Quotes about gift
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“The future is not a gift. It is an achievement.”

Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968) American politician and brother of John F. Kennedy

Future

“Well, I get under people's skins. It's a gift I have, what can I say?”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

People

“The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin.”

Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) Colombian writer

Source: Memoria de mis putas tristes

Love, Night

“Empathy, he once had decided, must be limited to herbivores or anyhow omnivores who could depart from a meat diet. Because, ultimately, the empathic gift blurred the boundaries between hunter and victim, between the successful and the defeated.”

Philip K. Dick book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Source: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Success

“Do not try to explain feelings. Live everything intensely and treasure what you feel as a gift from God.”

Paulo Coelho book Brida

Source: Brida

God, Feeling

“Maybe the lesson is: Know when to brag and when to keep your mouth shut. Or: Sometimes life isn’t fair, even if you are as gifted as Athena. Or maybe: Don’t give away free tapestries.”

Rick Riordan (1964) American writer

Source: Percy Jackson's Greek Gods

Life

“Nino has something that's eating him inside, like Lila, and it's a gift and a suffering; they aren't content, they never give in, they fear what is happening around them.”

Elena Ferrante book My Brilliant Friend

Source: My Brilliant Friend

Fear, Suffering

“In the shadow of my hurt, forgiveness feel like a decision to reward my enemy. But in the shadow of the cross, forgiveness is merely a gift from one undeserving soul to another.”

Andy Stanley (1958) American Christian minister

Source: It Came from Within!: The Shocking Truth of What Lurks in the Heart

Feeling, Soul, Forgiveness, Decision

“Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It's a gift to the world and every being in it. Don't cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you've got.”

Steven Pressfield (1943) United States Marine

World, Parting, Cheating, Selfishness

“Erik: Are you very tired?
Christine: Oh, tonight I gave you my soul, and I am dead.
Erik: Your soul is a beautiful thing, child. No emperor received so fair a gift. The angels wept to-night.”

Gaston Leroux book The Phantom of the Opera

Source: The Phantom of the Opera

Beauty, Angels, Soul, Night

“Talent is a universal gift, but it takes a lot of courage to use it. Don't be afraid to be the best.”

Paulo Coelho book The Winner Stands Alone

Source: The Winner Stands Alone

Courage, Universe

“I'm not lazy. I'm just really gifted, only instead of being good at music or math I'm good at sleeping late.”

Elizabeth Jane Howard (1923–2014) writer

Source: Mr Wrong

Music, Sleep

“I wouldn't cut you out of my life Clary, any more than I would cut off my right hand and give it to someone as a Valentine's Day gift."
Gross," said Clary. "Must you?"
Simon grinned. "I must.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

Life

“One of the greatest gifts you can give is
your undivided attention.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

“Anything that has real and lasting value is always a gift from within.”

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) author

“Our world was created with a sense of order. For every loss, there is a gain. Sometimes we are so blinded by the loss that we don't see the gain, don't recognize the gift.”

Debbie Macomber (1948) American writer

World, Sense, Loss

“She has the gift of accepting her life.”

Jhumpa Lahiri book The Namesake

Source: The Namesake

Life

“It's his mother's birthday? But he didn't tell me. I don't have a card. I don't have a gift. How could he do this to me?

Men are crap.”

Sophie Kinsella book I've Got Your Number

Source: I've Got Your Number

Men, Birthday

“Forgiving's a choice you make—a gift you give to somebody even if they don't deserve it. It costs nothing, but it makes you feel rich for giving it away.”

Lurlene McDaniel (1944) American writer

Source: When Happily Ever After Ends

Feeling, Forgiveness

“Imagination is a gift given to us from God and each one of us use it differently.”

Brian Jacques (1939–2011) British fiction writer known for Redwall animal fantasy novels

God, Imagination

“I'm tempting you with fine gifts until your girlish ideals are quite worn away and you are at my mercy.”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

“… a Dorito asks nothing of you, which is its great gift. It only asks that you are not there.”

Aimee Bender (1969) Novelist, short story writer

Source: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

“To be known so well by someone is an unimaginable gift. But to be imagined so well by someone is even better.”

Ali Smith (1962) Scottish writer

Source: Artful

Imagination

“She will remain sane and she will live as she was meant to live, richly and deeply, among others of her kind, in full possession and command of her gifts.”

Michael Cunningham book The Hours

Source: The Hours

“Loneliness, when accepted, becomes a gift that will lead us to find a purpose in life.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Life, Loneliness

“If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse gift will find a fitting place.”

