Quotes About Kindness

the fact that I'd happily do just about anything for people, anything, even spend time with them, if they'd just stop hurting my feelings

To laugh often and love much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.1

If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it.

The first and highest law must be the love of man to man. Homo homini Deus est - this is the supreme practical maxim, this is the turning point of the world's History.

The only sign of "superiority" I acknowledge in Man is goodness.

Heroes don't leap tall buildings or stop bullets with an outstretched hand; they don't wear boots and capes. They bled, and they bruised, and their superpowers were as simple as listening, or loving. Heroes were ordinary people who knew that even if their own lives were impossibly knotted, they could untangle someone else's. And maybe that one act could lead someone to rescue you right back.

There's an elderly woman fussing with the top of the cream pitcher, trying to get it open. Her purse sits on the counter, but as I approach, she picks up the handbag and anchors it to her side, crossing her arm over the strap. "Oh, that pitcher can be tricky," I say. "Can I help?" She thanks me and smiles when I hand her back the cream. I'm sure she doesn't even realize she moved her purse when I got closer. But I did.

Suffering so someone else didn't have to suffer. Sacrificing your body for someone else's well being.

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. —Anne Frank, Diary of a Young Girl

You cannot hate someone until you know what it might be like to love them.

Don't think you have to discuss the illness. Sometimes, a sick person needs a break. And if you ask up front if he wants to talk about how he feels-- or doesn't-- you're giving him control at a time when he doesn't have a lot of choices.

Because we're two of a kind. You were made to take care of me, and I'm going to take care of you.

It was easy to be proud of the kid who got straight A's and who made the winning basket-a kid the world already adored. But true character showed when you could find something to love in a child everyone else hated.

It was not compassion that led to Daniel's change of heart, and it was not kindness. It was realizing that, against all odds, he had something in common with Jason Underhill. Like Daniel, Jason had learned the hard way that they we are never the people we think we are. We are the ones we pretend, with all our hearts, we can't become.

There's this little acronym I was taught in grade school—it's J-O-Y. It's supposed to make Plain children remember that Jesus is first, Others come next, and You are last.

most people who offer their help do it to make themselves feel better, not us.

When the elevator doors open there is only one other person inside it, a homeless man with electric blue sunglasses and six plastic grocery bags filled with rags. Close the doors, dammit, he yells as soon as we step inside. Can't you see I'm blind? [...] From the back, the homeless man shoves between us, his bounty rustling in his arms. Stop yelling, he shouts. though we stand in utter silence. Can't you tell that I'm deaf?

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, Dr. King had said, what are you doing for others?

the mercy of their good graces.

He was the kind of dog whose heart was too big for his own body, and so he continuously offered it up to me.

When you are attracted to people, it's because of the details. Their kindness. Their eyes. Their smile. The fact that they can get you to laugh when you need it the most.

Don't blame yourself; this isn't your fault

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.' – HIS HOLINESS THE 14TH DALAI LAMA

Sometimes making the world a better place just involves creating space for the people who are already in it.