35 Quotes by Lewis Hyde

A gift that cannot be given away ceases to be a gift. The spirit of a gift is kept alive by its constant donation.

A man may wonder what will come in return for his gift, but he is not supposed to bring it up. Gift exchange is not a form of barter. ‘The.

True citizens are not the audience of their government, nor its consumers; they are its makers.

It must be that sometimes our assertions about higher order and hidden design are fables we’ve made up to help us ignore our own contingency. Accidents tear.

The gift finds the man attractive who stands with an empty bowl he does not own.

Unlike the sale of a commodity, the giving of a gift tends to establish a relationship between the parties involved. When gifts circulate within a group, their commerce leaves a series of interconnected relationships in its wake, and a kind of decentralized cohesiveness emerges.

When we are moved by art we are grateful that the artist lived, grateful that he labored in the service of his gifts.

We are only alive to the degree that we can let ourselves be moved.

The passage into mystery always refreshes. If, when we work, we can look once a day upon the face of mystery, then our labor satisfies. We are lightened when our gifts rise from pools we cannot fathom. Then we know they are not a solitary egotism and they are inexhaustible.