Generosity

So... generosity. Ah - isn't real kindness a very generous thing. Generosity is a behaviour which is done with no expectation of a return of the favors.

OR... in the words of many others, many with which I agree but some I don't:

Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.
Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

He who confers a favor should at once forget it, if he is not to show a sordid ungenerous spirit. To remind a man of a kindness conferred and to talk of it, is little different from reproach.
Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC)

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

Generosity with strings is not generosity; It is a deal.
Marya Mannes

Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it can change someone else's life forever.
Margaret Cho, weblog, 03-11-04

To be able under all circumstances to practice five things constitutes perfect virtue; these five things are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness and kindness.
Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

I have three treasures. Guard and keep them:
The first is deep love,
The second is frugality,
And the third is not to dare to be ahead of the world.
Because of deep love, one is courageous.
Because of frugality, one is generous.
Because of not daring to be ahead of the world, one becomes the leader of the world.
Lao-tzu (604 BC - 531 BC), The Way of Lao-tzu

In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don't try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.
Tao Te Ching

Too many have dispensed with generosity in order to practice charity.
Albert Camus (1913 - 1960)

We are here to add to the sum of human goodness. To prove the thing exists. And however futile each individual act of courage or generosity, self-sacrifice or grace-it still proves the thing exists. Each act adds to the fund. It needs replenishment. Not only because evil flourishes, and is, most indefensibly, defended. But because goodness is no longer a respectable aim in life. The hound of hell, envy, has driven it from the house.
Josephine Hart, "Sin"

He who gives what he would as readily throw away, gives without generosity; for the essence of generosity is in self sacrifice.
Henry Taylor

And that is that for today.... (except I might go over some drafts and publish them)

Love to you all! Ken