Maxim

Give freely; generosity enriches the giver.

What we give away has a strange way of coming back as a fuller life. An open hand makes room for connection, and it loosens the grip that possessions can have on us.

Related expressions

• “remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

  — Paul the Apostle (quoting Jesus), Acts 20:35 (KJV)
  Watch on YouTube: Are you a giver or a taker? | Adam Grant ↗Adam Grant discusses this idea
  ChristianityClassical (200 BCE – 600 CE)relation: expressesVerifiedsourceTranslation: King James Version (public domain)

• “The more that he expends for others, the more does he possess of his own; the more that he gives to others, the more does he have himself.”

  — Laozi, Tao Te Ching, ch. 81, tr. James Legge
  TaoismAncient (before 200 BCE)relation: expressesVerifiedsourceTranslation: public-domain translation (Legge)

• “Charity does not decrease wealth,”

  — The Prophet Muhammad (narrated by Abu Huraira), Sahih Muslim 2588
  IslamMedieval (600 – 1500)relation: expressesVerifiedsourceTranslation: Abdul Hamid Siddiqui translation, as given on sunnah.com

• “fools only do not praise liberality; a wise man rejoices in liberality,”

  — The Buddha, Dhammapada 177, tr. F. Max Müller
  BuddhismAncient (before 200 BCE)relation: similarVerifiedsourceTranslation: public-domain translation (Müller)

Score

Moral Rank 80.2 · Evidence E = 17.96

E = ln(1+4.16) + √4.16 + 3·3.26 + 1.5·3 = 17.96

How this is scored

Further reading

• Adam Grant, Give and Take (Open Library)