Gift Giving Quotes

Sometimes we have to wait for years to seek a really exceptional thing. I always wanted to give you the best thing in the world but ... ~ Anuradha Bhattacharyya

If there's anything romcoms have taught us about spontaneous gifting, it's that the big expensive presents are often a sign of guilt. But not the small, sort of rubbish presents. It seems to me that a cheap bag of crisps says a whole lot more than a gold necklace. It says 'You occupy such a vast space in my mind, I think of you so constantly, that my day-to-day life throws up constant reminders of you.' That person is, subconsciously or not, considered in everything you do and everywhere you go. Even in somewhere as mundane as the supermarket snack aisle. ~ Ali Pantony

Here's my gift-giving rule: Respect your current financial situation. ~ Suze Orman

Having the book-club army embrace you is a gift that keeps giving for years. ~ Christina Baker Kline

But tell me: how did gold get to be the highest value? Because it is uncommon and useless and gleaming and gentle in its brilliance; it always gives itself. Only as an image of the highest virtue did gold get to be the highest value. The giver's glance gleams like gold. A golden brilliance concludes peace between the moon and the sun. Uncommon is the highest virtue and useless, it is gleaming and gentle in its brilliance: a gift-giving virtue is the highest virtue. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Sacrifice is a passion that unleashes everything away from us so that it can be drawn into everyone around us. ~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

The best gift a fan could give me is undeniable support. ~ Jessie J.

Although I'm seldom aware enough to see it, the greater cost regarding that which I possess was not what I paid for it, but what someone along the way sacrificed so that I might have the opportunity to pay for it. ~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

Every gift opens a heavenly door to the giver. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

When you decide you're going to join a project, it's all about the gift you're giving the audience. ~ Joyce DeWitt

So I pulled the ridiculously small, unwrapped, box from the sleeve of my yukata (as they don't have pockets) and rather overly self-consciously handed it to her. She took the pitiful little box, held it up to her ear and gave it a cautious little rattling shake. -You didn't just put a couple of dried old beans in here, as a joke, did you? She suddenly glared at me suspiciously.
I heard a stifled bark from Yumi at that, and a deep gasp from Uncle Suzuki and Aunt Anda, followed by a moment of silence. -Of course not, you silly old goose, I snapped back, -just open it and you'll see what's inside! ~ Andrew James Pritchard

When you get right down to it, there is no dignified way to go, be it decomposition, incineration, dissection, tissue digestion, or composting. They're all, bottom line, a little disagreeable. It takes the careful application of a well-considered euphemism - burial, cremation, anatomical gift-giving, water reduction, ecological funeral - to bring it to the point of acceptance. ~ Mary Roach

Practice giving things away, not just things you don't care about, but things you do like. Remember, it is not the size of a gift, it is its quality and the amount of mental attachment you overcome that count. So don't bankrupt yourself on a momentary positive impulse, only to regret it later. Give thought to giving. Give small things, carefully, and observe the mental processes going along with the act of releasing the little thing you liked. (53)
(Quote is actually Robert A F Thurman but Huston Smith, who only wrote the introduction to my edition, seems to be given full credit for this text.) ~ Huston Smith

Was there anything quite so painful, so fraught with the possibilities of hurt, as gift giving within a family? ~ Paul Russell

With Tommy, gift-giving is an art form. Whatever he bestows on you is more likely than not going to be something absurd and cheap and tacky, but the way he offers it always makes you feel as if you were receiving an oblation. I don't know how he does it. It's a bizarre kind of magic; he somehow makes you believe that the useless thing in his outstretched hands is actually a chunk of his heart that he's torn out, just for you. He holds it up for your inspection, and it glows between his fingers like a candle in a cave. And as if that weren't enough, he makes it absolutely clear that he doesn't want anything in return, not even your gratitude, so all you can do is stand there with a stupefied look on your face and humbly accept what he's vouchsafing you. ~ Bart Yates

