On Benefits (De Beneficiis; Aubrey Stewart translation, 1887)

Their wordsNor need we wonder that while the greatest vices are common, none is more common than ingratitude: for this I see is brought about by various causes.

Their wordsThe man who while he gives thinks of what he will get in return, deserves to be deceived.

Their wordsThe book-keeping of benefits is simple: it is all expenditure; if any one returns it, that is clear gain; if he does not return it, it is not lost, I gave it for the sake of giving.

Their wordsIt is not, therefore, the thing which is done or given, but the spirit in which it is done or given, that must be considered, because a benefit exists, not in that which is done or given, but in the mind of the doer or giver.

Their wordsTo hesitate is the next thing to refusing to give, and destroys all claim to gratitude.

Their wordsThe best man is he who gives readily, never asks for any return, and is delighted when the return is made, because, having really and truly forgotten what he gave, he receives it as though it were a present.

Their wordsHe who receives a benefit with gratitude, repays the first instalment of it.

Their wordsSome return thanks to one stealthily, in a corner, in a whisper. This is not modesty, but a kind of denying of the debt: it is the part of an ungrateful man not to express his gratitude before witnesses.

Their wordsThe man is ungrateful who denies that he has received a benefit; who pretends that he has not received it; who does not return it. The most ungrateful man of all is he who forgets it.

Their wordsMany arguments occur to me which prove that this vice ought not to come under the action of the law. First of all, the best part of a benefit is lost if the benefit can be sued for at law, as in the case of a loan, or of letting and hiring.

Their wordsA benefit does not, therefore, cease to be a benefit because it is bestowed by a slave, but is all the greater on that account, because not even slavery could restrain him from bestowing it.

Their wordsAll men descend from the same original stock; no one is better born than another, except in so far as his disposition is nobler and better suited for the performance of good actions.

Their wordsIf any advantage chances to accrue to you, count it as something extra. The reward of honourable dealings lies in themselves.

Their wordsA proof that gratitude is desirable for itself lies in the fact that ingratitude is to be avoided for itself, because no vice more powerfully rends asunder and destroys the union of the human race.

Their wordsIt is better to benefit the bad as well, for the sake of benefiting the good, than to stint the good for fear of benefiting the bad.

Their wordsNo one, therefore, is worsted by benefits, because each man's gratitude is to be measured by his will.

Their wordsWe must not seek our friends in our entrance hall, but in our own breast; it is there that he ought to be received, there retained, and hoarded up in our minds.

Their wordsBad men are overcome by unwearying goodness, nor does any one receive kindness in so harsh and hostile a spirit as not to love good men even while he does them wrong, when they lay him under the additional obligation of requiring no return for their kindness.

Their wordsSuppose a man is ungrateful, he does not injure me, but himself; I had the enjoyment of my benefit when I bestowed it upon him.

Their wordsIt is no proof of a great mind to give and to throw away one's bounty; the true test of a great mind is to throw away one's bounty and still to give.