quotations about kindness
Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
attributed, Treasury of Thought
Kindness has converted more sinners than either zeal, eloquence or learning.
FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER
attributed, Dictionary of Burning Words
Be a little kinder than you have to.
E. LOCKHART
We Were Liars
That crafty kindness which inveigles me to sacrifice principle is the serpent in the grass -- deadly to the incautious wayfarer.
CHARLES SPURGEON
Baptismal Regeneration
To walk in kindness is to walk in the way of Christ.
JOHN RODMAN WILLIAMS
Renewal Theology
There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.
MARY ANNE RADMACHER
Live Boldly
Kindness holds the key to the secret of our own transformation and, in the process, of the transformation of the world.
JEAN MAALOUF
The Healing Power of Kindness
Kindness is the very essence of the Eternal, the root of all existence, the primal font of all blessedness in all worlds.
DAVID THOMAS
The Homilist, 1867
Warm hearts are better than great thoughts.
LYMAN ABBOTT
Laicus: Or, The Experiences of a Layman in a Country Parish
I have known the depths to which mortals are capable of descending, and I have seen the heights. I have seen how kindness and compassion may grow in the unlikeliest of places, as the mountain flower forces its way through the stern rock.
JACQUELINE CAREY
Kushiel's Dart
Little deeds of kindness, little words of love,
Help to make earth happy, like the heaven above.
JULIA CARNEY
Little Things
What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
Emile
To be kind is to respond with sensitivity and human warmth to the hopes and needs of others. Even the briefest touch of kindness can lighten a heavy heart. Kindness can change the lives of people.
AUNG SAN SUU KYI
Nobel Lecture, Jun. 16, 2012
Kindness is very indigestible. It disagrees with proud stomachs.
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY
Extracts from the Writings of W. M. Thackeray
Kindness is too often left uncultivated, because men do not sufficiently understand its value. Men may be charitable and not kind; merciful, yet not kind; self-denying and yet not kind. If they would add a little common kindness to their uncommon graces, they would convert ten where they now only abate the prejudice of one.
FREDERICK W. FABER
attributed, The Flight of the Swallow
If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island cut off from other lands, but a continent that joins them.
FRANCIS BACON
Essays
When one person shows kindness to another person, God shows up.
STEVE SJOGREN
The Day I Died
Kindness is not something you need to struggle to formulate. You need only let down what defenses might be in place and see what wells up from inside you.
WILL GLENNON
Practice Random Acts of Kindness
Kindness in ourselves is the honey that blunts the sting of unkindness in another.
WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR
Imaginary Conversations
I'm glad I'm funny. I'm glad I make people happy, because that's very important. But I'm proud to be known as a kind person. You listen to any monologue on late-night TV or just in general, to people talking, and there's always a joke at someone's expense. It's sarcasm; it's nasty. Kids grow up hearing that, and they think that's what humor is, and they think it's OK. But that negativity permeates the entire planet. I think that's where bullying comes from. I mean, I grew up watching Dick Van Dyke and Lucille Ball, and they were nothing but sweet and funny. It wasn't "negative comment, negative comment, laugh track." So I'm really proud I'm not adding to the negativity. I'm proud that for the hour my show is on television, I'm not being mean, and I'm hopefully helping one other person go, I'm going to be kind. Because then it all just kind of spreads, and the world is a little nicer out there.
ELLEN DEGENERES
Good Housekeeping, Oct. 2011