“No artist's masterpiece can match a mother's creation of a successful child, one who has been freed to explore and to grow. … Success is measured not only by who we are, but by what gifts we give. As the old chief said, "The gift is not complete until it is given again."”
Ah, the mother whose gift to the world is a person!
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 17 : Success Redefined, p. 194
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Gerry Spence 46
American lawyer 1929Related quotes
“The gift of self cannot be given to us. It is an incomparable gift that has already been given.”
Source: Give Me Liberty! (1998), Ch. 9 : Empowering the Self, p. 118
Context: The gift of self cannot be given to us. It is an incomparable gift that has already been given. We have possessed it from the beginning.

“The pride of any mother is to give birth to a responsible and successful child.”
Quoted in: Kabir, Hajara Muhammad (2010). Northern women development. [Nigeria]. ISBN 978-978-906-469-4. OCLC 890820657
Works, Pride and Prejudice

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 145.

"The Gift of the Magi"
The Four Million (1906)
Context: The magi, as you know, were wise men — wonderfully wise men — who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.

From The Life and Works of Sigmund Freud by Ernest Jones, Vol. I, ch. 1 (1953) p. 5
Eine Kindheitserinnerung aus »Dichtung und Wahrheit«, first published in the journal Imago, vol. 5 issue 2 (1917), p. 57 books. google http://books.google.com/books?id=05FXAAAAMAAJ&q=Eroberergef%C3%BChl = http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29946/29946-h/29946-h.htm
1910s

Source: Song lyrics, The Red Shoes (1993)