Quote 29 of 40

From Emerson's Essays, by Ralph Waldo Emerson

He is a good man who can receive a gift well.  We are either glad or
sorry at a gift, and both emotions are unbecoming.  Some violence I
think is done, some degradation borne, when I rejoice or grieve at a
gift.  I am sorry when my independence is invaded, or when a gift
comes from such as do not know my spirit, and so the act is not
supported; and if the gift pleases me overmuch, then I should be
ashamed that the donor should read my heart, and see that I love his
commodity, and not him.
		-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Gifts", p. 280

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