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Daily Inspiration Quote by Billy Graham

"God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with"

About this Quote

A neat piece of moral choreography hides inside Billy Graham's line: the human body becomes an argument. Two hands, two verbs, a built-in rhythm of grace. By turning ethics into anatomy, Graham makes reciprocity feel less like a hard commandment and more like a design spec. You're not merely advised to be generous; you're made for it.

The intent is pastoral and practical. Graham isn't praising self-denial for its own sake, and he isn't flirting with the prosperity gospel's transactional "give to get" pitch. He's normalizing both dependency and obligation: receiving isn't shameful, giving isn't optional. In a culture that treats need as a personal failure, he offers a counter-script where acceptance and generosity are paired virtues, not opposing identities. You can be helped and still be honorable; you can have plenty and still be accountable.

The subtext carries a quiet rebuke of two familiar American postures: rugged individualism ("I don't need anyone") and private hoarding ("It's mine"). Graham frames both as forms of spiritual amputation. If you only receive, you become entitled; if you only give, you become performative, a saint who can't admit weakness. The balance he proposes is relational, not heroic.

Context matters: Graham's ministry sat at the crossroads of mass revivalism and mid-century American prosperity, when televised faith met consumer comfort. The quote works because it compresses a whole social theology into a human gesture: open palms, one turned outward, one turned in.

Quote Details

TopicGod
Source
Later attribution: The WillPower Advantage (Tom Peterson, Ryan Hanning, 2020) modern compilationISBN: 9781642291407 · ID: zNMBEAAAQBAJ
Text match: 95.00%   Provider: Google Books
Evidence:
... Billy Graham explained , " God has given us two hands , one to receive with and the other to give with . We are not cisterns made for hoarding ; we are channels made for sharing . " 1 Most people would probably agree that they would be ...
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Graham, Billy. (2026, February 16). God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/god-has-given-us-two-hands-one-to-receive-with-30195/

Chicago Style
Graham, Billy. "God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with." FixQuotes. February 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/god-has-given-us-two-hands-one-to-receive-with-30195/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with." FixQuotes, 16 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/god-has-given-us-two-hands-one-to-receive-with-30195/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

Billy Graham

Billy Graham (November 7, 1918 - February 21, 2018) was a Clergyman from USA.

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