She said the thing a body could get by praying for it was "spiritual gifts." This was too much for me, but she told me what she means - I must help others, and do everything I could for other people, and look out for them all the time.

I went and told the Widow about it, and she said the thing a body could get by praying for it was “spiritual gifts.” This was too much for me, but she told me what she means – I must help others, and do everything I could for other people, and look out for them all the time, and never think about myself…but I couldn’t see no advantage about it – except for the other people – so at last I reckoned I wouldn’t worry about it any more, but just let it go.

– Mark Twain

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter 3. Huck has difficulty understanding the point of prayer, as explained to him by the Widow Douglas. The main purpose, she says, is to help other people. But he sees no advantage to serving society by giving up his freedom.

Mark Twain Quotes