The gift without the giver is rare. ~ James Russell Lowell

The great art of giving consists in this the gift should cost very little and yet be greatly coveted, so that it may be the more highly appreciated. ~ Baltasar Gracian

When we must pay the true price for the depletion of nature's gifts, materials will become more precious to us, and economic logic will reinforce, and not contradict, our heart's desire to treat the world with reverence and, when we receive nature's gifts, to use them well. ~ Charles Eisenstein

A gift is not something to possess. Rather, it is something to hold for a brief moment before we hand it back to a hurting world with a bit more attached to it than it had when we received it. ~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

Fragrance is a very personal gift, and I think that's why it makes a great Christmas gift. There's a very distinct signature to it, so if you give it as a gift, I like to think that it's from a person that thinks very highly of you. ~ Ryan Reynolds

Happiness doesn't result from what we get, but from what we give. ~ Ben Carson

Man and man's earth are unexhausted and undiscovered. Wake and listen! Verily, the earth shall yet be a source of recovery. Remain faithful to the earth, with the power of your virtue. Let your gift-giving love and your knowledge serve the meaning of the earth. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Giving gifts to others is a fundamental activity, as old as humanity itself. Yet in the modern, complex world, the particulars of gift-giving can be extraordinarily challenging. ~ Andrew Weil

Crossed the room to where a selection of implements was arranged on a table top. These could have been mistaken for the trade tools of a cook, physician, or torturer, save for the fact that the surface on which they rested was a slab of polished pink marble, topping a white and gilt dressing table-cum-sculpture, done up in the new, hyper-Baroque style named Rococo. It was adorned, for example, with several cherubs, bows drawn, eyes asquint, as they drew beads on unseen targets, butt cheeks polished to a luster with jeweler's rouge. It had, in other words, all the earmarks of a gift that had been sent to the princess by someone with a lot of money who did not know her very well. ~ Neal Stephenson

Great gift-giving involves three things: you feel what the other feels; you give freely; and you count sacrifice a bargain ... those gifts are truly great which are given simply for the joy they bring to another heart. ~ Henry B. Eyring

The whole Valentine's thing is fine, but you don't back it up right next to the biggest gift-giving holiday of the year. Unbelievable. And we find it acceptable. ~ Lewis Black

True charity occurs only when there are no notions of giving, giver, or gift. ~ Gautama Buddha

What's novel today is the outspoken way that powerful donors admit and even champion the fact that gift-giving is a useful vehicle for preserving privilege, something that distinguishes them from earlier donors. ~ Linsey McGoey

I know what I have given you ... I do not know what you have received. ~ Antonio Porchia

When people grow gradually rich their requirements and standard of living expand in proportion, while their present-giving instincts often remain in the undeveloped condition of their earlier days. Something showy and not-too-expensive in a shop is their only conception of the ideal gift. ~ Hector Hugh Munro

Greatness is not a gift that one can give to another, but rather is a thief's relic that we must take for ourselves. ~ A.J. Darkholme

In symbolic exchange, of which the gift is our most proximate illustration, the object is not an object: it is inseparable from the concrete relation in which it is exchanged, the transferential pact that it seals between two persons: it is thus not independent as such. It has, properly speaking, neither use value nor (economic) exchange value. The object given has symbolic exchange value. ~ Jean Baudrillard

It's not just an exclamation, but it's a rejection of everything to do with Christmas, with the spirit of Christmas, with gift-giving, with generosity. ~ Patrick Stewart

You may have the gift of giving. ~ Charles Stanley

We see ourselves as inhabiting a complex social world that has some capitalist things going on in it as well as some socialist ones, some communist ones, and many where economics are not separated out of the broader fabric of life (such as sharing and gift giving, and mutual support). ~ Cynthia Kauffman

A book is a sacred gift. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

The greatest sacrifices of all are those that are done without an audience. And once completed, those selfsame sacrifices are left forever anonymous so as to never gather an audience. ~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

All of us, minus the part of us we wish to keep for ourselves, adds up to none of us. And that's typically what we give God. ~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

From a hundred cultures, [there is] one culture which does what no culture has ever done before-gives a place to every human gift. ~ Margaret Mead

And there's another one, where you look yourself in the mirror and keep looking until you can see through your skin, and then you draw your own heart and send the drawing in a letter to someone else."