Margaret Mead (1901–1978) American anthropologist

Source: 1930s, Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935), p. 322
Context: Historically our own culture has relied for the creation of rich and contrasting values upon many artificial distinctions, the most striking of which is sex. It will not be by the mere abolition of these distinctions that society will develop patterns in which individual gifts are given place instead of being forced into an ill-fitting mould. If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.

“Life is a gift and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.”

Anthony Robbins (1960) Author, actor, professional speaker

Relationship, Life

“Life is a gift…
Life is a test…
Life is temporary assignment….”

Rick Warren (1954) Christian religious leader

Source: The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?

Life

“When it's gone, you'll know what a gift love was. You'll suffer like this. So go back and fight to keep it.”

Ian McEwan book Enduring Love

Source: Enduring Love

Love, Suffering, Fight

“Rings and jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself. Thou must bleed for me.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Source: Gifts: an essay

“Survival lies in sanity, and sanity lies in paying attention… the capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.”

Julia Cameron book The Artist's Way

Source: The Artist's Way

“A true friend is a gift from God. Since God doesn't exist, guess what? Neither do true friends.”

Scott Dikkers (1965) American comic writer

Source: You Are Worthless: Depressing Nuggets of Wisdom Sure to Ruin Your Day

God

“Life’s greatest gift is the freedom it leaves you to step out of it whenever you choose.”

André Breton book Anthology of Black Humor

Source: Anthology of Black Humor

Life, Freedom

“Forgiveness is God's greatest gift”

Dan Brown book The Da Vinci Code

Source: The Da Vinci Code

God, Forgiveness

“We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi

Source: Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community

Forgetting

“Beauty is an enormous, unmerited gift given randomly, stupidly.”

Khaled Hosseini book And the Mountains Echoed

Source: And the Mountains Echoed (2013)

Beauty

“Never depend on those luck moments – they are gifts – but instead always build your own back-up plan.”

Bear Grylls (1974) Chief Scout, adventurer, author

Source: Mud, Sweat and Tears

Dependency

“It was not perhaps the warmest friendship in the world, they would not send each other Christmas gift greetings, but they would not murder each other.”

Mario Puzo The Godfather

Source: The Godfather

Friendship, World, Christmas

“The best gifts come from the heart, not the store.”

Sarah Dessen Lock and Key

Source: Lock and Key

Heart

“Besides, it's the first gift that's always the hardest to pay back. I wouldn't even have been here to do it if you hadn't helped me then.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

Help

“Sorrow fully accepted brings its own gifts. For there is alchemy in sorrow. It can be transmitted into wisdom, which, if it does not bring joy, can yet bring happiness.”

Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American writer

Source: The Child Who Never Grew

Wisdom, Joy, Happiness

“Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

“Books! I dunno if I ever told you this, but books are the greatest gift one person can give another.”

Bono (1960) Irish rock musician, singer of U2

Books, Personality

“With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

Feeling

“She had been given a wonderful gift: life. Sometimes it was cruelly taken away too soon, but it's what you did with it that counted, not how long it lasted.”

Cecelia Ahern (1981) Irish novelist

Source: P.S. I Love You

Life

“You seek problems because you need their gifts.”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Source: Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

Happy, Problem

“There is no more expensive thing than a free gift.”

Michel De Montaigne (1533–1592) (1533-1592) French-Occitan author, humanistic philosopher, statesman

“The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

love, Heart Touching, For Her, Love

“She did not know if her gift came from the lord of light or of darkness, and now, finally finding that she didn't care which, she wad overcome with almost indescribable relief, as if a huge weight, long carried, had slipped from her shoulders.”

Stephen King book Carrie

Source: Carrie

Light

“You try spending six months sitting at somebody's bedside, waiting for them to die and then tell me that the happy-ending love story isn't one of God's good gifts.”

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1948) American writer

Source: Ain't She Sweet

Love, God, Waiting, Happiness

“I have a gift for inventing fantasies with extraordinary speed.”

Paulo Coelho book Adultery

Source: Adultery

Speed

“Do not be satisfied with God's calling or His gifts in your life. Be satisfied with Jesus Christ Himself.”

Brother Yun (1958) Chinese christian house church leader

Source: The Heavenly Man: The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun

Life, God, Christ

“Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.”

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Italian politician, Writer and Author

Men, Reality, Appearance

“We are all born sexual creatures, thank God, but it's a pity so many people despise and crush this natural gift.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer

Beauty, God, People, Nature

“Sharing truth is not the kind of gift that comes in wrapping paper - ripped open once and, there, you're done. No, this is a gift that must be unfolded.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Two Boys Kissing

Truth

“The greatest gift is a passion for reading.”

