353 Kindness Quotes

Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion.

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

Tender-handed stroke a nettle, And it stings you for your pains; Grasp it like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains. 'Tis the same with common natures: Use 'em kindly, they rebel; But be rough as nutmeg-graters, And the rogues obey you well.

Very little of the great cruelty shown by men can really be attributed to cruel instinct. Most of it comes from thoughtlessness or inherited habit. The roots of cruelty, therefore, are not so much strong as widespread. But the time must come when inhumanity protected by custom and thoughtlessness will succumb before humanity championed by thought. Let us work that this time may come.

Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.

I have always held firmly to the thought that each one of us can do a little to bring some portion of misery to an end.

The loving person makes other people feel good, and he is usually a happy person himself. He is able to form strong, long-lasting friendships.

The best that we can do is to be kindly and helpful toward our friends and fellow passengers who are clinging to the same speck of dirt while we are drifting side by side to our common doom.

The man who has received a benefit ought always to remember it, but he who has granted it ought to forget the fact at once.

Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind.

We cherish our friends not for their ability to amuse us, but for ours to amuse them.

Certainly, it is heaven upon earth, to have a man's mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.

I think everyone should treat one another in a Christian manner. I will not, however, be responsible for the consequences.

In this dim world of clouding cares, We rarely know, till wildered eyes See white wings lessening up the skies, The angels with us unawares.

Every man is working out his destiny in his own way and nobody can be of any help except by being kind, generous, and patient.

Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and drawing them near to the Law.

Kindness, I've discovered, is everything in life.

All is well, practice kindness, heaven is nigh.

The poor folk gladly came to me, for I did them no unkindness, but helped them as much as I could.

Have you ever seen a pedant with a warm heart?

In charity to all mankind, bearing no malice or ill will to any human being, and even compassionating those who hold in bondage their fellow men, not knowing what they do.

An unimaginative person can neither be reverent nor kind.

The techniques of opening conversation are universal. I knew long ago and rediscovered that the best way to attract attention, help, and conversation is to be lost. A man who seeing his mother starving to death on a path kicks her in the stomach to clear the way, will cheerfully devote several hours of his time giving wrong directions to a total stranger who claims to be lost.

A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve.

To be an agreeable guest one need only enjoy oneself.

I honor my importance and the importance of others. None of us is dispensable, none of us is replacable. In the chorus of life each of us brings a True Note, a perfect pitch that adds to the harmony of the whole. I act creatively and consciously to actively endorse and encourage the expansion of those whose lives I touch. Believing in the goodness of each, I add to the goodness of all. We bless each other even in passing.

Kindness goes a long ways lots of times when it ought to stay at home.

Life is no way to treat an animal.

I'd like to be remembered for being a good, kind, loving, gentle man who attempted to live wisely, and who cared a lot.

Only the weak are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong.

Only when we give joyfully, without hesitation or thought of gain, can we truly know what love means.

The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises.

Be kind, condescending, and affable. Any one who has anything to say to a fellow-being, to say it with kind feelings and sincere desire to please; and this, whenever it is done, will atone for much awkwardness in the manner of expression.

No, there is no world-wide standard for the determination of provincialism. There is only one standard by which to judge men and women, and that standard is not so much one of brains and education as it is of culture and heart. Kindness seems to be the one golden metewand by which to measure how really civilized and catholic one may be.

Wherever you walk tonight, I wish you the best of everything. In the world. And honey I hope you found whatever you were looking for.

Canaris was a highly intelligent and sensitive man with many likeable qualities. He loved his dogs and his horse almost more than any other living creatures. He often said to me, 'Schellenberg, always remember the goodness of animals. You see, my dachshund is discreet and will never betray me - I cannot say that of any human being...'

The kindly individual believes that all people are kindly and act accordingly. The plague individual believes that all people lie, swindle, steal and crave power. Clearly, then, the living is at a disadvantage and in danger.

