“The hand that gives is above the hand that takes.”

— Napoleon I of France

Italian saying, quoted by Bonaparte during the first Italian campaign to highlight the financial dependence of the Directoire on the plunder from the Army of Italy, according to Lucian S. Regenbogen, Napoléon a dit : aphorismes, citations et opinions, p. 82.
Attributed
Original: La main qui donne est au-dessus de celle qui reçoit.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 1, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The hand that gives is above the hand that takes." by Napoleon I of France?

Napoleon I of France 259

French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French 1769–1821

Related quotes

“The hand that gives is above the hand that takes. (La main qui donne est au-dessus de celle qui reçoit.)”

Napoleon I of France (1769–1821) French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French

“5241. To take from the right Hand, and give to the Left.”

Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual

Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)

“Take my hand when you are worried
Take my hand when you're alone
Take my hand and let me guide you
Take my hand to lead you home.”

Ben Harper (1969) singer-songwriter and musician

Take My Hand.
Song lyrics, There Will Be a Light (2004)

“Stretch forth your open hands, and while ye live
Take all] the [[gifts that Death and Life may give!”

William Morris (1834–1896) author, designer, and craftsman

"March".
The Earthly Paradise (1868-70)
Context: Rejoice, lest pleasureless ye die.
Within a little time must ye go by.
Stretch forth your open hands, and while ye live
Take all] the [[gifts that Death and Life may give!

“Give lilies with full hands.”
Manibus date lilia plenis.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Line 883

“This merely is permitted me: that I may touch the hand of Etarre in the moment I lay that hand in the hand of her last lover. I give, who may not ever take… So do I purchase an eternally unfed desire against which time — as yet — remains powerless.”

James Branch Cabell (1879–1958) American author

Horvendile, in Ch. 13 : What a Boy Thought
The Way of Ecben (1929)
Context: My immortality has sharp restrictions. For it is at a price that I pass down the years, as yet, in eternal union with the witch-woman whose magic stays — as yet — more strong than the magic of time. The price is that I only of her lovers many not ever hope to win Ettare. This merely is permitted me: that I may touch the hand of Etarre in the moment I lay that hand in the hand of her last lover. I give, who may not ever take... So do I purchase an eternally unfed desire against which time — as yet — remains powerless.