These generosity quotes will inspire you to be more generous so that you can bring joy to yourself and those around you.

Being generous is more than being kind or giving. The act of being generous is to give more to others than you are expected to give. Because generosity has a level of unexpectedness to it, it can often cause immense joy and happiness for both the receiver and the giver. 

Do you think generosity can inspire success?

I heard a suggestion once that you should always act on generous impulses. I have a friend who wears hats a lot. Every time someone is sincere in complimenting a hat he’s wearing, his first reaction is “thank you,” followed by “would you like it?” He has given away an uncountable number of hats by impulse, but every time both he and the person whom he gifted his hat to leave the conversation with a huge smile on their faces.

Generosity doesn’t have to be a material gift like a hat or money. Sometimes generosity is as simple as offering a smile or taking a few extra minutes to talk to someone who needs it.

Take a look at our collection of powerful generosity quotes. These quotes will inspire you to follow your generosity impulses and bring joy to the people around you.

Generosity quotes about selflessness

1. “True generosity is an offering; given freely and out of pure love. No strings attached. No expectations.” – Suze Orman

2. “Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out.” – Frank A. Clark

3. “Generosity is not giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is giving me that which you need more than I do.” – Khalil Gibran

4. “Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others.” –Barbara Bush

5. “Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it can change someone else’s life forever.” – Margaret Cho

6. “What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.” – Albert Pike

7. “It is a powerful practice to be generous when you are the one feeling in need.” – Allan Lokos 

8. “That’s what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.” ― Simone de Beauvoir

9. “I come in a world of iron…to make a world of gold” ― Dale Wasserman

10. “Love is the desire for another’s happiness.” ― Marty Rubin

11. “To be happy for the happiness of others, that is true generosity.” – Marty Rubin

Generosity quotes about gratitude

12. “In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it’s wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert

13. “He’d been generous, yes, but lots of people are generous; what made him different was the fact that he’d taken responsibility for me.” ― Sebastian Junger

14. “You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” ― Kahlil Gibran

15. “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” ― John Bunyan

16. “Earth would be such a better place every second of every day if we could just show up with an attitude of generosity and gratitude, and acceptance for one another.” ― Elisabeth Sheff

Generosity quotes about kindness

17. “We live far happier lives when we are generous in as many ways as possible.” ― Cathy Burnham Martin

18. “It requires neither time nor money to be kind.” ― Cathy Burnham Martin

19. “Good words are worth much and cost little.” – George Herbert

20. “It is said that you can’t take it with you; I say there are two things you can take with you: the things you do for others and the things you do to others” – Harold H. Cornett, Jr.

21. “No act of kindness no matter how small is ever wasted.” – Aesop

22. “One good turn deserves another” – Aesop

23. “Without kindness there can be no true joy.” – Thomas Carlyle

24. “You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.” – Ben Franklin

25. “Generosity could be as contagious as the zombie plague as long as enough people were willing to be carriers.” – Jonathan Maberry

26. “Be generous with kindly words, especially about those who are absent.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

27. “There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” ― John Holmes

28. “A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal.” ― Steve Maraboli

29. “I care not for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.” ― Abraham Lincoln

30. “When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?” ― Eleanor Roosevelt

31. “Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.” ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

32. “You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Generosity quotes about pride

33. “Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.” ― Khalil Gibran

34. “It takes generosity to be the one teaching, and humility to be the one being taught.”  ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

35. “It takes generosity to discover the whole through others. If you realize you are only a violin, you can open yourself up to the world by playing your role in the concert.” – Jacques-Yves Cousteau

36. “Being generous often consists of simply extending a hand. That’s hard to do if you are grasping tightly to your righteousness, your belief system, your superiority, your assumptions about others, your definition of normal.” –Patti Digh

37. “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

38. “Generosity during life is a very different thing from generosity in the hour of death; one proceeds from genuine liberality and benevolence, the other from pride or fear.” – Horace Mann

Inspiring generosity quotes

39. “Never measure your generosity by what you give, but rather by what you have left.” –Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

40. “Give a bowl of rice to a man and you will feed him for a day. Teach him how to grow his own rice and you will save his life.” ― Confucius

41. “For it is in giving that we receive.” ― St. Francis of Assisi

42. “Generosity can also be a better weapon to manipulation. The most loving person can easily destroy you when you rely on their pity.” ― Kangoma Kindembo

43. “Generosity is based in knowing what you are capable of giving, and going just a little beyond that.” ― Lodro Rinzler

44. “We are losing the generosity day by day that integrates and increases the way to honour and moral values of us.” ― Ehsan Sehgal

45. “Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.”-Albert Camus

46. “He who cannot give anything away cannot feel anything either.” –Friedrich Nietzsche

47. “One would give generous alms if one had the eyes to see the beauty of a cupped receiving hand.” –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

48. “Many men have been capable of doing a wise thing, more a cunning thing, but very few a generous thing”- Alexander Pope

49. “It is through generous giving, that we affirm before the world, our nation’s faith in the inalienable right of every man, to a life of freedom, justice and security.” –Harry S. Truman

50. “As desire abates, generosity is born. When we are connected and present, what else is there to do but give?” – Jack Kornfield

Which of these generosity quotes resonated with you best?

We know that generosity can cause happiness and what is success if not ultimately being happy?

Generous people are often happier and kinder than others. Because of these traits they form better relationships both in business and in their personal lives. They are often more confident and feel an inner sense of freedom because their lives are not built on what they keep, but rather how they can help others. 

Did you enjoy these inspiring generosity quotes? Which quote was your favorite? Let us know in the comment section below. 

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