"Why would you do that?" I couldn't stop myself from saying.

"So that they can control you," she said. "You are saying, 'I do not want myself and so I am giving you the gift of me.' Or something like that."

"It's very strange here," I said. ~ Brian Evenson

We're deep into the holiday gift-giving season, as you can tell from the fact that everywhere you look, you see jolly old St. Nick urging you to purchase things, to the point where you want to slug him right in his bowl full of jelly. ~ Dave Barry

Well, because I have twin seven-year-old boys, I enjoy the gift giving stuff a great deal. We do both Hanukkah and Christmas, so it is a costly, though extremely pleasing proposition. ~ Fred Melamed

Abuse of gift-giving can occur when a child is living with a custodial parent following a separation or divorce. The noncustodial parent is often tempted to shower a child with gifts, perhaps from the pain of separation or feelings of guilt over leaving the family. When these gifts are overly expensive, ill-chosen, and used as a comparison with what the custodial parent can provide, they are really a form of bribery, an attempt to buy the child's love. They may also be a subconscious way of getting back at the custodial parent. Children receiving such ill-advised gifts may eventually see them for what they are, but in the meantime they are learning that at least one parent regards gifts as a substitute for genuine love. This can make children materialistic and manipulative, as they learn to manage people's feelings and behavior by the improper use of gifts. This kind of substitution can have tragic consequences for the children's character and integrity. ~ Gary Chapman

To be enriched in the giving, I must at the self-same time be completely depleted by it. For if I am not depleted, I have not given in the first place and therefore I will not be enriched in any place. ~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

If I don't recognize a gift as a gift it will be something, but it won't be a gift. ~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

Where they come in the spirit of perpetual giving - the house that love built. ~ T.F. Hodge

At the end of the day, we need to stop thinking about what we can make of ourselves and start thinking more about who God is, what he has done and is doing in Christ for us and for our neighbors, and how he can use us and our fellow brothers and sisters to be instruments of his gift-giving. ~ Michael Horton

The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its
value. ~ Charles Dudley Warner

Contrast toxic religion with the pure gospel. Religion is all about what I do. The gospel is all about what Jesus has done. Religion is about me. The gospel is about Jesus. Religion highlights my efforts to do what is right. The gospel highlights what Christ has already done. Religion lures me to believe that if I obey God, he will love me. But the gospel shows me that because God loves me, I get to obey him. Religion puts the burden on us. We have to do what is right. A relationship with Christ puts the burden on him. And because of what he did for us, we get to do what is right. Instead of an obligation, our right living is a response to his gift. Giving Christ our whole lives is the only reasonable response to such love. There nothing more we need to do. Nothing ... ~ Craig Groeschel

Gift giving is part of the culture no matter where you are and no matter how long you stay. ~ Christalyn Brannen

In terms of instilling the values of mental toughness and work ethic, discipline is the gift that keeps on giving. ~ William Baldwin

Writing is an extreme privilege but it's also a gift. It's a gift to yourself and it's a gift of giving a story to someone. ~ Amy Tan

If we can augment our gift giving by giving more of ourselves to those we love, all the time and in various ways, we will have a good chance of helping them and ourselves live happier, better lives. ~ Earl Nightingale

Christmas is the time for celebration, so I'm not against decorating, putting on lights, buying gifts. In fact, the whole reason we give gifts is the wise men gave gifts to Jesus at the first Christmas, and that started the gift-giving process. ~ Rick Warren

