Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair but manifestations of strength and resolution.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Tenderness and kindness are signs of strength and resolve, not weakness.
- In plain terms
- Being tender and kind shows strength, not weakness.
- What can you take from it?
- View compassion as a form of resilience.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When can kindness be mistaken for weakness?
- How does resilience manifest in compassion?
Another view
May be challenged by cultures that equate strength with hardness.
More from Khalil Gibran
Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.
Permalink to quote #70 The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you, but what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to wha…
Permalink to quote #72 I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.
Permalink to quote #69
Related quotes
It is true that there are men who, on the approach of severe pain, hear the very opposite call of command, and never appear more proud, more martial, or more h…
Friedrich NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche quote #61 La bonte n'est pas sans ecueils: on l'attribue au caractere, on veut rarement y reconnaitre les efforts secrets d'une belle ame, tandis qu'on recompense les ge…
Honore de BalzacHonore de Balzac quote #72 It is terrible to destroy a person's picture of himself in the interests of truth or some other abstraction.
Doris LessingDoris Lessing quote #1