Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Giving benefits the recipient but also frees the giver emotionally.
In plain terms
Helping others makes you feel lighter inside.
What can you take from it?
Giving frees the giver's soul.

Where it applies

  • charity
  • personal relationships
  • volunteering

Putting it to work

  • practice daily kindness
  • give time or resources

Questions to consider

  • Why does giving feel good?
  • Can giving become obligation?

Another view

Giving does not always resolve personal emotional burdens.

More from Maya Angelou

  1. I find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God's will, but as human beings become more affluent, as their living stan…

    Permalink to quote #32
  2. I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass.

    Permalink to quote #34
  3. I believe we are still so innocent. The species are still so innocent that a person who is apt to be murdered believes that the murderer, just before he puts t…

    Permalink to quote #31

Related quotes

  1. The world stands out on either side No wider than the heart is wide; Above the world is stretched the sky, - No higher than the soul is high. The heart can pus…

    Edna St. Vincent MillayEdna St. Vincent Millay quote #1
  2. My soul has gained the freedom of the night.

    Princess Elizabeth BibescoPrincess Elizabeth Bibesco quote #1
  3. 'Give,' said the little stream, 'Give, oh give, give, oh give,' As it hurried down the hill. 'I am small, I know, but wherever I go The fields grow greener sti…

    Fanny CrosbyFanny Crosby quote #1