Churchill understood something that charity pamphlets often miss: generosity isn't the reward for living well—it's what *constitutes* living well in the first place. Most of us assume we must first secure ourselves, then give what's left over, but he's suggesting that the sequence is backward, that a life spent only acquiring becomes hollow regardless of the balance sheet. A surgeon who saves lives on weekends while resenting her day job illustrates this exactly—her paycheck buys security, but the pro bono work buys her the feeling that her hands matter. The wisdom here isn't moral browbeating but recognition that human beings are constituted by what flows *out* of them, not what flows in.