Edmund Burke (1729–1797) Anglo-Irish statesman

Passion, Reading

“He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.”

Rafael Sabatini book Scaramouche

This is the opening line of the novel. Sabatini used it as his epitaph.
Variant: He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad. And that was all his patrimony.
Source: Scaramouche (1921), Ch. I: "The Republican"

World, Sense, Laughter, Madness

“Caliph Vathek and his dark horde
Are bound for Hell, you won’t be bored!
Your faith in me will be restored—
Unless this token you find untoward
And my poor gift you have ignored.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Faith, Hell

“At any rate, let us love for a while, for a year or so, you and me. That's a form of divine drunkenness that we can all try. There are only diamonds in the whole world, diamonds and perhaps the shabby gift of disillusion.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter

"The Diamond As Big As The Ritz"
Quoted, Tales of the Jazz Age (1922)

Love, World

“A generous heart is always open, always ready to receive our going and coming. In the midst of such love we need never fear abandonment. This is the most precious gift true love offers - the experience of knowing we always belong.”

Bell Hooks book All About Love: New Visions

Source: All About Love: New Visions

Love, Fear, Heart

“When we wallow in guilt, remorse, and shame over real or imagined sins of the past, we are disdaining God's gift of grace.”

Brennan Manning (1934–2013) writer, American Roman Catholic priest and United States Marine

God, Imagination, Past

“The more precious His gift, the more anxious God for its return.”

Seth Grahame-Smith (1976) US fiction author

Source: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

God

“I narrowed my eyes at it. Ming-de’s little gift, I assumed. “You look better in color,” I snapped.
He sent me a sultry look over his shoulder. “Really? Most women think I look better in nothing at all.”

Karen Chance American writer

Source: Embrace the Night

Women, Color, Thinking

“She had an unequalled gift, especially pen in hand, of squeezing big mistakes into small opportunities.”

Henry James book Greville Fane

"Greville Fane" http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext01/gfane10.txt, from The Real Thing: and Other Tales (1893).

“His kisses were gifts. He kissed with everything he had, with power and passion and hunger and love. He held nothing back, giving everything, exposing everything.”

Sylvia Day (1973) American writer

Source: Reflected in You

Love, Hunger, Kiss, Passion

“The liberty of the individual is no gift of civilization. It was greatest before there was any civilization.”

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian neurologist known as the founding father of psychoanalysis

“He said that those who have endured some misfortune will always be set apart but that it is just that misfortune which is their gift and which is their strength.”

Cormac McCarthy (1933) American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter

Source: All The Pretty Horses: All The Pretty Horses

“Although we didn't invite Lucinda, she arrived anyway-with a gift.
"No need," Char and I chimed together.
"Remember when you were a squirrel," Mandy said.”

Gail Carson Levine Ella Enchanted

Source: Ella Enchanted

“Intelligence is a harder gift. For this you must work, you must practice it, challenge it, and maybe toward the end of your life you will master it. Cleverness is the shadow, whereas intelligence is the substance.
-Doc”

Bryce Courtenay (1933–2012) Australian novelist

Life, Intelligence

“At the deepest level, there is no giver, no gift, and no recipient… only the universe rearranging itself.”

Jon Kabat-Zinn (1944) American academic

Source: Wherever You Go, There You Are - Mindfulness Meditation In Everyday Life

Universe

“The greatest gift God gave us is the power to make decisions.”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Source: Manuscript Found in Accra

God, Decision

“I think on my next birthday, I'm going to buy her a present. I think that should be the tradition. The kid gets gifts from everybody, and he buys one present for his mom since she was there, too. I think that would be nice.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Moms, Birthday, Thinking

“Life's harder, the deeper you feel things, was all I could think as I put the books away. Feelings, who needs them? Sometimes they're like a gift, when you feel love or happiness. Sometimes they're a curse.”

John Marsden (1950) author

Source: The Dead of Night

Love, Life, Books, Feeling

“Love is always bestowed as a gift!
freely, willingly, and without expectation….
We don't love to be loved, we love to love”

Nicholas Sparks book True Believer

Source: True Believer

love, Love

“Secrets could never be rushed. They had to come of their own accord, on their own schedule. That way, when they came, the offered themselves as a gift.”

Donna Jo Napoli (1948) American children's writer and linguist

Source: Bound

Secret, Way

“The greatest gift is the passion for reading.
It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites,
it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind.
It is a moral illumination.”

