On Giving

You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

There are those who give and know not pain in giving,
nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;
They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.

Through the hands of such as these God speaks,
and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth.

- from Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet