The Four Loves

pp. 49 - 50

“the proper aim of giving is to put the recipient in a state where he no longer needs our gift.  We feed children in order that they may soon be able to feed themselves; we teach them in order that they may soon not need our teaching.  Thus a heavy task is laid upon our ‘Gift-love.’  It must work towards its own abdication.  We must aim at making ourselves superfluous.  The hour when we can say ‘They need me no longer’ should be our reward.”