285 Best Quotes About Givers and Takers (2023)

1. “Givers reject the notion that interdependence is weak. Givers are more likely to see interdependence as a source of strength, a way to harness the skills of multiple people for a greater good.”

2. “Apart from being motivation for themselves, I think big givers should also talk about their philanthropy so that their work and their success stories prove inspirational enough for many others to follow. ” — Rakesh Jhunjhunwala

3. “Successful givers secure their oxygen masks before coming to the assistance of others. Although their motives may be less purely altruistic, their actions prove more altruistic, because they give more.”

4. The more I help out, the more successful I become. But I measure success in what it has done for the people around me. That is the real accolade.

5. “It’s never too late to become original.”

6. “Giving and taking is a delicate balance. If you do not give as much as you take and take as much as you give, you are going against nature. ” — Anonymous

7. “Don't criticize yourself while you're creating.”

8. “There are two kinds of people in the world: Givers and Takers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better.”

9. “Jason Geller, a Deloitte executive offers help to every new hire. He can’t proactively go and spend time with every junior person is his firm so he tries to sense who’s genuine and who’s not through an initial conversation. Some folks approach the conversation in terms of learning. Others say, ‘I want to get promoted. What should I do?’ and focus on telling him what they’re doing, not really asking insightful questions.”

10. My personal style comes from jugaad, a Hindi word meaning doing more with less. - Author: Leila Janah

11. “People donate more money to charity when the phrase ‘even a penny will help’ is added to a request. Interestingly, this phrase increases the number of people who give without necessarily decreasing the amount that they give. Legitimizing small contributions draws in takers, making it difficult and embarrassing for them to say no, without dramatically reducing the amount donated by givers.”

12. “There are two types of people on earth: givers and takers. Life is not about taking and having but about giving and living. ” — GE Pauls

13. I'm like a starving man who has been given food. Maybe he's cold, and his clothes are torn, and he's ashamed, but he's not unhappy. - Author: Leo Tolstoy

14. Successful people are both givers and takers - Givers are often seen as pushovers, but successful people are actually both givers and takers. Being a successful giver means knowing when to give, when to take, and how to balance the two. Successful people are able to create relationships and opportunities for themselves by being both generous and selfish, in the right ways

15. “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito. ”

16. “If you don’t build your dream someone will hire you to help build theirs. ”

17. “As a giver, his focus was on achieving a high-quality collective result, not on claiming personal responsibility for that result. ‘I tended not to be able to remember the stuff that I had done, so I wasn’t always saying when I did this or that. I was saying when we did this and that. I think it’s good to get in the habit of that.’”

18. “Most people are weak and frightened. And run from anything which could be upsetting. Most people. Also are takers and not givers. ” — Laura Schlesinger

19. “Originality is not a fixed trait. It is a free choice.”

20. “My favourite bias is the ‘I’m not biased’ bias, in which people believe they’re more objective than others.”

21. I understand that during [Sonia Sotomayor's] career, she's written hundreds and hundreds of opinions. I haven't read a single one of them, and if I'm fortunate before we end this, I won't have to read one of them. - Author: Harry Reid

22. “If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present. ”

23. “Being a nice person is about courtesy: you’re friendly, polite, agreeable, and accommodating. When people believe they have to be nice in order to give, they fail to set boundaries, rarely say no, and become pushovers, letting others walk all over them.”

24. “If people are not laughing at your goals, your goals are too small. ”

25. Shopping turns me off. - Author: Tea Leoni

26. “The activity you’re most avoiding contains your biggest opportunity. ”

27. There are two types of people on earth: givers and takers. Life is not about taking and having but about giving and living. - Author: GE Paulus

28. “The greatest masters are the greatest apprentices as well; they are not only greatest givers but also greatest takers. ” — Mehmet Murat Ildan

29. “If you’d rather give on your own, try the GOOD thirty-day-challenge, Sasha Dichter’s thirty-day generosity experiment, or Ryan Garcia’s year of daily random acts of kindness.”

30. Strong ties provide bonds, but weak ties serve as bridges: they provide more efficient access to new information. Our strong ties tend to travel in the same social circles and know about the same opportunities as we do. Weak ties are more likely to open up access to a different network, facilitating the discovery of original leads.

31. “Takers believe in a zero-sum world, and they end up creating one where bosses, colleagues, and clients don’t trust them. Givers build deeper and broader relationships – people are rooting for them instead of gunning for them. ” — Adam Grant

32. “You will know it is love not when you think about them all the time or want to be with them, but when you worry about them and you want their approval and happiness.”

33. “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails. ”

34. “I spend a lot of my time trying to help leaders build cultures of productive givers. ” — Adam Grant

35. “Let your light shine as an inspiration to humanity and BE THE REASON someone believes in the goodness of people.”

36. “We listen to views that make us feel good, instead of ideas that make us think hard.”

37. “Creativity is generating ideas that are novel and useful. I define originals as people who go beyond dreaming up the ideas and take initiative to make their visions a reality.”

38. “The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried. ”

39. The danger is we're losing sight of what women really want to wear. - Author: Azzedine Alaia

40. “If you want something you have never had, you must be willing to do something you have never done. ”

41. “Just stick with it. What seems so hard now will one day be your warm up. ”

42. Give and take is a cycle - Give and take is not a one-time event, but a cycle. Givers need to be takers from time to time, and takers need to learn to give. Reaching the right balance in relationships is key for everyone to benefit

43. You need to be a giver to succeed - Givers are people who are generous with their time, knowledge, connections, and other resources. They help others and put others’ needs ahead of their own. Givers are the people who will succeed in the long-term because they help create connections and foster relationships

44. “There are times we are givers, but others times we have to let others give to us. ” — Paul Hoffman

45. “Most people assume that self-interest and other-interest are opposite ends of one continuum. Yet I’ve consistently found that self-interest and other-interest are completely independent motivations; you can have both of them at the same time.”

46. “The first step to getting anywhere is deciding you’re no longer willing to stay where you are. ”

47. “The sons of God are different because they are givers, just like their Heavenly father”

48. “Benjamin Franklin said, ‘He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged.’”

49. Givers have to set limits because takers rarely do. - Author: Henry Ford

50. “Influence is far more powerful if you change people’s behaviors first, and their attitudes often follow. To turn takers into givers, it’s often necessary to convince them to start giving. Over time, if the conditions are right, they’ll come to see themselves as givers.”

51. “Giving of ourselves, sharing our gift, is what lifts us. ” — Laya Saul

52. But if all they did was kill time, time would end up killing them. - Author: Michael Grant

53. “You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. ” — Amy Charmichael

54. “When we hear a powerful persuasive message, we get suspicious. In some cases, we’re concerned about being tricked. In other situations, we just want to make our own free choices, rather than having our decisions controlled by someone else. So if I tell you to go out and vote, you might resist. But when I ask if you’re planning to vote, you don’t feel like I’m trying to influence you. It’s an innocent query, and instead of resisting my influence, you reflect on it. You’ve been convinced by someone you already like and trust: yourself.”

55. ‘For it is in giving that we receive’ St. Francis of Assisi

56. Being a “matcher” is important - Matchers are those who take and give in equal measure. They are generous and trustworthy, but they also hold other people accountable for their actions. Matchers create a feeling of reciprocity in their relationships and make sure that each person involved is respected

57. “Beauty is not who you are on the outside, it is the wisdom and time you gave away to save another struggling soul like you.”

58. “Throw me to the wolves and I will return leading the pack. ”

59. “Givers succeed in a way that creates a ripple effect, enhancing the success of people around them. ” — Adam M. Grant

60. “Another impressive initiative is HopeMob, a place where ‘generous strangers unite to bring immediate hope to people with pressing needs all over the world.’”

61. “Givers always care about the next person, and a little less about themselves. That is why it is always important for givers to constantly do a reality check so they will not end up losing themselves in the giving process”

62. “I’ve had to develop a new skill of how to identify takers from givers. ” — Richie Norton

63. Regardless of their reciprocity styles, people love to be asked for advice.

64. You know what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change, but pretty soon. . . everything's different. - Author: Bill Watterson

65. “Givers advance the world. Takers advance themselves and hold the world back. ” — Simon Sinek

66. “Every minute of every hour of every day, you are making the world just as you are making yourself, and you might as well do it with generosity and kindness and style. ” — Rebecca Solnit

67. I've learned there are givers and takers in this life. I've slowly let the takers go and I've had it for the better. God bless them, when they learn to play by the rules they are welcomed back, but my heart is worth protecting. - Author: Donald Miller

68. “Giving with love is more rewarding for the giver's heart and mind than the receiver”

69. “What do you want to be when you grow up? As a kid, that was my least favourite question.”

70. Life will give to the givers, and take from the takers - Author: Steven Aitchison

71. Givers advance the world. Takers advance themselves and hold the world back - Author: Simon Sinek

72. You never know where somebody’s going to end up. It’s not just about building your reputation; it really is about being there for other people.

73. “The world has takers and givers, the moment you decide to be a taker you will always be in want, scarcity and on downward spiral. Givers are always watered and never wither even in the dry season.”

74. “When no one is selfless in a relationship, there is war. When one is selfless, there is peace. When both are selfless, there is joy. ” — Royce White

75. “To judge givers, we often rely on personality cues, but it turns out these cues can be misleading. In half a century of research, psychologists have discovered a fundamental personality trait that distinguishes how people tend to appear in their social interactions. It’s called agreeableness — agreeable people tend to appear cooperative and polite — they seek harmony with others, coming across as warm, nice, and welcoming. Disagreeable people tend to be more competitive, critical, and tough — they’re more comfortable with conflict, coming across as skeptical and challenging.”

76. “Over time, because giving appears to be uncommon, people with giver values begin to feel they’re in the minority. As a result, even when they do engage in giving behaviors, people worry that they’ll isolate themselves socially if they violate the norm, so they disguise their giving behind purely self-interested motives. A Princeton sociologist interviewed a wide range of Americans who chose helping professions, from cardiologists to rescue workers. When he asked them to explain why they did good deeds, they referenced self-interested reasons, such as ‘I liked the people I was working with’ or ‘It gets me out of the house.’ They didn’t want to admit that they were genuinely helpful, kind, generous, caring, or compassionate. We have social norms against sounding too charitable.”

77. “Givers need to realise that they deserve to be blessed by others as well. That in this life, as they give, they also need to be given. Whether it is love, money, or time.”

78. “One of the easiest things for a rescuer to do is to love people without a soul because we genuinely believe that our love can fill the void inside them. Unfortunately, it drains us of our own love. The love of self.”

79. “Humans are givers by nature; that's why it's easier to do something for another than for oneself. Try it, you'll see what I mean.”

80. “If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things. ”

81. “You will know who truly loves you when you ask them to do an uncoventional favor.”

82. "There’s a wealth of evidence that people want to do meaningful work."

83. “Takers believe no sustenance. They simply take things wanted. ” — Toba Beta

84. “Two things define you: Your patience when you have nothing and your attitude when you have everything. ”

85. “It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it. ”

86. “An employee made a mistake that cost the company $10 million, he walked into the office of Tom Watson, the C.E.O., expecting to get fired. ‘Fire you?’ Mr. Watson asked. ‘I just spent $10 million educating you.”

87. “The psychologist James Pennebaker coined a term the joy of talking. Years ago, he divided strangers into small groups and gave them 15 minutes to talk to strangers about a topic of your choice. After the 15 minutes were up, they rated how much they liked the group. It turns out the more someone talked, the more they liked the group and the more they talked, the more they thought they’d learned about the group. By dominating the conversation, you believe you’ve actually come to know the people around you, even though they barely spoke. It is givers, by virtue of their interest in getting to know us, who ask us the questions that enable us to experience the joy of learning from ourselves. And by giving us the floor, givers are actually learning about us and from us, which helps them figure out how to sell us things we already value.”

