emphasize the true spirit of giving.
Grown-ups love figures... When you tell them you've made a new friend they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you "What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies? " Instead they demand "How old is he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make? " Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.
Attitude is a paintbrush. It colors everything!
Water, thou hast no taste, no color, no odor; canst not be defined, art relished while ever mysterious. Not necessary to life, but rather life itself, thou fillest us with a gratification that exceeds the delight of the senses.
In those days, I didn't understand anything. I should have judged her according to her actions, not her words. She perfumed my planet and lit up my life. I should never have run away! I ought to have realized the tenderness underlying her silly pretensions. Flowers are so contadictory! But I was too young to know how to love her.
When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey.
When the body sinks into death, the essence of man is revealed. Man is a knot, a web, a mesh into which relationships are tied. Only those relationships matter. The body is an old crock that nobody will miss. I have never known a man to think of himself when dying. Never.
History teaches, perhaps, very few clear lessons. But surely one such lesson learned by the world at great cost is that aggression, unopposed, becomes a contagious disease.
I am not interested in the past. I am interested in the future, for that is where I expect to spend the rest of my life.
To believe in luck, if it were not a solecism so to use the word believe, is skepticism.
If you have rooms that are very homogeneous, that have all had the same life experiences and educational backgrounds, and they're all relatively wealthy, their perspective on the world is going to mirror what they already know. That can be dangerous when we're making systems that will affect so many diverse populations.
What I've said before, only half in joke, is that everybody in Ireland is famous. Or, maybe better, say everybody is familiar.
He that has doctrinal knowledge and speculation only, without affection, never is engaged in the business of religion.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.