Epictetus Quotes

I don't think there's anything exceptional or noble in being philanthropic. It's the other attitude that confuses me.

Imagine young people would grow up with the feeling that you have to be a hero to do your human duty. I am afraid nobody would ever help other people, because who is a hero?

There is a moral obligation that those who have should give to those who don't.

Your government is still on the same side of the street as the Good Samaritan and not those who pass by on the other side.

My message to my admirers is please take part in initiatives where you can do something for those actually in need and Christmas is a really beautiful opportunity to do so.

When someone steals a person's clothes, we call him a thief. Should we not also give the same name to the one who could clothe the naked but does not?

Nobody has ever given a reason why men should be their brother's keepers.

How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

You boast of spending a tenth part of your income in charity; may be you should spend the nine tenths so, and done with it.

Charity is to will and do what is just and right in every transaction.

The more you give, the more you live.

Charity is to be measured, not by what one has given away, but by what one has left.

It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support. If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them sitting upon another man's shoulders.

We only begin to realize the value of our possessions when we commence to do good to others with them. No earthly investment pays so large an interest as charity.

My dharma teaches me to give my life for the sake of others without even attempting to kill.

For me, success is being able to give back to your friends, your family, your community, those in need and the world entire.

We are obligated to be more scrupulous in fulfilling the commandment of charity than any other positive commandment because charity is the sign of a righteous man.

Philanthropic people lose all sense of humanity. It is their distinguishing characteristic.

I grew up in a middle class household with parents, went to good schools, and never feared for anything, never wanted for anything that was really important. For all of us living in this world, all of us who have the resources, for us to not dedicate ourselves to giving something back, is to leave the world a lesser place.

Giving with glad and generous hearts has a way of routing out the tough old miser within us. Even the poor need to know that they can give. Just the very act of letting go of money, or some other treasure, does something within us. It destroys the demon greed.

The difference between charity and philanthropy is the distance of the soul... To be philanthropic is to give something, to be charitable is to give one's own heart.

The more good I do, the more money has come in. You have to learn to give. You're not born to give. You're born selfish.

The book-keeping of benefits is simple: it is all expenditure; if any one returns it, that is clear gain; if he does not return it, it is not lost, I gave it for the sake of giving.

The important thing, once you have enough to eat and a nice house, is what you can do for others, what you can contribute to the enterprise as a whole.