“I much prefer a person who can love God enough to take a handout of bread, to a person who can give a hundred dollars for God’s sake. How do I explain this? Like this. It is common opinion of all authorities that honor is worth more than any fleeting good. To give a hundred dollars for God’s sake is therefore to make a big profit in honor and glory on the money; for the giver, offering the money with one hand, takes in more and better than he gave with the other; but when the poor man extends his hand to beg the bread, he trades his honor in exchange. The giver buys the honor the receiver sells.
There is more to it than that. The poor man, by taking the hand-out, gets closer to God than he who gave the one hundred dollars for God’s sake. The giver is glad to be so good-natured and is proud of it but the taker has to subdue his feelings and despise his status. The giver is much courted for his gifts whereas the beggar is despised and rejected for being a taker.”

- Meister Eckhart