I absolutely love quotes!  So I’m sharing with you my list of quotes about gift giviing.  They are all pretty simple, short, and easy to read.  I am drawn to these types of quotes because they tend to stick with me more and therefore make more of an impact on me.

I am convinced that quotes help me be a better person.  They are profound little nuggets of wisdom that are usually easy to remember and they get me thinking a little deeper about an area that I haven’t considered to think that much about.

But why quotes about gift giving?  As you may know from reading my posts, I’m pretty into giving people unique and fun gifts.  Gifts overall are fun to me.  And since I love gifts and quotes….I am drawn to what others have to say about gift giving.

And since quotes help me so much, I imagine they help others as well.  It would mean a lot to me if I could somehow help someone just by sharing my list of quotes about gift giving.  So, please enjoy!

Oh!  And if you’d like to learn more about the individual that said the quote or the source, please feel free to click on the name/source after the quote.

Quotes About Gift Giving

1.  “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.”  ― Mother Teresa

2.   “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”  ― Winston S. Churchill

3.  “No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”  ― Charles Dickens

4.  “I realized during some of the darkest moments of my life, that the most beautiful and precious happiness in the world is the Joy of Giving.”  ― Kiran Shaikh

5.  “A rich life is lived from a giving heart not a selfish mind.”  ― Rasheed Ogunlaru

6.  “Never grow weary of giving, Your small contribution can make someone else’s life worth living.”  ― Charmaine J. Forde

7.  “You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.”
― Amy Carmichael

8.  “A friend of mine gave me a rainbow and it made me happy. So, I in turn, gave it to a complete stranger and then it made both of us smile.”  ― Anthony T. Hincks

9.  “Giving does not only preceed receiving; it is the reason for it. It is in giving that we receive.”  ― Israelmore Ayivor

10.  “There is no better exercise for your heart than reaching down and helping to lift someone up” ― Bernard Meltzer

11.  “Give forgiveness, give gifts, give gratitude, give love, give time, give joy, give tears, give hugs, give an ear, give a speech….Simply give.” ― Jodi Aman

12.  “But I give best when I give from that deeper place; when I give simply, freely and generously, and sometimes for no particular reason. I give best when I give from my heart.” ― Steve Goodier

13.  “One of the most important things you can do on this earth is to let people know they are not alone.” ― Shannon L. Alder

14.  “Peace starts within. We are what we give.”  ― Sal Di Leo

15.  “Giving without expectations is the ultimate secret source of abundance.”  ― Debasish Mridha

16.  “I can think of no greater way to live my life than with as much love as I can give, as often as I can give it.”
― Scott Stabile

17.   “Of all the lessons my parents taught me, GIVING was the best”  ― Charmaine J. Forde

18.   “We don’t need a degree to learn the art of giving. We just need a heart.” ― Abaida Mahmood

19.  “The simple gift of giving becomes an elaborate rich aftertaste of a natural blissful feeling, lingering endlessly in my lifetime.” ― Wes Adamson

Quotes About Gift Giving, From Books

20.  “The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.”
― Pierre Corneille, Le Menteur

21.  “Every sunrise is an invitation for us to arise and brighten someone’s day.”  ― Richelle E. Goodrich, Smile Anyway

22.  “It’s bad enough in life to do without something YOU want; but confound it, what gets my goat is not being able to give somebody something you want THEM to have.” ― Truman Capote, A Christmas Memory

23.  “Help others without any reason and give without the expectation of receiving anything in return.” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

24.  “Oh! if the good hearts had the fat purses, how much better everything would go!” ― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

25.  “I come in a world of iron…to make a world of gold” ― Dale Wasserman, Man of La Mancha

26.  “I let giving fill me with joy.”  ― Amy Leigh Mercree, Joyful Living: 101 Ways to Transform Your Spirit and Revitalize Your Life

27.  “Giving and empathy provide us with opportunities to nurture our innate goodness.”
― Arthur P. Ciaramicoli, The Stress Solution: Using Empathy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to Reduce Anxiety and Develop Resilience

28.  “Do not deprive the world the gift of your products.”
― Sunday Adelaja, How To Become Great Through Time Conversion: Are you wasting time, spending time or investing time?

29.  “Don’t deprive those you were sent here to impact, don’t starve them of the gifts you were sent to give to them.” ― Clement Ogedegbe, YOUR POTENTIALS – THE SOURCE OF YOUR GREATNESS: ….Secrets to unleashing your full potentials and achieving greater heights in life.