A gift was what another person thought of you, and over the years he'd come to understand, by consensus, that his children saw him as someone who wore a tie to work, used power tools, played golf and drank scotch, which, while all true, seemed a superficial view of him. And yet when asked directly, he couldn't say what he wanted. Nothing. ~ Stewart O'Nan

The greatest dividends in life are those that we give away. ~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

You are the gift that only you would have to give. ~ Silvia Hartmann

I sware unto you my furtherance if I prevailed. But now is mine army passed away as wax wasteth before the fire, and I wait the dark ferryman who tarrieth for no man. Yet, since never have I wrote mine obligations in sandy but in marble memories, and since victory is mine, receive these gifts: and first thou, O Brandoch Daha, my sword, since before thou wast of years eighteen thou wast accounted the mightiest among men-at-arms. Mightily may it avail thee, as me in time gone by. And unto thee, O Spitfire, I give this cloak. Old it is, yet may it stand thee in good stead, since this virtue it hath that he who weareth it shall not fall alive into the hand of his enemies. Wear it for my sake. But unto thee, O Juss, give I no gift, for rich thou art of all good gifts: only my good will give I unto thee, ere earth gape for me."

...

So they fared back to the spy-fortalice, and night came down on the hills. A great wind moaning out of the hueless west tore the clouds as a ragged garment, revealing the lonely moon that fled naked betwixt them. As the Demons looked backward in the moonlight to where Zeldornius stood gazing on the dead, a noise as of thunder made the firm land tremble and drowned the howling of the wind. And they beheld how earth gaped for Zeldornius. ~ E.R. Eddison

To give without any reward, or any notice, has a special quality of its own. ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Time is the currency - the highest valued currency we have now. And people giving you their time is so incredible. They don't have to like your book, either. That's a totally separate gift. ~ Lauren Groff

The things we share with each other are deeply felt from within our hearts that neither of us will ever forget. For the gifts that are priceless are the ones that are heartfelt; their roots are within our soul. They are the greatest gifts, of all. ~ Ellen J. Barrier

Under the present conditions, everything conspires to obscure the basic movement that tends to restore wealth to its function, to gift-giving, to squandering without reciprocation. ~ Georges Bataille

Gift giving is a true art.
1. You need to understand the person to whom you intend to give the gift.
2. You need to know what they truly want.
3. You must be able to give it to them.
Anything less is a symptom of varying degrees, on your part, of ignorance, distance, or insult.
But if you cannot afford the right gift, telling the person what you would do if you could, justifies everything - as you present that not-so-perfect substitute. ~ Vera Nazarian

When Charity is deeply rooted in the soul it shows itself exteriorly: there is so gracious a way of refusing what we cannot give, that the refusal pleases as much as the gift. ~ Therese Of Lisieux

The manner of giving is worth more than the gift. ~ Pierre Corneille

Give me a man who is man enough to give himself just to the woman who is worth him. If that woman were me,I would love him alone and forever ~ Giacomo Casanova

It felt real, seeing his friend like that. It was like a gift. He wasn't into spiritual bullshit, but damn. Damn. That Mouse had become his friend was a gift, but a curse as well. If he'd left that whole situation alone, would Mouse - would James - have had a better life? A different outcome? ~ Debra Anastasia

Foreshadow, plot buster or red herring ... only time will tell: P69
Cassie waited; in the evening light through the window her eyes looked huge, opaque and watchful. I knew she was giving me a chance to say, Fuck the hair clip, let's forget we ever found it. Even now the temptation, tired and profitless though it may be, is to wonder what would have happened if I had. ~ Tana French

We may give our human loves the unconditional allegiance which we owe only to God. They they become gods: then they become demons. Then they will destroy us, and also destroy themselves. For natural loves that are allowed to become gods do not remain loves. They are still called so, but can become in fact complicated forms of hatred. ~ C.S. Lewis

I will come up with a project that will wipe out poverty in the Philippines in two years. I want to remove the people from economic crisis by using the Marcos wealth. Long after I'm gone, people will remember me for building them homes and roads and hospitals and giving them food. ~ Imelda Marcos

