100+ Charity Quotes To Inspire Giving in People

Published Sept 30, 2025

The word “charity” often brings to mind grand gestures and large donations. While financial support is vital, the true meaning of charity is much broader. It’s about the voluntary act of helping those in need and showing kindness and tolerance in our daily lives.

Many believe you need to be wealthy to be charitable, but that simply isn’t true. The size of the gift does not measure charity, but by the love and intent behind it. It’s found in small, everyday actions: welcoming a stranger, helping someone across the street, or simply making another person feel seen and valued.

Practicing charity enriches our own lives as much as it helps others. Let these quotes inspire you to find ways, big and small, to make a difference and encourage others to do the same.

On the Joy and Impact of Giving

Giving doesn’t just help the receiver; it brings immense fulfillment and purpose to the giver. These quotes explore the profound joy that comes from sharing what we have with others.

1. “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill
2. “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mahatma Gandhi
3. “I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.” – Maya Angelou
4. “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” – John Bunyan
5. “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” – Mother Teresa
6. “Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
7. “As the purse is emptied, the heart is filled.” – Victor Hugo
8. “Think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege.” – John D. Rockefeller Jr.
9. “For it is in giving that we receive.” – St. Francis of Assisi
10. “Our mind is enriched by what we receive, our heart by what we give.” – Victor Hugo
11. “The wise man does not lay up his own treasures. The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own.” – Lao Tzu
12. “Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.” – Booker T. Washington

Kindness in Action

Charity often manifests as simple acts of kindness. A small gesture can lighten a heavy burden and create a ripple effect of positivity that extends far beyond the initial act.

1. “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop
2. “No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” – Charles Dickens
3. “As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands: one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” – Sam Levenson
4. “A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog when you are just as hungry as the dog.” – Jack London
5. “The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.” – Mahatma Gandhi
6. “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” – Mother Teresa
7. “What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?” – George Eliot
8. “There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” – John Holmes
9. “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” – Desmond Tutu
10. “Help others without any reason and give without the expectation of receiving anything in return.” – Roy T. Bennett
11. “Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” – Princess Diana

Charity, Wisdom, and Spirituality

For many, charity is a core tenet of their faith and philosophy. These quotes reflect on the spiritual and moral dimensions of giving and its role in living a virtuous life.

1. “Charity brings to life again those who are spiritually dead.” – St. Thomas Aquinas
2. “In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity.” – Richard Baxter
3. “No one has ever become poor by giving.” – Anne Frank
4. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” – Acts 20:35
5. “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” – St. Paul
6. “Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance.” – St. Francis of Assisi
7. “Every charitable act is a stepping stone towards heaven.” – Henry Ward Beecher
8. “The charitable give out at the door, and God puts in at the window.” – John Ray
9. “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” – Mohammed Ali
10. “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.