88. “No one lost anything by giving, a tree loses nothing by giving away its fruits.”

89. “Giver burnout has less to do with the amount of giving and more with the amount of feedback about the impact of that giving. Givers don’t burn out when they devote too much time and energy to giving. They burn out when they’re working with people in need but are unable to help effectively.”

90. “Pronoia — the opposite of paranoia — is the delusional belief that other people are plotting your well-being, or saying nice things about you behind your back. If you’re a giver, this belief may be a reality, not a delusion.”

91. “The first step to foster giving is to make it ok and normal to ask for help. Research shows that the vast majority of giving at work occurs between people in response to direct requests.”

92. “I study how to make work not suck.”

93. “The key to balancing our responsibility judgments is to focus our attention on what others have contributed. All you need to do is make a list of what your partner contributes before you estimate your own contribution. Bring together a work group of 3–6 people and ask each member to estimate the % of the total work they do. Add up their estimates, and the average total is over 140%. Ask them to reflect on each member’s contributions before their own, and the average total drops to 123%.”

94. “In a study, executives who got board seats were more likely to seek advice along with a compliment. When praising a director’s skill, the advice-seeking execs asked how she mastered it. When extolling a director’s success in a task, the execs asked for recommendations about how to replicate his success. When execs asked for advice in this manner, the director was significantly more likely to recommend them for a board appointment.”

95. “The great apparent dichotomy is that the more we give, the more we get. ” — Stephen Covey

96. “I’ve learned there are givers and takers in this life. I’ve slowly let the takers go and I’ve had it for the better. God bless them, when they learn to play by the rules they are welcomed back, but my heart is worth protecting.”

97. If you can get a laugh out of a name, you're ahead of the game. - Author: Carl Reiner

98. “The human contribution is the essential ingredient. It is only in the giving of oneself to others that we truly live. ” — Ethel Percy Andrus

99. “Visit www.giveandtake.com to take a free survey that tests your giver quotient. You can invite other people in your network to rate your reciprocity style, and you’ll receive data on how often you’re seen as a giver, taker, and matcher.”

100. “It takes no genius to destroy. The creators, the givers, the lovers, the healers - these are the heroes who know - the building up is so much more difficult than the tearing down.”

101. “Kuulamine nõuab kahte poolt. Ühte, kes annab, ja teist, kes võtab, mida antakse.”

102. My father said there were two kinds of people in the world: givers and takers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better. - Author: Marlo Thomas

103. “Contributors and distributors tend to do better at personal branding than takers and fakers. ” — Ryan Lilly

104. I'm Doomed, Doomed, DOOMED, I tell you" Jock cried - Author: Mark A. Cooper

105. “A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence. ”

106. “Men are rich only as they give. He who gives great service gets great returns. ” — Elbert Hubbard

107. “Privately signing a pledge to be kind like Harvard students do might backfire. In one experiment, psychologists randomly assigned people to write about themselves using either giver terms like caring, generous, and kind, or neutral terms like book, keys, and house. After the participants filled out another questionnaire, a researcher asked them if they wanted to donate money to a charity of their choosing. Those who wrote about themselves as givers donated an average of 2.5 times less money. ‘I’m a giving person,’ they told themselves, ‘so I don’t have to donate this time.’ When Harvard students sign the pledge, they establish credentials as givers, which may grant them a psychological license to give less — or take more.”

108. “If nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that—warm things, kind things, sweet things—help and comfort and laughter—and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.”

109. “Complex problems like pandemics, climate change, and political polarisation call on us to stay mentally flexible."

110. So if givers are most likely to land at the bottom of the success ladder, who's at the top - takers or matchers? Neither. When I took another look at the data, I discovered a surprising pattern: It's the givers again. - Author: Adam M. Grant

111. “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win. ”

112. “Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat. ”

113. “Work hard in silence, let your success be your noise. ”

114. “Having lived with a few women, every now and then they seem to want to challenge the power balance in the relationship. They are the takers after all, not the givers, in the sexual sense. And I feel they resent this. They love the opportunity to get on top, or to stick their finger in your ass. I think this challenge of power, is derived from their discontent of sexual submission.”

115. “Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people. ”

116. “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow. ”

117. “We cherish reprobates, not for their cruelty, but for their little show of patronage.”

118. “Originality brings more bumps in the road, yet it leaves us with more happiness and a greater sense of meaning.”

119. “Dissenting opinions are useful even when they’re wrong. So instead of speaking to highly agreeable audiences, target suggestions to people with a history of originality.”

120. “Givers are comfortable expressing vulnerability; they’re interested in helping others, not gaining power over them, so they’re not afraid of showing chinks in their armor. By making themselves vulnerable, givers can actually build prestige. But there’s a twist: expressing vulnerability is only effective if the audience receives other signals establishing the speaker’s competence. When the average candidate was clumsy in a study, audiences liked him even less. But when the expert was clumsy, audiences liked him more. Psychologists call this the pratfull effect. A blunder can help an expert appear human and approachable — instead of superior and distant.”

121. “A powerful way to give is to help others work on tasks that are more interesting, meaningful, or developmental than their average tasks. One VP individually asked employees about their personal interests and asked them what they’d enjoy doing that might also be of interest to other people. He then sent them out into the company to pursue their mission with three rules: 1) it has to appeal to at least one other person 2) be low or no cost and 3) be initiated by you. Months later, about ⅔ of the employees had made some effort toward making their visions a reality, and roughly half of those employees succeeded in launching them.”

