A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization.
-Samuel Johnson, Boswell: Life of Johnson

"Heart of my heart, were it more,
More would be laid at your feet."
[Buck Mulligan, upon giving the old milk maid a coin]
-James Joyce, Ulysses

A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.
-Jack London

Almsgiving tends to perpetuate poverty; aid does away with it once and for all. Almsgiving leaves a man just where he was before. Aid restores him to society as an individual worthy of all respect and not as a man with a grievance. Almsgiving is the generosity of the rich; social aid levels up social inequalities. Charity separates the rich from the poor; aid raises the needy and sets him on the same level with the rich.
-Eva Peron

Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse.
-George Washington.