Happiness comes from spiritual wealth, not material wealth. Happiness is
always a by-product, never a product. Happiness comes from giving, not
getting. If we pursue happiness for ourselves, it will always elude us.
If we try hard to bring happiness to others, we cannot stop it from
coming to us also. The more we try to give it away, the more it comes
back to us multiplied. If we try to grasp happiness, it always escapes
us; if we try to hand it out to others, it sticks to our hands like glue.

The more love we give away, the more we have left. The laws of love
differ from the laws of arithmetic. Love hoarded dwindles, but love
given grows. If we give all our love, we will have more left than he who
saves some. Giving love, not receiving, is important; but when we give
with no thought of receiving, we automatically and inescapably receive
abundantly. Heaven is a by-product of love. When we say “I love you,” we
mean that “a little of God’s love flows from me to you.” But thereby, we
do not love less, but more. For in flowing the quantity is magnified.
God’s love is infinite and is directed equally to each person, but it
seems to gain intensity when directed to sinners. This is the wonder and
mystery of it, that when we love God we get an enormous increase in the
quantity flowing through us to others.

It is better to give than to receive. Giving is a sign of psychological
and spiritual maturity. There are few diseases so childish and so deadly
as the “gimmies,” a disease that separates us from friends and from God
and that shrinks the soul. The secret of success is giving, not getting.
To get joy we must give and to keep joy we must scatter it. The greatest
charity is to help a person change from being a receiver to being a giver.