WHEN YOU FOCUS ON THE GOODNESS IN YOUR LIFE, YOU CREATE MORE OF IT.
–OPRAH
“The best cure for worry, depression, melancholy, brooding is to go deliberately forth and try to lift with one’s sympathy the gloom of someone else.”
“I want my life to be about more than just fame or jewelry or parties. Hip-hop has the power to change the world. I am here to lead by example.”
“The only gift is a portion of thyself.”
“I pray for all of us, oppressor and friend, that together we succeed in building a better world through human understanding and love.”
“Over the years, I’ve heard people lament about why God allows this or that. Babies starve and people suffer not because of what God does, but because of what we don’t do.”
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
“A year after I launched the book club, a woman who appeared on the show said something I’ll never forget: ‘Before I joined the book club, I had never read an entire book.’ Reading has always been an open window to other worlds. Had I not been taught to read at an early age, I’d be an entirely different person. Thanks to books, I knew there was another kind of life. The chance to give another person that same gift? That was one of my proudest moments.”
“All I can do is be the best me that I can. And live life with some gusto. Giving back is a big part of that.”
“I see each day as another opportunity to get off my butt and make a difference in someone’s life.”
“I believe in karma and doing the right thing even if it might not advance you as far as you want. If every single person felt the same way about karma, then the world would get fixed tomorrow.”
“The habit of giving only enhances the desire to give.”
“The world belongs to us, and it also belongs to us to change it. That’s what I want people to know. [My husband] Danny got killed in the hands of people who are racist and intolerant, but Danny was the opposite. And they would want me to become intolerant and racist—but twice more now, I say the world belongs to me. That is Danny’s legacy.”
“The first generosity may well be attentive respect.”
“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”
“There is nothing in life more liberating than to fight for something more than yourself.”
“In the end, giving [money] is about love. Your most important gift is not the check you write. Your most important gift is your openness to changing the life of the recipient, and to changing your own.”
“If you are not giving—and receiving—every day, you become a stagnant pool of pinch and grab and clutch, which is hell. A generous spirit is heaven. Rejoice in whatever occasional myopia you can muster. Most people are doing poorly, and you really can’t help much. Feel sad. Pray. Give away more money. And then take a nap, or go buy lipstick. Breathe, eat well, pray, celebrate, too.”
“The best gift anyone can give, I believe, is the gift of sharing themselves…Every gift is your way of expressing how you feel about another person. I know for sure that’s what we’re here to do: keep the joy thing going for all seasons.”
“That’s what I consider true generosity. You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.”
“Our great-grandmothers marched, were arrested, and suffered heroically in jail to obtain the vote for women. People walked the dusty back roads of the South, and sometimes died, to ensure African-Americans the right to vote. We should be humbled by that. We have progressed to where we are because we stand on all their shoulders, and we must never forget it. Voting says thank you.”
“It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding.”
“I know for sure that when you shift your paradigm to what you can do for others, you begin to celebrate your own evolution and trigger a bounty of blessings.”
“There is only one real deprivation, I decided this morning, and that is not to be able to give one’s gifts to those one loves most.”
“Anything that is of value in life only multiplies when it is given.”
“Giving is a necessity sometimes…more urgent, indeed, than having.”
“A gift—be it a present, a kind word, or a job done with care and love—explains itself!…And if receivin’ it embarrasses you, it’s because your ‘thanks box’ is warped.”
“The fragrance always remains in the hand that gives the rose.”
“If my hands are fully occupied in holding on to something, I can neither give nor receive.”
“Make a gratitude journal for someone you love, listing all the reasons you’re grateful to have him or her in your life. This is the best gift ever!”
“To have and not to give is often worse than to steal.”
“A gift, with a kind countenance, is a double present.”
“The spirit in which a thing is given determines that in which the debt is acknowledged; it’s the intention, not the face value of the gift, that’s weighed.”