30.  “Giving generously in romantic relationships, and in all other bonds, means recognizing when the other person needs our attention. Attention is an important resource.” ― bell hooks, All About Love: New Visions

31. “Don’t wait for other people to be loving, giving, compassionate, grateful, forgiving, generous, or friendly… lead the way!” ― Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience

32.  “Give freely to the world these gifts of love and compassion. Do not concern yourself with how much you receive in return, just know in your heart it will be returned.” ― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

33.  “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” ― Acts 20:35, The Holy Bible

34.  “If you haven’t done much giving in your life-try it and see how you feel afterwards.” ― Michelle Moore, Selling Simplified

35.  “You are good when you strive to give of yourself.” ― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

36.  “A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal.” ― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

37.  “Giving is the master key to success, in all applications of human life.”
― Bryant McGill, Voice of Reason

What about receiving gifts?

Many of us love receiving gifts.  It makes us feels special and we get something new.  Some do not like receiving gifts at all.  And then some are somewhere in between…finding that a gift is not as easy to receive as maybe at other times.

I find myself in that last category.  I used to think I loved receiving gifts all the time, but a short term mission trip proved otherwise.

Some years ago my family, friends and I took a trip to Mexico to build a very small simple house for a family in need.  It was all through an organization that coordinated everything for us, we just had to show up and build.

During the orientation, our director told us that the family may give us gifts in gratitude for what we were doing and he recommended that we just smile and accept the gifts.  I admit, I didn’t think much of his comment.

The family we were building for had been living in a small shelter that was severly water damaged and litterally falling apart.  The family consisted of two adults (parents) and four children, ages ranging from 3-16.  Their house was in such bad shape that one of the children just chose to sleep in an abandoned car on the property.

The 16 year old daughter really took a liking to me.  She knew a very small amount of words in English, but we somehow managed to communicate and really had fun together.  On our last day there, the family made us a huge feast of homemade fish tacos (litterally the best I’ve ever had in my life!). 

Then the sweet girl came to me with a dirty and water stained photo album to show me pictures from her quinceañera.  She pulled out an absolutely gorgeous 8×10 photo of her from her quinceañera and insisted that I keep it.

I knew how little the family had and I could only imagine how expensive it must have been to have those photos professionally done.  Knowing her quinceañera was such an important day to her, I really did not want to take the photo.

I wanted her to keep it and pass it on to her children.  I then remembered the words of our director and just smiled and accepted the photo.  But I have to admit, my heart felt so heavy.  It just felt so wrong to receive it.  But, I guess considering the directors advice, could me receiving her gift, possibly be a gift to her?

I find this quote to sum up my experience quite well:

38.  “For so many centuries, the exchange of gifts has held us together. It has made it possible to bridge the abyss where language struggles.” ― Barry Lopez, About This Life

 

Quotes About the Value of Receiving Gifts

39.  “Always give without remembering and always receive without forgetting.” ― Brian Tracy

40.   “The more you love, the more love you are given to love with.” ― Lucien Price

41.  “Every gift opens a heavenly door to the giver.”  ― Lailah Gifty Akita

42.  “Because we idealize Giving so much, we ignore the ability, blessing, and duty to Receive.” ― Ashlecka Aumrivani

43. “Live in gratitude and don’t ever take gifts and blessings for granted. Keep nurturing what the good Lord has bestowed upon you.” ― Latika Teotia

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

Quotes About Receiving, From Books

45.   “We think that we have to learn how to give, but we forget about accepting things, which can be much harder than giving…. Accepting another person’s gift is allowing him to express his feelings for you.” ― Alexander McCall Smith, Love Over Scotland

46.   “Receiving is harder than giving, son. But gifts are made to be accepted.” ― Dani Harper, Storm Warned

47.  “When a gift is deserved, it is not a gift but a payment.” ― Gene Wolfe, Shadow & Claw

48.  “The greatest gifts are those that say, “I know you”.” ― Fennel Hudson, Fine Things – Fennel’s Journal – No. 8

49.  “Until we can receive with an open heart, we’re never really giving with an open heart.” ― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

50.  “If you don’t receive enough, have a look if you give enough.”  ― Jennifer White – Strong Heart Awakening

Aren’t all of these quotes about gift giving (and receiving) great?  I love that these quotes get me thinking.  They help me consider what kind of a giver and receiver I am.  And they help me remember and appreciate what others felt when they gave me gifts, like the precious teen in Mexico that gave me a photo of her at her quinceañera.

What about you?  Did these quotes get you thinking?  Which quote is your favorite?  Have you had a moment when receiving a gift was difficult for you?  I’d love to hear about it!  Please share in the comments!

To gift giving and receiving,

Susie