122. “We must give more in order to get more. It is the generous giving of ourselves that produces the generous harvest. . ” — Orison Marden

123. “In a study, participants with unusually high trauma scored high on a questionnaire measuring ‘other-directedness.’ These other-directed people operated like givers. By constantly overriding their selfish impulses in order to help others, they had strengthened their psychological muscles, to the point where using willpower for painful tasks was no longer exhausting. Other studies have shown that givers accrue an advantage in controlling their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Over time, giving may build willpower like weightlifting builds muscles. Of course, we all know that when muscles are overwhelmed, they fatigue and sometimes even tear — this is what happens to selfless givers.”

124. “Takers believe no sustenance.

125. “To do more for the world than the world does for you, that is success. ” — Henry Ford

126. When takers win, there’s usually someone else who loses. Research shows that people tend to envy successful takers and look for ways to knock them down a notch. In contrast, when givers like David Hornik win, people are rooting for them and supporting them, rather than gunning for them. Givers succeed in a way that creates a ripple effect, enhancing the success of people around them.

127. “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” Mother Theresa

128. “’Dissenting for the sake of dissenting is not useful…But when it’s authentic, it stimulates thought; it clarifies and emboldens.’ Genuine dissenters challenge people to doubt themselves.”

129. “Givers don’t wait for signs of potential. Because they tend to be trusting and optimistic about other people’s intentions, in their roles as leaders and mentors, givers are inclined to see the potential in everyone. By default, givers start by viewing people as bloomers. They see potential where others don’t, which sets in motion a series of self-fulfilling prophecies.”

130. “The most effective negotiators are otherish; they report high concern for their own interests and high concern for their counterparts’ interests. By looking for opportunities to benefit others and themselves, otherish givers are able to think in more complex ways and identify win-win solutions that both takers and selfless givers miss. Instead of just giving away value like selfless givers, otherish givers create value first. By the time they give slices of pie away, the entire pie is big enough that there’s plenty left to claim for themselves: they can give more and take more.”

131. While art thrives on the blazing colours of scandal, literature blossoms on the dark soil of tragedy. - Author: E. A. Bucchianeri

132. “Sooner or later people are definitely going to give up if you don't give them back as much as they're giving you.”

133. “My father said there were two kinds of people in the world: givers and takers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better. ” — Marlo Thomas

134. “Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you. ”

135. “No one has ever become poor by giving. ” — Anne Frank

136. “Eve means ‘giver of life. ’ I don’t think this redemptive calling to be a life giver is only biological. The life of Christ in us enables women to be life-givers, rather than life-takers, in every relationship, circumstance, and season of life. ” — Gloria Furman

137. As Samuel Johnson purportedly wrote, “The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.”

138. “I realized that I had slowly let them get comfortable disrespecting me. I had to put up boundaries for emotional self-defense. There comes a time when Givers must protect themselves because Takers have no interest in protecting you. ” — Steve Maraboli

139. “So if givers are most likely to land at the bottom of the success ladder, who’s at the top – takers or matchers? Neither. When I took another look at the data, I discovered a surprising pattern: It’s the givers again. — Adam M. Grant

140. “THE NAKED HEART

141. “If we create networks with the sole intention of getting something, we won’t succeed. We can’t pursue the benefits of networks; the benefits ensue from investments in meaningful activities and relationships.”

142. “If you don’t make the time to work on creating the life you want, you’re eventually going to be forced to spend a lot of time dealing with a life you don’t want. ”

143. “Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change. ” — Bob Kerrey

144. “When 99% of people doubt your idea, you’re either gravely wrong or about to make history. ”

145. “Sure they say we (women) are life givers not takers, but guess what, most women can multi-task and be life givers and fighters. Boxing is not a life-taking sport. Boxing is not a violent sport; it’s an art, a dance, a science. Sometimes the smarter boxer wins and sometimes the stronger boxer wins. Of course aggression is a feminine quality. It’s a quality that exists in human beings whether they are men or women.”

146. “The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do. ”

147. Being a giver is not good for a 100-yard dash, but it’s valuable in a marathon.

148. “My father said there were two kinds of people in the world: givers and takers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better.”

149. “People tend to have one of three ‘styles’ of interaction. There are takers, who are always trying to serve themselves; matchers, who are always trying to get equal benefit for themselves and others; and givers, who are always trying to help people.”

150. “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. ”

151. “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will. ”

152. “In a Reciprocity Ring experiment in my classroom, I announced that each student would make a request to the class and the rest of the class would try to use their knowledge, resources, and connections to help fulfill the request. The request could be anything meaningful in their professional or personal lives, from job leads to travel tips. Assuming other MBA students to be takers, students watched in disbelief as their peers began to use their networks to help one another.”

153. “There are givers and takers in this world. I’m a giver, always have been. I know the givers have to set the limits, because the takers have none”. – Dom.”

154. “In another study, there were no benefits of volunteering more than 100 hours, which seems to be the range where giving is maximally energizing and minimally draining. A hundred hours a year breaks down to just two hours a week. Research shows that if people start volunteering two hours a week, their happiness, satisfaction, and self-esteem go up a year later, the sweet spot where people make a meaningful difference without being overwhelmed or sacrificing other priorities.”

155. “People often take because they don’t realize that they’re deviating from the norm. In these situations, showing them the norm is often enough to motivate them to give.”

156. “Extensive research shows that once people make an investment of time, energy, or resources, when it goes sour, they’re at risk for increasing their investment. When an investment doesn’t pay off, if the expected value is negative, we invest more.”

157. A friend is not the shadow that mimics you, but the one who casts all shadows away. - Author: Shannon L. Alder

158. Above all, I want to demonstrate that success doesn’t have to come at someone else’s expense.

159. “The Simpsons has contributed many words to the English lexicon, the most famous being Homer’s d’oh! response to an event that causes mental or physical anguish, yoink, the familiar phrase that Simpsons characters utter when they snatch an item from another character’s hands, and meh, the expression of pure indifference that debuted in the sixth season.”