“I happen to love giving. Even when I was a youngster and didn’t have much to give, whatever I had or did was more enjoyable when I shared it. I used to love notebook paper, and I would bring five hundred sheets at a time to school. Whenever my classmates asked to borrow a sheet, I’d give them ten or twenty. It’s the spirit of giving, not the largesse of the gift, that matters most.”
“Hospitality is supposedly something we do for others, but whenever I have guests (even those who don’t buy me towels), I feel like I’m reaping the benefits. Hospitality involves sharing an intimate, private space—your home—and letting someone in shows trust. It shows that we’re committed to lasting relationships with our friends, not just quick coffees when it’s convenient.”
“How we treasure (and admire) the people who acknowledge us! A simple gesture goes such a long way.”
“Everyone has the power for greatness, not for fame, but greatness, because greatness is determined by service.”
“One single grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer.”
“You receive from the world what you give to the world. I understand it from physics as the third law of motion: for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. It is the essence of what Eastern philosophers call karma. In The Color Purple, the character Celie explained it to Mister: ‘Everything you try to do to me, already done to you.’”
“Gratitude is nice, but ingratitude is better. I want women to be angry at the injustices that remain, to have higher hopes. We get radicalized by seeing what could be better.”
“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
“The point is not to pay back kindness but to pass it on.”
“If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is ‘Thank you,’ that would suffice.”
“Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy.”
“It’s not easy being grateful all the time. But it’s when you feel least thankful that you are most in need of what gratitude can give you.”
“Every time we remember to say, ‘Thank you,’ we experience nothing less than heaven on earth.”
“Any act of appreciation affirms our connection to each other. Validates us. Expands who we are in the world. Deepens our spirit. And can turn an ordinary moment into an extraordinary, peachy, and praiseful day.”
“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one…the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”
“Just to be is a blessing; just to live is holy.”
“Abundance is, in large part, an attitude.”
“Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.”
“Whenever you can’t think of something to be grateful for, remember your breath. With each breath you take, you can say, ‘I am still here.’”
“We must be the change we wish to see in the world.”
“Each moment in time we have it all, even when we think we don’t.”
“Feeling grateful to or appreciative of someone or something actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value in your life.”
“For all that has been, thanks. For all that will be, yes.”
“For today and its blessings, I owe the world an attitude of gratitude.”
“The next time you find yourself surrounded by darkness in the middle of a storm and everything is at its absolute worst, take a moment to give thanks—because you know that no matter what, the sun is going to rise. It will get better. That is sunrise faith.”
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
“I have come to believe that giving and receiving are really the same. Giving and receiving—not giving and taking.”
“We can’t take any credit for our talents. It’s how we use them that counts.”
“‘When you learn, teach. When you get, give.’ That’s another one of my favorite quotes from Maya Angelou. What I know for sure is that what you give comes back to you. That’s not just my theory or point of view—it’s physics. Life is an energy exchange of giving and receiving, and the way to have what you want is to give what you need.”
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”
“The truth is the kindest thing we can give folks in the end.”
“Before you go to bed tonight, make a blessings list. If you don’t go to sleep with a sense of joy in your heart, one of us is a fool.”
“There is nothing more visceral than cynicism, nothing more brutish than greed. These are reflexes, common and unremarkable, of the undeveloped spirit. But charity in its finest sense is always an act of the creative imagination.”
“If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.”
“As I seek the comfort to give, I know that what I’ve found in the search is comfort for myself, the consolation that comes from accompanying a friend on her journey as far as I can go, however steep the way.”
“I LIVE IN THE SPACE OF THANKFULNESS–AND I HAVE BEEN REWARDED A MILLION TIMES OVER FOR IT. I STARTED OUT GIVING THANKS FOR THE SMALL THINGS, AND THE MORE THANKFUL I BECAME, THE MORE MY BOUNTY INCREASED. THAT’S BECAUSE WHAT YOU FOCUS ON EXPANDS, AND WHEN YOU FOCUS ON THE GOODNESS IN YOUR LIFE, YOU CREATE MORE OF IT.”
–OPRAH