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)
(Source)
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 naughty world.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Merchant of Venice, Act 5, sc. 1, l. 99ff (5.1.99-100) (1597)
(Source)
In some versions, "So shines a good deed in a weary world."
Sometimes misattributed to Roald Dahl; Willy Wonka uses the line toward the end of the movie 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.
The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
James 4:17 [NRSV (2021 ed.)]
(Source)
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.)
(Source)
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)]