160. Most people are weak and frightened, and run from anything which could be upsetting. Most people, also, are takers and not givers. - Author: Laura Schlessinger

161. People tend to have one of three 'styles' of interaction. There are takers, who are always trying to serve themselves; matchers, who are always trying to get equal benefit for themselves and others; and givers, who are always trying to help people. - Author: Adam Grant

162. “Givers need to realise that nobody was born to give without receiving. As givers give, they should also learn how to receive.”

163. “In a heated argument, you can always stop and ask, ‘What evidence would change your mind?’ If the answer is ‘nothing,’ then there’s no point in continuing the debate.”

164. “That was the nature of presents. You kept them in the giver's stead. They were a small part of that person to keep.”

165. “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away. ” — Pablo Picasso

166. “You, who thought you were superfluous, who thought there was no place for you in society, not only are you not superfluous, you are needed, and so those who were beggars become givers. ” — Abbe Pierre

167. ‘You give but little when you give your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give’. Kahlil Gibran

168. “Women are, in my view, natural peacemakers. As givers and nurturers of life, through their focus on human relationships and their engagement with the demanding work of raising children and protecting family life, they develop a deep sense of empathy that cuts through to underlying human realities. ” — Daisaku Ikeda

169. “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”

170. “Selfless giving, in the absence of self-preservation instincts, easily becomes overwhelming. Being other-ish means being willing to give more than you receive, but still keeping your own interests in sight, using them as a guide for choosing when, where, how, and to what you give. Otherish givers help with no strings attached; they’re just careful not to overextend themselves along the way.”

171. “People who are obsessed with God are known as givers, not takers. ” — Francis Chan

172. “Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment. ” — Tony Robbins

173. “When people join a group, they look for cues about appropriate behavior. The visibility of giving can affect reciprocity styles significantly. In many domains of life, people end up taking because they don’t have access to info about what others are doing. A team of psychologists surveyed more than 800 Californians about their energy consumption. They asked the Californians how important the following factors were in shaping their decisions to save energy — it saves money, it protects the environment, it benefits society, a lot of other people are doing it. The Californians consistently reported that the most important factor was protecting the environment and following the lead of other people was last. The team wanted to see if people were right about their own motivations, so they visited nearly 400 homes in San Marcos and randomly assigned them to receive door hangers around each of the four topics. When asked how motivating the door hangers were, the residents whose hangers emphasized joining their neighbors reported the lowest motivation. But when the team looked at the residents’ energy bills, they found that the residents were wrong about what motivated them. The residents whose door hangers emphasized joining their neighbors actually conserved the most energy. Subsequent door hangers that provided feedback on whether residents were consuming less or more than their neighbors motivated electricity takers to significantly reduce their consumption — but the effect grew stronger the closer and more similar the group was to the residents.”

174. The fact that a thirteen-year-old project still resonates and can still have a large exhibit with lots of newspaper, magazine and TV press shows the timelessness of the project. - Author: Peter Menzel

175. “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give. ” — Winston Churchill

176. People who are obsessed with God are known as givers, not takers. Obsessed people genuinely think that others matter as much as they do, and they are particularly aware of those who are poor around the world (James 2:14-26). - Author: Francis Chan

177. “I already know what giving up feels like. I want to see what happens if I don’t. ”

178. “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. ”

179. “It works for careers too: in 1990, Dennis was the 40th most common male name in the U.S., Jerry was the 39th, and Walter was 41st. There were 270 dentists in the U.S. named Jerry, 257 named Walter. How many were named Dennis? 482! If your name was Dennis, you were almost twice as likely to become a dentist.”

180. “There are those who give a penny and demand a bill; and walk with you an inch but claim a mile from you.”

181. New research shows that advice seeking is a surprisingly effective strategy for exercising influence when we lack authority.

182. “Today i will do what others won't so tomorrow i can do what others can’t. ”

183. “100 seems to be a magic number when it comes to giving. In a study of more than 2,000 Australians in their mid-60s, those who volunteered 100–800 hours per year were happier and more satisfied with their lives than those who volunteered fewer than 100 or more than 800 hours annually.”

184. 'She was so positive and really inspired me and showed me how I could Be well' Linda Fenech, Owner Richmond Skin Fitness.

185. “There were two kinds of people in the world: Givers and Takers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better.”

186. “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. ”

187. “In a study of engineers, givers only took a productivity dive when they gave infrequently. Of all engineers, the most productive were those who gave often — and gave more than they received. These were the true givers, and they had the highest productivity and the highest status: they were revered by their peers. By giving often, engineers built up more trust and attracted more valuable help from across their work groups — not just from the people they helped.”

188. “The habits that took years to build, do not take a day to change. ”

189. “Research shows that givers get extra credit when they offer ideas that challenge the status quo. In studies I conducted, when takers presented suggestions for improvement, colleagues were skeptical of their intentions, writing them off as self-serving. But when ideas that might be threatening were proposed by givers, their colleagues listened and rewarded them for speaking up, knowing they were motivated by a genuine desire to contribute.”

190. Otherish givers may appear less altruistic than selfless givers, but their resilience against burnout enables them to contribute more.

191. “Givers need set limits because takers rarely do.”

192. “We tend to stereotype agreeable people as givers, and disagreeable people as takers. When a new contact appears affable, it’s natural to conclude that he has good intentions. If he comes across as cold, this seems like a sign that he doesn’t care what’s in our best interests. But in making these judgments, we’re paying too much attention to the shell of a person’s demeanor, overlooking the pearl inside the shell. Giving and taking are based on our motives and values, and they’re choices that we make regardless of whether our personalities are agreeable or disagreeable. Whether you’re nice or not is separate from whether you’re self-focused or other-focused. When you combine outer appearances and inner intentions, agreeable givers and disagreeable takers are only two of the four combinations that exist in the world. We often overlook that there are people who are rough in demeanor, but ultimately generous with their time, expertise, and connections.”

