Iz it charity tew giv tew a thankless cuss in need? certainly; jest az mutch az it would be to save a drouning cow.
[Is it charity to give to a thankless cuss in need? Certainly; just as much as it would be to save a drowning cow.]
Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 132 “Affurisms: Chips” (1874)
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Quotations about:
good deed
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
PORTIA: How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a weary world.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Merchant of Venice, Act 5, sc. 1, l. 99ff (5.1.99-100) (1597)
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In some versions, "So shines a good deed in a naughty world."
Sometimes misattributed to Roald Dahl (or even Gene Wilder); the character Willy Wonka uses the second sentence toward the end of the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971).
A man should fear when he enjoys only what good he does publicly. Is it not the publicity, rather than the charity, that he loves?
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American clergyman and orator
In Henry Ward Beecher and Edna Dean Proctor, Life Thoughts: Gathered From the Extemporaneous Discourses of Henry Ward Beecher (1858)
See Matthew.
Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.
[εἰδότι οὖν καλὸν ποιεῖν καὶ μὴ ποιοῦντι ἁμαρτία αὐτῷ ἐστιν.]
The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
James 4:17 [NRSV (2021 ed.)]
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(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
[KJV (1611)]Everyone who knows what is the right thing to do and doesn't do it commits a sin.
[JB (1966)]So then, if we do not do the good we know we should do, we are guilty of sin.
[GNT (1976)]Everyone who knows what is the right thing to do and does not do it commits a sin.
[NJB (1985)]It is a sin when someone knows the right thing to do and doesn’t do it.
[CEB (2011)]If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them.
[NIV (2011 ed.)]
The noblest question in the world is, What Good may I do in it?
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1737 ed.)
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No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
Aesop (620?-560? BC) Legendary Greek storyteller
Fables [Aesopica], “The Lion and the Mouse” (6th C BC)
Alternate translation: "Kindness is seldom thrown away" [tr. James (1848)]