Number theorists are like lotus-eaters
having once tasted of this food they can never give it up. ~ Leopold Kronecker

Old ideas are continually being slain by new facts. There is nothing stable in the conclusions of the mind, and it is impossible that there ever should be unless we hold that the universe is made to the measure of the human mind, an assumption for which nothing in the past gives any warrant. ~ Edith Hamilton

Sometimes when you are the closest to your breakthrough the pressure is the greatest. You have come too far to give up now! ~ Joyce Meyer

I'm vegetarian so eating right definitely gives me the energy you need. ~ Shannon Elizabeth

I had no need of sails to drive me, nor oars nor wheels to push me, nor rails to give me a faster road. Air is what I wanted, that was all. Air surrounds me as water surrounds the submarine boat, and in it my propellers act like the screws of a steamer. That is how I solved the problem of aviation. That is what a balloon will never do, nor will any machine that is lighter than air. ~ Jules Verne

We'd better get a move on,' Shelby said, quickly doing up the fastenings on her own suit. 'Francisco said that the Professor has some cool new toys for us.'

'I believe he actually said assault weapons,' Wing said.

'Right,' Shelby said. 'New toys!'

'You know, I do worry about you sometimes,' Wing said, shaking his head.

'What can I say? I'm a twenty-first-century girl. Who wants flowers and chocolates, when you can have body armour and bullets?' Shelby said, giving Wing a quick peck on the cheek as she walked out of the room.

'Is it right that I should occasionally be slightly frightened of my girlfriend?' Wing asked as he watched her leave.

'As I understand it, that's perfectly normal,' Otto replied with a grin. ~ Mark Walden

There are moments in life, and they happen so infrequently that they tend to really stand out, when life hands you the gift of perspective. Sometimes, we forget to show our appreciation. Sometimes, we get our priorities mixed up. And, sometimes, we forget how far we've come. But life always has a way of nudging you to remind you about these important things. ~ Cassia Leo

I once got a little camera to use for details of architecture and so forth but the photo was always so different from the perspective the eye gives, I gave it up. ~ Edward Hopper

It was like this. the brain could no longer bear the worries and pains that were imposed on it. it said: i'm giving up; but if there is anyone else here who is interested in preserving the whole, let him assume part of my burden and it will be alright for a bit. ~ Franz Kafka

You pick up the phone and you talk to somebody. There's a voice on the other end and you say what you have to say. This is how I perceive my life. I don't see myself as "Oh, I'm doing this great thing because I'm going to give this talk, now everybody's going to be transformed." ~ Eckhart Tolle

Our Heavenly Father is far too wise and loves us far too much to give us everything we ask for. ~ Mark Batterson

A lot of people die giving birth to their children who have AIDS and HIV and a lot of people don't survive after a time because they've been sick too. ~ Lucy Liu

I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty - to wit, the white man's power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom...The very decided manner with which he spoke, and strove to impress his wife with the evil consequences of giving me instruction, served to convince me that he was deeply sensible of the truths he was uttering. It gave me the best assurance that I might rely with the utmost confidence on the results which, he said, would flow from teaching me to read. What he most dreaded, that I most desired. ~ Frederick Douglass

If he can give his readers no reason why they should read his book, except that the events happened to him, it is not a valid book. ~ Ayn Rand

I know that my voice has entered into the hearts of many people and has caused beautiful reactions. Some, hearing me sing, have become more religious; some who were ill felt joy; friends, while in hospital, played my tapes whenever they felt ill; they all said that my voice gave them the strength needed to stand the pain. Therefore, how can I not be thankful for this great gift? ~ Renata Tebaldi

It's easy to be afraid of taking a plunge, because, after all, plunging is dangerous. And the fear is a safe way to do nothing at all. Wading, on the other hand, gets under the radar. It gives you a chance to begin. ~ Seth Godin