193. Most of the jobs you get are more or less through word of mouth, or a recommendation. It’s really important to have a good reputation.

194. “Whenever you feel short or need of something, give what you want first, and it will come back in buckets. That is true for money, a smile, love or friendship. I know it is often the last thing a person may do, but it has always worked for me. I trust that the principle of prosperity is true, and I give what I want. I want money, so I give money, and it comes back in multiples. I want sales, so I help someone else sell something, so sales come to me. I want contacts, and I help someone else get contacts. Like magic, contacts come to me. I heard a saying years ago that went: god does not need to receive, but humans need to give. My rich dad would often say: poor people are more greedy than rich people. He would explain that if a person is rich, that person is providing something that other people wanted...whenever I think people aren't smiling at me, I simply began smiling and saying hello. Like magic, the next thing I know: I'm surrounded by smiling people. It is true that you world is only a mirror of you. So that's why I say, teach and you shall receive.”

195. “In a study, 82% of participants who were told they shared a rare trait with another participant were willing to help them vs. only 55% when they were told they shared a common trait. It was an uncommon commonality that drove people to act like givers. We gravitate toward people, places, and products with which we share an uncommon commonality. To explain why, researcher Marilynn Brewer developed an influential theory. On the one hand, we want to fit in: we strive for connection, community, belonging, and affiliation with others. On the other hand, we want to stand out: we search for uniqueness and individuality. As we navigate the social world, these two motives are often in conflict. The more strongly we associate with a group, the greater our risk of losing our uniqueness. The more we work to distinguish ourselves from others, the greater our risk of losing our sense of belongingness. How do we resolve this conflict? The solution is to be the same and different at the same time. A popular way to achieve this is to join a unique group. Being part of a group with shared interests, identities, values, skills, or experiences gives us a sense of connection and belonging. At the same time, being part of a group that is clearly distinct from other groups gives us a sense of uniqueness. The more unique a group, value, interest, skill, or experience is, the more likely it is to facilitate a bond. These are the groups in which we take the most pride, and feel the most cohesive and valued.”

196. “I don’t count my sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting. When I feel pain, that’s when I start counting, because that’s when it really counts. ”

197. “If you want someone to become your advocate, ask them ‘If you were in my shoes, what would you do?’ Advice seeking is a surprisingly effective strategy for exercising influence when we lack authority. In one experiment, a researcher had people negotiate the sale of a property. When the sellers focused on their goal of getting the highest possible price, only 8% reached a successful agreement. When the seller asked the buyer for advice on how to meet their goals, 42% reached one. Asking for advice encouraged greater cooperation and information sharing, turning a potentially contentious negotiation into a win-win deal.”

198. “Seek a man that doesn't ask you to prove your love. Seek a man that will prove God's love.”

199. “I’ve had to develop a new skill of how to identify takers from givers.”

200. “Conviction in our ideas is dangerous not only because it leaves us vulnerable to false positives, but also because it stops us from generating the requisite variety to reach our creative potential.”

201. “If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse. ”

202. “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway. ”

203. “If you were born with the ability to change someone’s perspective or emotions, never waste that gift. It is one of the most powerful gifts God can give—the ability to influence.”

204. “Sooner or later, people are definitely going to give up if you don’t give them back as much as they’re giving you. ” — Banana Yoshimoto

205. “The great thing about a culture of givers is that’s not a delusion; it’s reality. ” — Adam Grant

206. “I realized that I had slowly let them get comfortable disrespecting me. I had to put up boundaries for emotional self-defense. There comes a time when Givers must protect themselves because Takers have no interest in protecting you.”

207. Many women would like to dream with men without sleeping with them. Someone should point out to them that this is utterly impossible. - Author: Karl Kraus

208. “Life will give to the givers and take from the takers. ” — Steven Aitchison

209. “Givers characterize success as individual achievements that have a positive impact on others. They see success in terms of making significant, lasting contributions to a broad range of people. Taking this definition of success seriously might require dramatic changes in that organizations hire, evaluate, reward, and promote people. It would mean paying attention not only to the productivity of individual people but also to the ripple effect of this productivity on others. If we broadened our image of success to include contributions to others, people might be motivated to tilt their professional reciprocity styles toward giving.”

210. “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. ”

211. Non-churchgoer s tend to see Christians as takers rather than givers. When Christians sacrifice and give wildly to the poor, that is truly a light that glimmers. The Bible teaches that the church is to be that light, that sign of hope, in an increasingly dark and hopeless world. - Author: Francis Chan

212. “In 1993, Craig Newmark moved to SF for a job. As a single guy new to the Bay Area, he was looking for ways to spice up his social life. In early 1995, he start emailing friends to share info about local art and tech events. Word of mouth spread, and people began to expand the postings beyond events to feature job openings, apartments, and miscellaneous items for sale. By June, the email list had gown to 240 people. It was too large for direct email, so Craig moved it to a listserv. In 1996, a website was born, and it was called Craigslist. By the end of 2011, there were Craigslist sites in more than 700 locations around the world and it’s one of the top ten most popular sites in the U.S. and top 40 in the world.”

213. Eve means "giver of life. I don't think this redemptive calling to be a life giver is only biological. The life of Christ in us enables women to be life givers, rather than life-takers, in every relationship, circumstance, and season of life. - Author: Gloria Furman

214. “From a relationship perspective, givers build deeper and broader connections. ” — Adam Grant

215. “The real warriors in this world are the ones that see the details of another's soul. They see the transparency behind walls people put up. They stand on the battlefield of life and expose their heart's transparency, so other's can finish the day with hope. They are the sensitive souls that understand that before they could be a light they first had to feel the burn.”

216. “Stop letting people who do so little for you control so much of your mind, feelings and emotions. ”

217. “If we want to forecast whether the originators of a novel idea will be successful, we need to look beyond the enthusiasm they express about their ideas and focus on the enthusiasm for execution that they reveal through their actions.”

