--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Giving is not at all interesting; but…" description: "\"Giving is not at all interesting; but receiving is, there is no doubt about it, delightful.\" — Rose Macaulay" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b6/rose-macaulay-8071_delightful_giving-is-not-at-all-interesting-but-rec_247868.png" --- # Giving is not at all interesting; but receiving is, there… ![“Giving is not at all interesting; but receiving is, there is no doubt about it, delightful.” quote by Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b6/rose-macaulay-8071_delightful_giving-is-not-at-all-interesting-but-rec_247868.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b6/rose-macaulay-8071_delightful_giving-is-not-at-all-interesting-but-rec_247868.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b6/rose-macaulay-8071_delightful_giving-is-not-at-all-interesting-but-rec_247868.png) > “Giving is not at all interesting; but receiving is, there is no doubt about it, delightful.” [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Receiving pleasure is highlighted as more interesting than giving, described as delightful. **In simple terms:** Receiving is more interesting and delightful than giving. Key Takeaway Enjoy the pleasure of receiving. Themes pleasure giving receiving delight Mood reflective critical Type social psychological When to use this quote - gift-giving occasions - customer service - reciprocal relationships - celebrations Key Concepts gratitude materialism social exchange Questions to Reflect On - Why do we value receiving over giving? - How can giving become rewarding? A Different Perspective May undervalue the fulfillment from generosity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Delightful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/delightful/) [Doubt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doubt/) [Generosity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/generosity/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) ## Related quotes > [Nothing makes people so worthy of compliments as receiving them. One is more delightful for being told one is delightful-just as one is more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katharine-fullerton-gerould/nothing-makes-people-so-worthy-of-compliments-as-receiving-them-one/) [Katharine Fullerton Gerould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katharine-fullerton-gerould/) > [The short English miles are delightful for walking. You are always pleased to find, every now and then, in how short a time you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-philipp-moritz/the-short-english-miles-are-delightful-for-walking-you-are-always/) [Karl Philipp Moritz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-philipp-moritz/) > [Modern pictures are, no doubt, delightful to look at. At least, some of them are. But they are quite impossible to live with; they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/modern-pictures-are-no-doubt-delightful-to-look-at-at-least-some-of/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [We are at the moment looking at space as something to be entered by the tremendous thrust of a rocket because that is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/we-are-at-the-moment-looking-at-space-as-something-to-be-entered-by/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [In the mind engaged in struggling with hardship, one always finds something delightful. The sorrow of disappointment arises in the complacency of satisfaction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zicheng-hong/in-the-mind-engaged-in-struggling-with-hardship-one-always-finds/) [Zicheng Hong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zicheng-hong/) > [A solitary American monk named Thomas Berry writes that in our relationship to nature, we have been autistic for centuries. Wrapped tightly in our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janine-benyus/a-solitary-american-monk-named-thomas-berry-writes-that-in-our/) [Janine Benyus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janine-benyus/) > [There are magic moments, involving great physical fatigue and intense motor excitement, that produce visions of people known in the past. As I learned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/there-are-magic-moments-involving-great-physical-fatigue-and-intense/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [Once you get yourself on that path where you're willing to find something delightful in laundry and in dishwashers, it means that you train…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/once-you-get-yourself-on-that-path-where-you-re-willing-to-find/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Someone on the internet referred to me as 'that horrible little man who's replacing Rob Lowe', which is hurtful, because I think of myself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-malina/someone-on-the-internet-referred-to-me-as-that-horrible-little-man/) [Joshua Malina](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-malina/) > [Removing prejudices is, alas! too often removing the boundary of a delightful near prospect in order to let in a shockingly extensive one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sir-fulke-greville/removing-prejudices-is-alas-too-often-removing-the-boundary-of-a/) [Sir Fulke Greville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sir-fulke-greville/) > [What a delightful thing this perspective is!