Show me your hands. Do they have scars from giving? Show me your feet. Are they wounded in service? Show me your heart. Have you left a place for divine love?
Fulton J. SheenRead
Charity is to be measured, not by what one has given away, but by what one has left.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True charity is about the impact of generosity rather than the mere act of giving.
Fulton J. Sheen suggests that the essence of charity lies not in how much one gives away, but in what remains after the act of giving. This perspective encourages individuals to consider the importance of their remaining resources and the intent behind their generosity, highlighting that the most meaningful acts of charity are those that take into account the giver's capacity and the consequences of their giving.
Themes
CharityGenerosityImpactGivingResources
In practice
Example use cases
During a charity event, a speaker might quote this to emphasize the importance of thoughtful giving.
More from Fulton J. Sheen
All quotes βA woman gets angry when a man denies his faults, because she knew them all along. His lying mocks her affection; it is the deceit that angers her more than the faults.
Fulton J. SheenRead
Many married women who have deliberately spurned the "hour" of childbearing are unhappy and frustrated. They never discovered the joys of marriage because they refused to surrender to the obligation of their state. In saving themselves, they lost themselves!
Fulton J. SheenRead
No one has ever laughed at a pun who did not see in the one word a twofold meaning. To materialists this world is opaque like a curtain; nothing can be seen through it. A mountain is just a mountain, a sunset just a sunset; but to poets, artists, and saints, the world is transparent like a window pane - it tells of something beyond....a mountain tells of the Power of God, the sunset of His Beauty, and the snowflake of His Purity.
Fulton J. SheenRead
The big print giveth, and the fine print taketh away.
Fulton J. SheenRead
Hearing nuns' confessions is like being stoned to death with popcorn.
Fulton J. SheenRead
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