218. “Your antidote to burnout is not necessarily less work. It could be more meaning.”

219. “A friend is not the shadow that mimics you, but the one who casts all shadows away.”

220. “A year from now you may wish you had started today. ”

221. “I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become. ”

222. “Advice seeking has four benefits: learning (gaining new info), perspective taking (encouraging others to take our perspectives), commitment (since the person has invested time in you now), and flattery (showing them we respect and admire their insights).”

223. Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

224. “You don’t always see people who are at a very high level who are givers and not takers. ” — Jesse Marsch

225. “I think of productivity as using your time to accomplish things of value to you and others.”

226. “Contributors and distributors tend to do better at personal branding than takers and fakers.”

227. “In a study, happiness increased when people performed five giving acts all in a single day, rather than doing them one per day. Researchers speculate that ‘spreading them over the course of a week might have diminished their salience and power or made them less distinguishable from participants’ habitual kind behavior. By chunking your giving into weekly blocks, you can experience your impact more vividly, leading efforts to feel like more than a drop in a bucket.”

228. ‘A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal’. Steve Maraboli

229. “Life has taught me one great lesson with time. We increase by giving away and decrease by taking away. Takers never prosper!” — Dr. Lucas D. Shallua

230. Research shows that takers harbor doubts about others’ intentions, so they monitor vigilantly for information that others might harm them, treating others with suspicion and distrust. These low expectations trigger a vicious cycle, constraining the development and motivation of others. Even when takers are impressed by another person’s capabilities or motivation, they’re more likely to see this person as a threat, which means they’re less willing to support and develop him or her.

231. “Life has taught me one great lesson with time. We increase by giving away and decrease by taking away. Takers never prosper!”

232. “An entire sea of water can’t sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly, the negativity of the world can’t put you down unless you allow it to get inside you. ”

233. “Job crafting involves innovating around a job description, creatively adding and customizing tasks and responsibilities to match personal interests and values. A Google study found that this made employees both happier and more productive. You can start by creating a ‘before sketch’ of how you currently allocate your time and energy, and then develop a visual ‘after diagram’ of how you’d like to modify your job. Job crafting booklets can be ordered at www.jobcrafting.org.)”

234. “I’m too busy working on my own grass to notice if yours is greener. ”

235. “Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry: Worry never fixes anything. ”

236. “We are givers, not takers. ” — Harry Redknapp

237. “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. ”

238. “Rifkin’s giving is governed by a simple rule: ‘You should be willing to do something that will take you five minutes or less for anybody.”

239. “This is what I find most magnetic about successful givers: they get to the top without cutting others down, finding ways of expanding the pie that benefit themselves and the people around them. Whereas success is zero-sum in a group of takers, in groups of givers, it may be true that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”

240. “An inspiring community of givers is ServiceSpace, a platform for people to increase their giver quotients through gift economy projects, inspirational content, and nonprofit support. ‘The more you give, the more you want to do it — as do others around you. It’s like going to the gym,’ the founder says, ‘If you’ve been working out your kindness muscles, you get stronger at it.”

241. “Talented people are attracted to those who care about them.”

242. “There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called Yesterday and the other is called Tomorrow. Today is the right day to Love, Believe, Do and mostly Live. ”

243. “In a Canadian study, for the first few hours of volunteering a week, volunteers gained knowledge and skills at a consistent rate. By five hours a week, volunteering had diminishing returns: people were learning less and less with each additional hour.”

244. “The world has takers and givers; the moment you decide to be a taker, you will always be in want, scarcity, and on a downward spiral. Givers are always watered and never wither even in the dry season. ” ― Dr. Lucas D. Shallua

245. Sometimes people come to my shows and think I'm a Christian artist, and they put their hands up in the air, like they do. But first of all, I'm a Jewish girl from the Valley, and I'm from Los Angeles. It's funny to be misinterpreted. - Author: Jenny Lewis

246. “When we need new info, we may run out of weak ties quickly, but we have a large pool of dormant ties that prove to be helpful. And the older we get, the more dormant ties we have, and the more valuable they become.”

247. “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

248. “The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion. ”

249. “We don’t know how time and circumstances will change what we want and even who we want to be, and locking our life GPS onto a single target can give us the right directions to the wrong destination.”

250. The greatest masters are the greatest apprentices as well; they are not only greatest givers but also greatest takers. - Author: Mehmet Murat Ildan

251. “Because we associate our names so strongly with our identities, we might be attracted to major decisions that remind us of our names. In an effort to demonstrate this, researchers conducted a mind-boggling set of studies and found that people are unusually likely to end up living in places that resemble their first names. People named Jack are four times more likely than people named Phillip to live in Jacksonville. And it’s not that they’re named after these places, people are more likely to move to places that resemble their own names (Georgia is twice as likely to move to Georgia as chance would predict).”

252. “It takes generosity to discover the whole through others. ” — Jacques Cousteau

253. “I hated every minute of training, but I said, “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion. ””

254. “When someone tells me “no,” it doesn’t mean I can’t do it, it simply means I can’t do it with them. ”

255. “Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do. ”

256. “Asking questions is a form of powerless communication that givers adopt naturally. Questions work especially well when the audience is already skeptical of your influence, such as when you lack credibility or status, or when you’re in a highly competitive negotiation situation. In a study, expert negotiators spent much more time trying to understand the other side’s perspective; questions made up over 21% of the experts’ comments but less than 10% of the average negotiators’ comments.”

257. “Rather than looking outward in an attempt to predict the outcome, you turn inward to your identity. You base the decision on who you are – or who you want to be.”

258. “When you approach relationships by thinking about giving rather than getting, and about adding value before seeking value, you’ll be amazed at the return you see on your investment. ” — Mark Goulston

259. “The givers of most of the corruption in Africa are from outside Africa. ” — Olusegun Obasanjo

260. “Reconnect with dormant ties. Once a month, reach out to one person with whom you haven’t spoken in years. Find out what they’re working on and ask if there are ways you can be helpful.”

