Quotes About Kindness

The artist has been kind to me," she said softly, not looking at him. "The artist drew what he saw. What he sees even now," he said. A single tear slipped down her cheek. "I wish this were easier, Jake." "Nothing is easy, Aletta. At least nothing worth having.

We should not expect to have all of the blessings o life and none of its trials. It would make this world too delightful a dwelling place, and I fear we would never care to leave it. ... As it is...I have come to believe that it's only by taking some of those objects away from us to which our hearts so closely cling that He endeavors....in His kindness, to draw us from this world to one of greater happiness.

Make a wrong doer feel shy, by doing him a favour.

Having someone ask you how you were, who you were, as if they genuinely wanted to know. That meant something to people.

Mother Teresa is widely quoted as saying, "There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.

People hurt each other. That's how it works. At least you were trying to do something good. Not everyone can say that much.

Breslin gives me his wise-teacher smile, which is kind and crinkly and would make me feel warm all over if I was dumber than a bag of hair.

Manners is treating people with respect.

Faye had always been sweet, flaky but sweet, unlikely to ask about your problems but deeply concerned about them if you reminded her they existed.

Selena said, "Maybe they did have. People are complicated. When you're a little kid, you don't realize, you think people are just one thing; but then you get older, and you realize it's not that simple. Chris wasn't that simple. He was cruel and he was kind. And he didn't like realizing that. It bothered him, that he wasn't just one thing. I think it made him feel . . .

When we are free of self-concern or self-pity, free of inner preoccupations, compassion emerges as a spontaneous expression of our awareness

compassion is a great tranquilizer.

As another general antidote for distress, the Dalai Lama recommends caring for others despite our own problems. "The space of awareness is small, so our personal distress looms large," as he puts it. "But the moment you think of helping others, the mind expands, and our own problems seem smaller.

In Buddhist psychology, compassion is seen as a direct antidote to aggression.

There are several forms of the loving-kindness meditation. Here's one. Just as I want to be free from suffering, may all beings be free from suffering.

A Buddhist principle holds that awareness leads to empathy.

When someone says to us, as Thich Nhat Hanh suggests, "Darling, I care about your suffering," a deep healing begins.

The intimacy that arises in listening and speaking truth is only possible if we can open to the vulnerability of our own hearts. Breathing in, contacting the life that is right here, is our first step. Once we have held ourselves with kindness, we can touch others in a vital and healing way.

The poet Longfellow writes, "If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.

Once someone is an unreal other, we lose sight of how they hurt. Because we don't experience them as feeling beings, we not only ignore them, we can inflict pain on them without compunction. Not

was continually harassed by an inner judge who was merciless, relentless, nit-picking, driving, often invisible but always on the job. I knew I would never treat a friend the way I treated myself, without mercy or kindness.

other people want to feel important and loved. Just that. [author's patient, Phil]

The instant we agree to feel fear or vulnerability, greed or agitation, we are holding our life with an unconditionally friendly heart.

This is the suffering of fear. Fear is part of being alive. Other people experience this too . . . I am not alone. May I be kind to myself . . . may I give myself the compassion I need.