When you dedicate yourself to your gift and do all the necessary studies to fully explore your field, you will be able to serve and to a full- valued and meaningful life ~ Sunday Adelaja

I have sometimes dreamt ... that when the Day of Judgment dawns and the great conquerors and lawyers and statesmen come to receive their rewards
their crowns, their laurels, their names carved indelibly upon imperishable marble
the Almighty will turn to Peter and will say, not without a certain envy when He sees us coming with our books under our arms, Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to give them here. They have loved reading. ~ Virginia Woolf

A leader is someone you are not disappointed in placing trust in. When that person makes suggestions, you are inclined to trust [them]. Often it is people who have been there [in a similar situation to the people he or she is leading]. They would generally be people who are ready to take the risks themselves. Most leaders would be people who don't ever give commands and remain at home and let the foot soldiers be the ones who bear the brunt. ~ Desmond Tutu

One may discover integrity in the companionship of others, but one does not ever discover integrity by bowing to the demands of peer pressure. The heavier the pressure is toward conformity - no matter how lofty the proposed final goal - the more one must be suspicious of it and antagonistic to it. History has one consistent lesson in it: one by one, people give up what they know to be right and true for the sake of something loftier that they do not quite understand but should want in order to be good; soon, people are the tools of despots and atrocities are committed on a grand scale. And then, it is too late. There is no going back.

Women are especially given to giving up what we know and feel to be right and true for the sake of others or for the sake of something more important than ourselves. This is because the condition in which women live is a colonized condition. Women are colonized by men, in body, in mind. Defined everywhere as evil when we act in our own self-interest, we strive to be good by renouncing self-interest altogether. ~ Andrea Dworkin

Picturing things, taking a view, is what makes us human; art is making sense and giving shape to that sense. It is like the religious search for God. ~ Gerhard Richter

Al-Qa'idah was set up to wage a jihad against infidelity, particularly to encounter the onslaught of the infidel countries against the Islamic states. Jihad is the sixth undeclared element of Islam. The first five being the basic holy words of Islam, prayers, fast, pilgrimage to Mecca, and giving alms Every anti-Islamic person is afraid of it. Al-Qa'idah wants to keep this element alive and active and make it part of the daily life of the Muslims. It wants to give it the status of worship. We are not against any Islamic country nor we consider a war against an Islamic country as jihad. ~ Osama Bin Laden

A book is not just paper and ink, it's a world full of dreams, imaginations, knowledge, awakening, emboldening and a lot, lot more invaluable treasures. Gift your child a book - introduce them to the joy of reading. ~ Jyoti Arora

Paul's strong, clear teaching at exactly this point both on the new status of the believer as having died and risen with Jesus Christ and on the new gift of God to the believer, the gift which Paul calls the holy spirit. It is astonishing to see how much of the debate has been conducted without the help of these two categories, as though the 'doctrine of justification' had to proceed with minimalist theological tools in order to be pure. You might as well try to play Wagner on a tin whistle. ~ N. T. Wright

I'm certain that it was an incredible gift for me to not only be friends with some of the greatest blues people who've ever lived, but to learn how they played, how they sang, how they lived their lives, ran their marriages, and talked to their kids. ~ Bonnie Raitt

Art is no longer snobbish or cowardly. It teaches peasants to use tractors, gives lyrics to young soldiers, designs textiles for factory women's dresses, writes burlesque for factory theatres, does a hundred other useful tasks. Art is as usueful as bread. ~ Azar Nafisi

Just remember: other people's opinions are simply that - other people's opinions. They are not fact, and they are certainly not "the truth." It is your responsibility to question the authority you give others, to question opinions they want you to adopt as your own, and to question how it is they are observing the world themselves that has them seeing things as they do. Sometimes you need to take back the authority you are giving to the opinions of others and place a bit more trust in yourself. ~ Margie Warrell

God gives everyone a lane and no one can beat you in your lane. Just stay focused on Him and what you are supposed to do. And everything will be alright. ~ Tyler Perry