Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Relationships thrive on contribution, not acquisition.
In plain terms
Focus on giving rather than getting in relationships.
What can you take from it?
Prioritize giving to build strong relationships.

Where it applies

  • marriage
  • friendship

Putting it to work

  • volunteering
  • active listening

Questions to consider

  • What do you give in relationships?
  • How balanced is your exchange?

Another view

Mutual giving is required, not one-sided sacrifice.

More from Eleanor Roosevelt

  1. Up to a certain point it is good for us to know that there are people in the world who will give us love and unquestioned loyalty to the limit of their ability…

    Permalink to quote #18
  2. One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In stopping to think through the meaning of what I have learned, the…

    Permalink to quote #20
  3. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

    Permalink to quote #17

Related quotes

  1. I've repeatedly said that for people as little in common as Joanne and myself, we have an uncommonly good marriage. We are actors, we make pictures - and that'…

    Paul NewmanPaul Newman quote #2
  2. You say to me-wards your affection's strong; Pray love me little, so you love me long.

    Robert HerrickRobert Herrick quote #14
  3. Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only with what you are expecting to give - which is everything.

    Katharine HepburnKatharine Hepburn quote #23