(To a stranger on the elevator) Oh I forgot to give you a hug.

I that have not your faith, how shall I know That in the blinding light beyond the grave We'll find so good a thing as that we have lost? The hourly kindness, the day's common speech, The habitual content of each with each When neither soul nor body has been crossed.

May she become a flourishing hidden tree That all her thoughts may like the linnet be, And have no business but dispensing round Their magnanimities of sound, Nor but in merriment begin a chase, Nor but in merriment a quarrel.

True Charity, a plant divinely nurs'd.

An honest man, close-buttoned to the chin, Broadcloth without, and a warm heart within.

I did my best, and let me urge you to do your best, too. Isn't it the least we can do for one another?

You will make all kinds of mistakes; but as long as you are generous and true and also fierce you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her.

Marcia: You look lovely. People talk to me about you and I say you're one of the kindest souls I know.'

Do your neighbour good by all means in your power, moral as well as physical - by kindness, by patience, by unflinching resistance against every outward evil - by the silent preaching of your own contrary life. But if the only good you can do him is by talking at him, or about him - nay, even to him, if it be in a self-satisfied, super-virtuous style - such as I earnestly hope the present writer is not doing - you had much better leave him alone. ~ Ch. 8

'Get out o' Mr. Fletcher's road, ye idle, lounging, little - ' 'Vagabond,' I think the woman (Sally Walkins, once my nurse,) was going to say, but she changed her mind.

I remember Kurt for what he was, caring, generous and sweet.

Of all the Griefs that harrass the Distrest, Sure the most bitter is a scornful Jest

Buy me a drink, Sing me a song, Take me as I come because I can't stay long

'Thank you, God bless you, sweet dreams!' -'Live Magic' album, 1986

Have merciful eyes and a gentle body

He got his mean streak from the gutter Got his kindness from God

you've been so kind and generous I don't know how you keep on giving for your kindness I'm in debt to you for your selflessness, my admiration and for everything you've done you know I'm bound... I'm bound to thank you for it

Still the girl had found her lover - a dreamer, a good man, a kind man who cared less for his plan than for the people in it. That is how he was unlike you, and that was why she loved him

The very day after I learned that I was the laureate for literature for 1983 I drove into a country town and parked my car where I should not. I only left the car for a few minutes but when I came back there was a ticket taped to the window. A traffic warden, a lady of a minatory aspect, stood by the car. She pointed to a notice on the wall. 'Can't you read?' she said. Sheepishly I got into my car and drove very slowly round the corner. There on the pavement I saw two county policemen. I stopped opposite them and took my parking ticket out of its plastic envelope. They crossed to me. I asked if, as I had pressing business, I could go straight to the Town Hall and pay my fine on the spot. 'No, sir,' said the senior policeman, 'I'm afraid you can't do that.' He smiled the fond smile that such policemen reserve for those people who are clearly harmless if a bit silly. He indicated a rectangle on the ticket that had the words 'name and address of sender' printed above it. 'You should write your name and address in that place,' he said. 'You make out a cheque for ten pounds, making it payable to the Clerk to the Justices at this address written here. Then you write the same address on the outside of the envelope, stick a sixteen penny stamp in the top right hand corner of the envelope, then post it. And may we congratulate you on winning the Nobel Prize for Literature.'

There is one great God and power that has made the world and all things therein, to whom you and I and all people owe their being and well-being, and to whom you and I must one day give an account for all that we do in this world. This great God has written his law in our hearts, by which we are taught and commanded to love and help and do good to one another, and not to do harm and mischief one unto another. Now this great God has been pleased to make me concerned in your parts of the world, and the king of the country where I live has given unto me a great province therein, but I desire to enjoy it with your friends, else what would the great God say to us, who has made us not to devour and destroy one another, but live soberly and kindly together in the world. Now I would have you well observe, that I am very sensible of the unkindness and injustice that has been too much exercised towards you by the people of these parts of the world, who have sought themselves, and to make great advantages by you, rather than be examples of justice and goodness unto you; which I hear has been matter of trouble to you and caused great grudgings and animosities, sometimes to the shedding of blood, which has made the great god angry. But I am not such man as is well known in my own country. I have great love and regard toward you, and I desire to win and gain your love and friendship by a kind just, and peaceable life; and the people I send are of the same mind, and shall in all things behave themselves accordingly.

Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear, and the blind can read.

On the reeking pavement, in the darkness of a moonless night under the dripping rain, and surrounded by a hastily gathered crowd of wondering strangers, Norton I, by the grace of God, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, departed this life. Other sovereigns have died with no more of kindly care - other sovereigns have died as they have lived with all the pomp of earthly majesty, but death having touched them, Norton I rises up the exact peer of the haughtiest King or Kaiser that ever wore a crown. Perhaps he will rise more than the peer of most of them. He had a better claim to kindly consideration than that his lot 'forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne and shut the gates of mercy on mankind.' Through his harmless proclamations can always be traced an innate gentleness of heat, a desire to effect uses and a courtesy, the possession of which would materially improve the bitterful living princes whose names will naturally suggest themselves.

When am I not nice?

God bless you, my dear!

Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.

If you treat people right they will treat you right... ninety percent of the time.

Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.

There's no dearth of kindness In this world of ours; Only in our blindness We gather thorns for flowers.

Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair but manifestations of strength and resolution.

Contrary to the cliche, genuinely nice guys most often finish first or very near it.

You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.

No man or woman of the humblest sort can really be strong, gentle and good, without the world being better for it, without somebody being helped and comforted by the very existence of that goodness.

It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion.

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our daily lives. If we find we cannot help others, the least we can do is to desist from harming them.

Maybe the Dalai Lama is the only person who is totally honest, and even with him, he's skillful not to hurt anybody. He's skillful.

Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks, shall win my love.

Do as you would be done by, is the surest method of pleasing.

Something about the fact that I made some contribution to either my country, or those who were less well off. I think back to what Camus wrote about the fact that perhaps this world is a world in which children suffer, but we can lessen the number of suffering children, and if you do not do this, then who will do this? I'd like to feel that I'd done something to lessen that suffering.

Harvey: Elwood P. Dowd

Do good in secret

When your dreams tire, they go underground and out of kindness that's where they stay.

My only true friend here in the prison among the defendants is Albert Speer. He is a great architect and has a great genius for organization. When I came to Berlin in 1943 to take charge of the navy, there was a housing shortage. The navy assigned me a poor-looking house in Dahlem. I phoned my friend Speer and told him I needed a house. He said he would do his best. Next day he phoned and said my wife should come over to inspect the house he had for me. It was a beautiful manor house, on a hill, with two wide windows on either side and great gardens all around it. It was two stories high, with a fine broad staircase connecting the two floors. Often in the evenings Speer and his wife would visit me and my wife, and we would return the visits. Speer would bring along pianists and violinists, who were perfect. We would spend many a musical evening together.

True kindness presupposes the faculty of imagining as one's own the suffering and joys of others.

So long as we live among men, let us cherish humanity.

Keep in mind that the true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good.

'People will always follow a good example; be the one to set a good example, then it won't be long before the others follow... How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment, we can start now, start slowly changing the world! How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make their contribution toward introducing justice straightaway... And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness!

I should dearly love that the world should be ever so little better for my presence. Even on this small stage we have our two sides, and something might be done by throwing all one's weight on the scale of breadth, tolerance, charity, temperance, peace, and kindliness to man and beast. We can't all strike very big blows, and even the little ones count for something.

Kluge Sanftmut ist des Weibes unwiderstehlichste Waffe.

If you are not very clever, you should be conciliatory.

Be amusing: never tell unkind stories; above all, never tell long ones.

Love is something more stern and splendid than mere kindness.

Everyone feels benevolent if nothing happens to be annoying him at the moment.