Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
-- Bible, I Corinthians 13:1
Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love
The white man knows how to make everything, but he does not know how to distribute it.
– Sitting Bull
Our charity begins at home,
And mostly ends where it begins.
-- Horace Smith, London
No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions. He has money as well.
-- Margaret Thatcher
Charity and personal force are the only investment worth anything.
– Walt Whitman
Behold, I do not give lectures or a little charity,
When I give I give myself.
-- Walt Whitman, Song of Myself
With malice toward nine; with charity for all.
- Lincoln, second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865
The living need charity more than the dead.
-- George Arnold, The Jolly Old Pedagogue
People often feed the hungry so that nothing may disturb their own enjoyment of a good meal.
-- W. Somerset Maugham
I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.
-- Tennessee Williams
Let humble Allen, with an awkward shame,
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
-- Alexander Pope