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“When we must pay the true price for the depletion of nature’s gifts, materials will become more precious to us, and economic logic will reinforce, and not contradict, our heart’s desire to treat the world with reverence and, when we receive nature’s gifts, to use them well.”
― Charles Eisenstein, Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition

“Gift giving is a true art.

1. You need to understand the person to whom you intend to give the gift.

2. You need to know what they truly want.

3. You must be able to give it to them.

Anything less is a symptom of varying degrees, on your part, of ignorance, distance, or insult.

But if you cannot afford the right gift, telling the person what you would do if you could, justifies everything—as you present that not-so-perfect substitute.”
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

“The gift of the Sabbath must be treasured.
Blessed are you who honour this day.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!

“The things we share with each other are deeply felt from within our hearts that neither of us will ever forget. For the gifts that are priceless are the ones that are heartfelt; their roots are within our soul. They are the greatest gifts, of all.”
― Ellen J. Barrier

“Your Temporary Santa, "He says presents aren't important, but I think they are- not because of how much they cost, but for the opportunity they provide to say 'I understand you.”
― David Levithan, My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories

“The greatest dividends in life are those that we give away.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Ugh. Would that Christmas could just be, without presents. It is just so stupid, everyone exhausting themselves, miserably haemorrhaging money on pointless items nobody wants: no longer tokens of love but angst-ridden solutions to problems. [...] What is the point of entire nation rushing round for six weeks in a bad mood preparing for utterly pointless Taste-of-Others exam which entire nation then fails and gets stuck with hideous unwanted merchandise as fallout? If gifts and cards were completely eradicated, then Christmas as pagan-style twinkly festival to distract from lengthy winter gloom would be lovely. But if government, religious bodies, parents, tradition, etc. insist on Christmas Gift Tax to ruin everything why not make it that everyone must go out and spend £500 on themselves then distribute the items among their relatives and friends to wrap up and give to them instead of this psychic-failure torment?”
― Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones’s Diary

“I sware unto you my furtherance if I prevailed. But now is mine army passed away as wax wasteth before the fire, and I wait the dark ferryman who tarrieth for no man. Yet, since never have I wrote mine obligations in sandy but in marble memories, and since victory is mine, receive these gifts: and first thou, O Brandoch Daha, my sword, since before thou wast of years eighteen thou wast accounted the mightiest among men-at-arms. Mightily may it avail thee, as me in time gone by. And unto thee, O Spitfire, I give this cloak. Old it is, yet may it stand thee in good stead, since this virtue it hath that he who weareth it shall not fall alive into the hand of his enemies. Wear it for my sake. But unto thee, O Juss, give I no gift, for rich thou art of all good gifts: only my good will give I unto thee, ere earth gape for me."

...

So they fared back to the spy-fortalice, and night came down on the hills. A great wind moaning out of the hueless west tore the clouds as a ragged garment, revealing the lonely moon that fled naked betwixt them. As the Demons looked backward in the moonlight to where Zeldornius stood gazing on the dead, a noise as of thunder made the firm land tremble and drowned the howling of the wind. And they beheld how earth gaped for Zeldornius.”
― E.R. Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros

“If there's anything romcoms have taught us about spontaneous gifting, it's that the big expensive presents are often a sign of guilt. But not the small, sort of rubbish presents. It seems to me that a cheap bag of crisps says a whole lot more than a gold necklace. It says 'You occupy such a vast space in my mind, I think of you so constantly, that my day-to-day life throws up constant reminders of you.' That person is, subconsciously or not, considered in everything you do and everywhere you go. Even in somewhere as mundane as the supermarket snack aisle.”
― Ali Pantony, Almost Adults

“Giving is the only way to receive more.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!

“In symbolic exchange, of which the gift is our most proximate illustration, the object is not an object: it is inseparable from the concrete relation in which it is exchanged, the transferential pact that it seals between two persons: it is thus not independent as such. It has, properly speaking, neither use value nor (economic) exchange value. The object given has symbolic exchange value.”
― Jean Baudrillard, For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign

“Was there anything quite so painful, so fraught with the possibilities of hurt, as gift giving within a family?”
― Paul Russell, The Coming Storm

“So I pulled the ridiculously small, unwrapped, box from the sleeve of my yukata (as they don’t have pockets) and rather overly self-consciously handed it to her. She took the pitiful little box, held it up to her ear and gave it a cautious little rattling shake. -You didn’t just put a couple of dried old beans in here, as a joke, did you? She suddenly glared at me suspiciously.
I heard a stifled bark from Yumi at that, and a deep gasp from Uncle Suzuki and Aunt Anda, followed by a moment of silence. -Of course not, you silly old goose, I snapped back, -just open it and you’ll see what’s inside!”
― Andrew James Pritchard, Sukiyaki

“A gift was what another person thought of you, and over the years he'd come to understand, by consensus, that his children saw him as someone who wore a tie to work, used power tools, played golf and drank scotch, which, while all true, seemed a superficial view of him. And yet when asked directly, he couldn't say what he wanted. Nothing.”
― Stewart O'Nan, Henry, Himself

“...crossed the room to where a selection of implements was arranged on a table top. These could have been mistaken for the trade tools of a cook, physician, or torturer, save for the fact that the surface on which they rested was a slab of polished pink marble, topping a white and gilt dressing table-cum-sculpture, done up in the new, hyper-Baroque style named Rococo. It was adorned, for example, with several cherubs, bows drawn, eyes asquint, as they drew beads on unseen targets, butt cheeks polished to a luster with jeweler’s rouge. It had, in other words, all the earmarks of a gift that had been sent to the princess by someone with a lot of money who did not know her very well.”
― Neal Stephenson

“Showing a little bit of gratitude for a gift is often as difficult as hiding the fact one doesn't like it. Best bit might be your smile.”
― Isabella Koldras, Sense of gratitude.

“Sometimes we have to wait for years to seek a really exceptional thing. I always wanted to give you the best thing in the world but ...”
― Anuradha Bhattacharyya, The Road Taken

“If you try to buy Christmas with a credit card, you'll miss the point. It's not for sale. True Christmas spirit can only be given away and the price it demands is a piece of your heart.”
― Toni Sorenson

“Grains of sands can turn into mountains - by the simple act of blind belief in someones abilities.

Limitation in favor of density, or those eyes who reach far have responsibility to give directions.”
― Monaristw

“A gift, a true gift given from nothing but love, should be done in secret. So that God alone sees.”
― Roseanna M. White, Giver of Wonders: How a Christmas Tradition Began