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paolo-uccello/what-a-delightful-thing-this-perspective-is/) Paolo Uccello > [It is with the approach of winter that cats...wear their richest fur and assume an air of sumptuous and delightful opulence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-loti/it-is-with-the-approach-of-winter-that-cats-wear-their-richest-fur/) [Pierre Loti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-loti/) > [“I never met a pig I didn't like. All pigs are intelligent, emotional, and sensitive souls. They all love company. They all crave contact…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sy-montgomery/i-never-met-a-pig-i-didn-t-like-all-pigs-are-intelligent-emotional/) [Sy Montgomery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sy-montgomery/) > [In a delightful garden, sowing, planting or digging are not hardship but are done with a zeal and a certain pleasure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/in-a-delightful-garden-sowing-planting-or-digging-are-not-hardship/) [Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/) > [The more perfect the sight is the more delightful the beautiful object. The more perfect the appetite, the sweeter the food. The more musical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-baxter/the-more-perfect-the-sight-is-the-more-delightful-the-beautiful/) [Richard Baxter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-baxter/) ## More by Rose Macaulay > [It wasn't really touching to be young; it was touching not to be young, because you had less of life left. Touching to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/it-wasn-t-really-touching-to-be-young-it-was-touching-not-to-be-young/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [Cruelty was the devil, and most people were, in one way or another, cruel. Tyranny, suppression, persecution, torture, slavery, war, neglect - all were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/cruelty-was-the-devil-and-most-people-were-in-one-way-or-another/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [To be prejudiced is the privilege of the thinking human being. ... The open mind is the empty mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/to-be-prejudiced-is-the-privilege-of-the-thinking-human-being-the/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [Publishers of course have you altogether in their grip; if they say you must do a thing you have jolly well got to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/publishers-of-course-have-you-altogether-in-their-grip-if-they-say/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [The great and recurrent question about Abroad is, is it worth the trouble of getting there?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/the-great-and-recurrent-question-about-abroad-is-is-it-worth-the/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [Parents are untamed, excessive, potentially troublesome creatures; charming to be with for a time, in the main they must lead their own lives, independent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/parents-are-untamed-excessive-potentially-troublesome-creatures/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [Life, for all its agonies...is exciting and beautiful, amusing and artful and endearing...and whatever is to come after it -- we shall not have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/life-for-all-its-agonies-is-exciting-and-beautiful-amusing-and-artful/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [You point out that war is only a symptom of the whole horrid business of human behavior, and cannot be isolated. And that, even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/you-point-out-that-war-is-only-a-symptom-of-the-whole-horrid-business/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [I seldom meet actors, they are to me bright strange fishes swimming in an element alien to me; I feel that to meet them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/i-seldom-meet-actors-they-are-to-me-bright-strange-fishes-swimming-in/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [All sorts of articles and letters appear in the papers about women. Profound questions are raised concerning them. Should they smoke? Should they work?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/all-sorts-of-articles-and-letters-appear-in-the-papers-about-women/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [Here is one of the points about this planet which should be remembered; into every penetrable corner of it, and into most of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/here-is-one-of-the-points-about-this-planet-which-should-be/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [Once learnt, this business of cooking was to prove an ever growing burden. It scarcely bears thinking about, the time and labour that man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/once-learnt-this-business-of-cooking-was-to-prove-an-ever-growing/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [Decades have a delusive edge to them. They are not, of course, really periods at all, except as any other ten years may be.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/decades-have-a-delusive-edge-to-them-they-are-not-of-course-really/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [“The superior thing, in this as in other departments of life, was to be late. Lateness showed that serene contempt for the illusion we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/the-superior-thing-in-this-as-in-other-departments-of-life-was-to-be/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [I can think of few things more disastrous than starting a new correspondence with any one. Letters are a burden indeed ... they seem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/i-can-think-of-few-things-more-disastrous-than-starting-a-new/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) [Explore all 84 Rose Macaulay quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) ## More Delightful quotes > [The more perfect the sight is the more delightful the beautiful object. The more perfect the appetite, the sweeter the food. The more musical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-baxter/the-more-perfect-the-sight-is-the-more-delightful-the-beautiful/) [Richard Baxter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-baxter/) > [In a delightful garden, sowing, planting or digging are not hardship but are done