41 Best Quotes About Giving Back To Inspire Generosity

If there's anything we can learn from everything in the news today, it's that everybody is interconnected. The actions someone takes across the world can have ripple effects that impact you and me — for good or for bad.

That's why, we have the great opportunity to choose to give back and live lives of generosity. Each of us has the power to make a meaningful difference in someone's life by giving.

We should do what we can to create systemic change and work together to use our time, skills, goods, and advocacy to help others.

Fortunately, we've taken the time to track down all of the best quotes about giving and generosity.

Whether you're here seeking quotes to inspire your own generosity, you work for a nonprofit that's working to encourage potential donors to give, or you're doing something in-between — we've got your back.

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The Best Quotes For Giving

Famous Giving Quotes

“The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them away.”
— Dorothy Day

“It’s not how much we give, but how much we put into giving.”
— Mother Teresa

“I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.”
— Maya Angelou

“No one has ever become poor from giving.”
— Anne Frank

“In a society that functions optimally, those who can should naturally want to provide for those who can’t. That's how it's designed to work. I truly believe we’re here to take care of one another.”
— LeVar Burton

“I think the importance of doing activist work is precisely because it allows you to give back and to consider yourself not as a single individual who may have achieved whatever, but to be a part of an ongoing historical movement.”
— Angela Davis

“If you see someone without a smile today, give ‘em yours.”
— Dolly Parton

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On Helping Community

“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands — one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.”
— Audrey Hepburn

“It's not about giving back if you're successful or a celebrity or how much money you have: it's about your responsibility as an adult to help others.”
— Trisha Yearwood

“Giving back is the right thing to do, whether it's donating clothing or even just a smile to someone who needs it.”
— Becky G

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
— Mahatma Gandhi

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Inspirational Quotes

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”
— Mohammed Ali

“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”
— Winston Churchill

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
— Leo Buscaglia

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?””
— Martin Luther King Jr.

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On Receiving

“What you pour out into the world is poured right back into you.”
— Matshona Dhliwayo

“All of us, at some time or other, need help. Whether we're giving or receiving help, each one of us has something valuable to bring to this world. That's one of the things that connects us as neighbors — in our own way, each one of us is a giver and a receiver.”
— Fred Rogers

“I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catchers mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.”
— Maya Angelou

“You only have what you give. It’s by spending yourself that you become rich.”
— Isabel Allende

“I absolutely believe in the power of tithing and giving back. My own experience about all the blessings I've had in my life is that the more I give away, the more that comes back. That is the way life works, and that is the way energy works.”
— Ken Blanchard

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On Kindness

“Kindness is universal. Sometimes being kind allows others to see the goodness in humanity through you. Always be kinder than necessary.”
― Germany Kent

“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness.”
— Seneca

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”
—Aesop

“Mutual caring relationships require kindness and patience, tolerance, optimism, joy in the other's achievements, confidence in oneself, and the ability to give without undue thought of gain.”
— Fred Rogers

“Each of us can make a difference. It doesn’t have to be anything spectacular. Keep the neighbor’s kid while she goes to the store or to the doctor, or befriend somebody in need. I don’t mean you have to take them into your home, but you can find a place for them to stay or see that they get food. You can do an act of kindness every single solitary day, because it’s needed.”
— Opal Lee

“Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.”
— Christopher Germer

“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.”
— Oscar Wilde

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On Gratitude

“Gratitude begins in our hearts and then dovetails into behavior. It almost always makes you willing to be of service, which is where the joy resides. It means that you are willing to stop being such a jerk. When you are aware of all that has been given to you, in your lifetime and the past few days, it is hard not to be humbled, and pleased to give back.”
— Anne Lamott, Help Thanks Wow: The Three Essential Prayers

“In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.”
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“When I came here as a child, I will never forget sailing into New York Harbor for the first time and beholding the Statute of Liberty. I did not have to face refugee camps or the kind of danger that many refugees endure. But like all refugees, I shared a hope to live a safe life with dignity and a chance to give back to my new country.”
— Madeleine Albright

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
— William Arthur Ward

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On Generosity

“Give for the right reason — and that is, give for no reason at all.”
— Frank Sonnenberg, The Path to a Meaningful Life

“These days there is a lot of poverty in the world, and that’s a scandal when we have so many riches and resources to give to everyone. We all have to think about how we can become a little poorer.”
— Pope Francis‍

“Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.”
— H. Jackson Brown Jr.

“The most truly generous persons are those who give silently without hope of praise or reward.”
— Carol Ryrie Brink

“When you're in a position to have gotten so much, the gift at this point is giving back.”
— Paul Stanley

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More Quotes About Giving To Others

“What is important is family, friends, giving back to your community, and finding meaning in life.”
— Adrian Grenier

“I've been giving back since I was a teen, handing out turkeys at Thanksgiving and handing out toys at toys drives for Christmas. It's very important to give back as a youth. It's as simple as helping an old lady across the street or giving up your seat on the bus for someone who is pregnant.”
— Queen Latifah

“I am a huge believer in giving back and helping out in the community and the world. Think globally, act locally I suppose. I believe that the measure of a person's life is the affect they have on others.”
— Steve Nash

“I'm committed to giving back to the community and will continue to do whatever I can to help people in need.”
— Al Horford

“You don’t have to be rich to give; your gift can be as simple as a smile.”
‍— Frank Sonnenberg, Soul Food: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life