261. “Givers need to set limits because takers rarely do. ” — Irma Kurtz

262. Takers need to learn to give - Although takers are often successful in the short-term, they tend to have problems down the line when their relationships are no longer beneficial to them. Takers need to learn to give so that they can create more sustainable relationships and foster connections which will benefit them in the long-term

263. Talented people are attracted to those who care about them.

264. “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. ”

265. “People underestimate the givers in their midst. Why? When we try to predict others’ reactions, we focus on the costs of saying yes, overlooking the costs of saying no. It’s uncomfortable, guilt-provoking, and embarrassing to turn down a small request for help. Plus, workplaces and schools are often designed to be zero-sum environments with forced rankings and required grading curves that pit group members against one another in win-lose contests. In these settings, it’s only natural to assume that peers will lean in the taker direction, so people hold back on giving. This reduces the actual amount of giving that occurs, leading people to underestimate the number of people who are interested in giving.”

266. “Non-churchgoers tend to see Christians as takers rather than givers. When Christians sacrifice and give wildly to the poor, that is truly a light that glimmers. ” — Francis Chan

267. “We live in a rapidly changing world, where we need to spend as much time rethinking as we do thinking."

268. “Every time we interact with another person at work, we have a choice to make: do we try to claim as much value as we can, or contribute value without worrying about what we receive in return?”

269. This is what I find most magnetic about successful givers: they get to the top without cutting others down, finding ways of expanding the pie that benefit themselves and the people around them. Whereas success is zero-sum in a group of takers, in groups of givers, it may be true that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

270. Takers tend to worry that revealing weaknesses will compromise their dominance and authority. Givers are much more comfortable expressing vulnerability: they’re interested in helping others, not gaining power over them, so they’re not afraid of exposing chinks in their armor. By making themselves vulnerable, givers can actually build prestige. But there’s a twist: expressing vulnerability is only effective if the audience receives other signals establishing the speaker’s competence.

271. “The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It’s more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly lighthearted, yet everyone takes the happy person for granted. No one is careful of his feelings or tries to keep his spirits high. He seems self-sufficient; he becomes a cushion for others. And because happiness seems unforced, that person usually gets no credit.” Gretchen Rubin, the Happiness Project

272. My father (Danny Thomas) used to tell me there are two kinds of people, the takers and the givers. The takers sometimes eat better,' he would say, 'but the givers always sleep better. - Author: Marlo Thomas

273. “Whatever you think the world is withholding from you, you are withholding from the world. ” — Eckhart Tolle

274. We all did what we undertake to do, as faithfully as Herbert did, we might live in a Republic of the Virtues. - Author: Charles Dickens

275. “As my dad said, you have an obligation to leave the world better than how you found it. And he also reminded us to be givers in this life and not takers. ” — Phil Crane

276. “Embrace the five-minute favor! Adam Rifkin’s favorite offers are to give honest feedback and to make an intro.”

277. “Half a century ago, psychologists paid people for succeeding on a geometry task. In the control group, the participants kept the money. But when another group started to leave, the researcher said, ‘I was wondering if you could do me a favor. The funds for this experiment have run out and I’m using my own money to finish. As a favor to me, would you mind returning the money you won?’ Nearly all gave the money back. When questioned about how much they liked the researcher, the people who had done him the favor liked him substantially more than the people who didn’t. Why? When we give our time, energy, knowledge, or resources to help others, we strive to maintain a belief that they’re worthy and deserving of our help.”

278. “When people have to work closely together, powerless speech (hesitations like “well” “um” yeah” “kinda” “probably” “I think,” disclaimers like “This may be a bad idea, but,” Tag questions, “That’s interesting, isn’t it?” “That’s a good idea, right?” and Intensifiers, “really” “very” “quite”) is actually more influential than powerful speech. Powerless speech signals that you’re a giver. By talking tentatively, you show a willingness to deter to the other person, or at least take their opinion into consideration, and earn greater respect and influence.”

279. “In a study, when firefighters experienced signs of burnout, they were more likely to go out of their way to help colleagues with heavy workloads, share new knowledge with supervisors, give advice to newer colleagues, and even listen to colleagues’ problems. Why would burnout increase their giving? UCLA psychologist Shelley Taylor has discovered a stress response that differs from fight or flight. She calls it tend and befriend. ‘One of the most striking aspects of the human stress response is the tendency to come together in groups to provide and receive joint protection in the threatening times.’”

280. As my dad said, you have an obligation to leave the world better than how you found it. And he also reminded us to be givers in this life, and not takers. - Author: Phil Crane

281. “In most cases, givers do not mind giving to people who would not help them. Takers know that very well and use such circumstances to obtain gifts from the givers with nothing to offer in return.”

282. “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful. ”

283. “When government regulators rarely regulate, you end up with many risk takers.”

284. Although many successful givers start from the default of trusting others’ intentions, they’re also careful to scan their environments to screen for potential takers, always ready to shift from feeling a taker’s emotions to analyzing a taker’s thoughts, and flex from giving unconditionally to a more measured approach of generous tit for tat. And when they feel inclined to back down, successful givers are prepared to draw reserves of assertiveness from their commitments to the people who matter to them.

285. “In a study, University of Minnesota researchers found that highly talented people tend to make others jealous, placing themselves at risk of being disliked, resented, ostracized, and undermined. But if these talented people are also givers, they no longer have a target on their backs. Instead, givers are appreciated for their contributions to the group. By taking on tasks your colleagues don’t want, you can dazzle them with your wit and humor without eliciting envy.”

286. “Givers are their own abusers sometimes, because they give their power to abusers and selfish people without even realising it. Their focus is usually on giving, helping others, and creating a peaceful environment. Thus, in a world where there are heartless takers or abusers, givers need to be self-aware so they will not be taken advantage of”