with a zeal and a certain pleasure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/in-a-delightful-garden-sowing-planting-or-digging-are-not-hardship/) [Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/) > [“I never met a pig I didn't like. All pigs are intelligent, emotional, and sensitive souls. They all love company. They all crave contact…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sy-montgomery/i-never-met-a-pig-i-didn-t-like-all-pigs-are-intelligent-emotional/) [Sy Montgomery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sy-montgomery/) > [It is with the approach of winter that cats...wear their richest fur and assume an air of sumptuous and delightful opulence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-loti/it-is-with-the-approach-of-winter-that-cats-wear-their-richest-fur/) [Pierre Loti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-loti/) > [What a delightful thing this perspective is!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paolo-uccello/what-a-delightful-thing-this-perspective-is/) Paolo Uccello > [Removing prejudices is, alas! too often removing the boundary of a delightful near prospect in order to let in a shockingly extensive one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sir-fulke-greville/removing-prejudices-is-alas-too-often-removing-the-boundary-of-a/) [Sir Fulke Greville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sir-fulke-greville/) > [Someone on the internet referred to me as 'that horrible little man who's replacing Rob Lowe', which is hurtful, because I think of myself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-malina/someone-on-the-internet-referred-to-me-as-that-horrible-little-man/) [Joshua Malina](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-malina/) > [Once you get yourself on that path where you're willing to find something delightful in laundry and in dishwashers, it means that you train…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/once-you-get-yourself-on-that-path-where-you-re-willing-to-find/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [There are magic moments, involving great physical fatigue and intense motor excitement, that produce visions of people known in the past. As I learned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/there-are-magic-moments-involving-great-physical-fatigue-and-intense/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [A solitary American monk named Thomas Berry writes that in our relationship to nature, we have been autistic for centuries. Wrapped tightly in our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janine-benyus/a-solitary-american-monk-named-thomas-berry-writes-that-in-our/) [Janine Benyus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janine-benyus/) > [In the mind engaged in struggling with hardship, one always finds something delightful. The sorrow of disappointment arises in the complacency of satisfaction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zicheng-hong/in-the-mind-engaged-in-struggling-with-hardship-one-always-finds/) [Zicheng Hong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zicheng-hong/) > [We are at the moment looking at space as something to be entered by the tremendous thrust of a rocket because that is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-watts/we-are-at-the-moment-looking-at-space-as-something-to-be-entered-by/) [Alan Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-watts/) > [I just adored Peter Medak, the director. He's such a character, but he was so much fun. Some directors come in and they truly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brigid-brannagh/i-just-adored-peter-medak-the-director-he-s-such-a-character-but-he/) [Brigid Brannagh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brigid-brannagh/) > [The past is so reliable, so delightful and the best place to live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-humphries/the-past-is-so-reliable-so-delightful-and-the-best-place-to-live/) [Barry Humphries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-humphries/) > [Nature is so delightful and abundant in its variations that among trees of the same kind there would not be found one which nearly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/nature-is-so-delightful-and-abundant-in-its-variations-that-among/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) [Browse all 483 Delightful quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/delightful/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Giving is not at all interesting; but receiving is, there is no doubt about it, delightful.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rose Macaulay" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/giving-is-not-at-all-interesting-but-receiving-is-there-is-no-doubt/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Delightful" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/giving-is-not-at-all-interesting-but-receiving-is-there-is-no-doubt/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b6/rose-macaulay-8071_delightful_giving-is-not-at-all-interesting-but-rec_247868.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b6/rose-macaulay-8071_delightful_giving-is-not-at-all-interesting-but-rec_247868.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b6/rose-macaulay-8071_delightful_giving-is-not-at-all-interesting-but-rec_247868.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Giving is not at all interesting; but receiving is, there is no doubt about it, delightful.” — Rose Macaulay", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Rose Macaulay", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Giving is not at all interesting;...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/giving-is-not-at-all-interesting-but-receiving-is-there-is-no-doubt/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/giving-is-not-at-all-interesting-but-receiving-is-there-is-no-doubt/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```