Tirukkural-On Virtue-Charity-Kural 223

Only the truly noble will give till it hurts,Without pleading straitened circumstances.

It must have been an appreciation of this thought that prompted Plato to write 'If a man be endowed with a generous mind, this is the best kind of nobility'. Again it is the same kind of nobility that Sambandar referred to when he said:

"Inmaiyaal sendriranthaan illaiyennaa theendhuvakkum
thanmaiyaar"
(Sambanthar-Aakoor-9)

Centuries earlier 'Paripadal' has spoken of the generous men who respond to the needs of the deserving poor and act even before they realize their own straitened circumstances:

Illadhu noaki ilivaravu kooraamun
Naladhu vaeki vinaiceyvaar

(Paripaadal: 10, 87)