Elizabeth Hardwick (1916–2007) Novelist, short story writer, literary critic

World, Knowledge, Passion, Reading

“Dead was the gift that kept on giving. Dead, like
diamonds, was forever.”

Stephen King book The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah

Source: Song of Susannah

Dead

“Usually life’s greatest gifts come wrapped in adversity.”

Richard Paul Evans (1962) American writer

Source: Finding Noel

Life

“Love is always bestowed as a gift - freely, willingly and without expectation. We don't love to be loved; we love to love.”

Leo Buscaglia (1924–1998) Motivational speaker, writer

love, Love

“You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.”

Desmond Tutu (1931) South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner

Address at his enthronement as Anglican archbishop of Cape Town (7 September 1986)

Family, Cute, God, Family

“Thousands of years ago the first man discovered how to make fire. He was probably burnt at the stake he'd taught his brothers to light, but he left them a gift they had not conceived and he lifted darkness from the face of the Earth.”

Ayn Rand book The Fountainhead

Source: The Fountainhead

Light

“She has man's brain--a brain that a man should have were he much gifted--and woman's heart. The good God fashioned her for a purpose, believe me when He made that so good combination.”

Bram Stoker book Dracula

Source: Dracula

God, Fashion, Heart

“Just between you and me and the lamppost, Dylan could easily begirl's perfect other half. If I didn't alreadya perfect other half, I might have been thrilled with the gift of my very own gorgeous mutant.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Fang

Perfection

“The greatest gift is not being afraid to question.”

Ruby Dee (1922–2014) American actress

Question

“It’s a gift. (Artemis)
Nothing is ever freely given. (Acheron)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Acheron

“They walked back into the world together, wearing the gift that had been given them: just life. Pity was not love, Barbie reflected… but if you were a child, giving clothes to someone who was naked had to be a step in the right direction.”

Stephen King book Under the Dome

Source: Under the Dome

Love, Life, World, Clothes

“This is the greatest gift God can give you: to understand what happened in your life. To have it explained. It is the peace you have been searching for.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Source: The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Meniti Bianglala

Life, God, Peace, Search

“A smile remains the most inexpensive gift I can bestow on anyone and yet its powers can vanquish kingdoms.”

Og Mandino (1923–1996) American author

Cute, Smile

“Now we're in that sweet period where everyone agrees that our recent horrors should never be repeated. But collective thinking is usually short-lived. We're fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self-destruction.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Katniss and Plutarch Heavensbee (p. 379)
Source: The Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay (2010)
Context: “Are you preparing for another war, Plutarch?” I ask.
“Oh, not now. Now we’re in that sweet period where everyone agrees that our recent horrors should never be repeated,” he says. “But collective thinking is usually short-lived. We’re fickle, stupid beings with a great gift for self-destruction. Although who knows? Maybe this will be it, Katniss.”
“What?” I ask.
“The time it sticks. Maybe we are witnessing the evolution of the human race. Think about that.“

Stupidity, Thinking, Memory

“Remembering from last year how Haymitch's gifts are often timed to send a message, I make a note to myself. Be friends with Finnick. You'll get food.”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Source: Catching Fire

Food, Time

“What was God thinking when he created a guy this handsome? He wasn't a gift to womankind, he was a torture device.”

Janette Rallison (1966) American writer

Source: My Double Life

God, Guy, Thinking

“I'll bet he was myrrh. Bastard, he brings the cheapest gift and now he wants to sodomize me.”

Christopher Moore book Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

Source: Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

“Thoth's beak! You are impossibley stubborn."
"Yeah, it's a gift.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

“The inclination to believe in the fantastic may strike some as a failure in logic, or gullibility, but it’s really a gift. A world that might have Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster is clearly superior to one that definitely does not.”

Chris Van Allsburg (1949) US children's writer and illustrator

World, Failure

“What sucks the worst is… this world was a gift to us, and we broke it, and part of the deal is that if we want things right, we have to fix it ourselves. But we can't. We try, but we can't.”

Dean Koontz book Forever Odd

Source: Forever Odd

World, Parting

“A rainy day is like a lovely gift -- you can sleep late and not feel guilty.”

Elizabeth Jane Howard (1923–2014) writer

Source: Mr. Wrong

Love, Feeling, Sleep

“Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.”

Garth Brooks (1962) American country music artist

Unanswered Prayers, written by Pat Alger, Larry Bastian, and G. Brooks.
Song lyrics, No Fences (1990)
Context: Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers.
Remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs,
That just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he don't care.
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.

God