Veronica Roth Quotes

A word of wisdom to you, akribos, you need to learn to accept gifts. (Catera) There’s no such thing as a gift. If I were to take that from you, sooner or later you would ask a favor from me in return. Nothing in life is ever truly given without expectation. (Acheron)

We seldom find people ungrateful so long as it is thought we can serve them.

A man seldom finds people unthankful, as long as he remains in a condition of benefiting them further.

Approaching people looking for something in return isn't a relationship, it's a transaction.

That man is worthless who knows how to receive a favor, but not how to return one.

The best way to motivate other people to help YOU fulfil your goals is to help them fulfil THEIR goals

Take gifts with a sigh: most men give to be paid.

When people do things to make your dream come true, you owe them in one way or another. Everyone understands that for every dream that comes true for you, there might not be a dream coming true for someone else. When we trade one wish for another, there's a price to pay. It works like that

The nature of man is such that people consider themselves put under an obligation as much by the benefits they confer as by those they receive.

If you imagine that everything is an exchange, then we're supposed to just transact and walk away. If we haven't walked away and we still have a relationship, it's because there's a debt.

Debt is not just a money thing. It's about owing and being owed. Money is just one thing you can exchange. You can exchange good deeds, you can exchange revenge, you can exchange murders.

There are always a few people you do a lot for, and a few who do a lot for you, but they're not the same people.

Get the knack of getting people to help you and also pitch in yourself.

What are you doing here? (Artemis) I wanted to thank you for what you did tonight, but as I considered that, it dawned on me that you have never once in eleven thousand years done anything for me for free. The sheer fear factor of that realization alone has made me come seeking you. So what gives? (Acheron)

Life can be so good if you let it. But you must trade with life. You give something and you get something, then you give something of yourself again and you receive something again. Life goes bad when people try to take from it without giving. Then they came away empty-handed, and they grab harder and more often, growing more disappointed and disillusioned each time.

And what will you give me in return, Severus?' 'In - in return?' Snape gaped at Dumbledore, and Harry expected him to protest, but after a long moment he said, 'Anything.

All human interaction, you can break it down to incentives. All relationships, at some level, are transactional. They're fascinated with incentives.

How painful to give a gift to any person of sensibility, or of equality! It is next worst to receiving one

Givers get trust quicker than other people. People trust generous people.

Giving is the insured way of getting.

Where there is giving there must be taking.

It is a fact of life that people give dinner parties, and when they invite you, you have to turn around and invite them back. Often they retaliate by inviting you again, and you must then extend another invitation. Back and forth you go, like Ping-Pong balls, and what you end up with is called social life.

As there are none so weak that we may venture to injure them with impunity, so there are none so low that they may not at some time be able to repay an obligation. Therefore, what benevolence would dictate, prudence would confirm.

Friendship is a contract in which we render small services in expectation of big ones.

The best way to get on in the world is to make people believe it's to their advantage to help you.