It shows nobility to be willing to increase your debt to a man to whom you already owe much.

Leadership to me means duty, honor, country. It means character, and it means listening from time to time.

There are slavish souls who carry their appreciation for favors done them so far that they strangle themselves with the rope of gratitude.

Mine is only one of the millions of hearts broken over the death of Whitney Houston, I will always be grateful and in awe of the wonderful performance she did on my song, and I can truly say from the bottom of my heart, ‚Whitney, I will always love you. You will be missed.‘

Even with all of the things that are so awful, if you walk into your yard and stay there looking at almost anything for five minutes, you will be stunned by how marvelous life is and how incredibly lucky we are to have it.

A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.

The fame isn’t important to me. It’s a blessing to have. Having so many people that support me, that love me and listen to my music, is beautiful.

Giving back involves a certain amount of giving up.

I may not be where I want to be, but thank God I am not where I used to be.

You cannot spend money in luxury without doing good to the poor. Nay, you do more good to them by spending it in luxury, than by giving it; for by spending it in luxury, you make them exert industry, whereas by giving it, you keep them idle.

Generous people can become more generous as they become richer, giving away vast fortunes to worthwhile causes as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are doing.

It is not necessary that whilst I live I live happily; but it is necessary that so long as I live I should live honourably.

To give alms is nothing unless you give thought also.

If I inspire you, pay for it, period.

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.

The world is indebted for all triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.

The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own.

Our real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; but let us have patience and we soon shall see them in their proper figures.

Here ends my forever memorable first High Sierra excursion. I have crossed the Range of Light, surely the brightest and best of all the Lord has built. And, rejoicing in its glory, I gladly, gratefully, hopefully pray I may see it again.

I believe you have to be willing to be misunderstood if you’re going to innovate.

People who identify themselves as conservatives donate money to charity more often than people who identify themselves as liberals. They donate more money and a higher percentage of their incomes.

How happy had it been for me had I been slain in the battle. It had been far more noble to have died the victim of the enemy than fall a sacrifice to the rage of my friends.

At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.

I don’t have much positive to say about motor neuron disease, but it taught me not to pity myself because others were worse off, and to get on with what I still could do. I’m happier now than before I developed the condition.

I give thanks to God and to all the people in the U.K. who have supported me over the years.

‚O sleep, O gentle sleep,‘ I thought gratefully, ‚Nature’s soft nurse!‘

Every day is a gift from God, no matter how old we are.

To me there has never been a higher source of earthly honor or distinction than that connected with advances in science.

There are people in the world who aren’t necessarily Christians, but they’re just naturally nice people who do a lot for other people. Those people will almost always be prosperous people.

If we chew every morsel of our food, in that way we become grateful, and when you are grateful, you are happy.

No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions; he had money as well.

I’m just glad to be feeling better. I really thought I’d be seeing Elvis soon.

Remember happiness doesn’t depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely on what you think.

Each day provides its own gifts.

I bet taxpayers remember providing more than $812 billion to Citigroup and Bank of America, two Wall Street banks, in 2009 to bail them out during the 2008 financial crisis. Taxpayers remember that generosity; big banks evidently don’t.

Mindfulness helps you go home to the present. And every time you go there and recognize a condition of happiness that you have, happiness comes.

Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.

The greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance.

My father wasn’t around when I was a kid, and I used to always say, ‚Why me? Why don’t I have a father? Why isn’t he around? Why did he leave my mother?‘ But as I got older I looked deeper and thought, ‚I don’t know what my father was going through, but if he was around all the time, would I be who I am today?‘

The most satisfying thing in life is to have been able to give a large part of one’s self to others.

I stayed focused, and I never surrendered, and now I’ve been blessed. now I take care of my mother, my father, and my entire whole family.

I did not, thank the Lord, have to have a hysterectomy.

Choosing to be positive and having a grateful attitude is going to determine how you’re going to live your life.

What humility does for one is it reminds us that there are people before me. I have already been paid for. And what I need to do is prepare myself so that I can pay for someone else who has yet to come but who may be here and needs me.

The most amazing philanthropists are people who are actually making a significant sacrifice.

The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.

The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.

To those whose God is honor; only disgrace is a sin.

I like gifts. I like to give them and I like to get them.

American taxpayers have been generous to Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

When you focus on how wonderful God is and all the great things He’s done… is doing… and even will do in your life, your natural response will be praise, adoration and awe. Don’t let yourself ever get used to it… stay amazed!

Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.

The great thing about the United States and the historically magnetic effect it has had on a lot of people like me is its generosity, to put it simply.

I was a chemistry major, but I’m always winding up as a teacher in English departments, so I’ve brought scientific thinking to literature. There’s been very little gratitude for this.

I can see, and that is why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden. I can see a God-made world, not a manmade world.

I hope that tomorrow we can all, wherever we are, join in expressing our grief at Diana’s loss, and gratitude for her all-too-short life. It is a chance to show to the whole world the British nation united in grief and respect.

There is as much greatness of mind in acknowledging a good turn, as in doing it.

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.

Dear friends, we may well sing to our Beloved when it is near the time of our departure. It draws near, and as it approaches, we must not dread it, but rather thank God for it.

Enlightenment is always there. Small enlightenment will bring great enlightenment. If you breathe in and are aware that you are alive – that you can touch the miracle of being alive – then that is a kind of enlightenment.