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Here's my gift-giving rule: Respect your current financial situation.

You have to be generous if you want to spend your time making someone else dinner. Even if you're charging, you're still giving.

For me, I get immense pleasure out of giving. I do what I can. I try and give around 10% of my earnings a year. Some years, I give more, some I give less.

Giving should be entered into in just the same way as investing. Giving is investing.

Generosity is nothing else than a craze to possess. All which I abandon, all which I give, I enjoy in a higher manner through the fact that I give it away. To give is to enjoy possessively the object which one gives.

Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life.

My business is the enforcement of the tax laws and the integrity of the tax code and making sure that trustees of charitable giving are true trustees.

Depart from discretion when it interferes with duty.

You can express your generosity in ways that are virtually limitless. This was what I wanted to convey in 'Giving 2.0' - that whether you have $10 or $10 million to give, if you identify the right opportunities and make the most of your resources, your impact can be tremendous.