Kindness Quotes and Sayings

Kindness Quotes

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. ~Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com

If you haven't any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble. ~Bob Hope

Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up. ~Jesse Jackson

A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble. ~Charles H. Spurgeon

It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice. ~Author Unknown

Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you — not because they are nice, but because you are. ~Author Unknown

What this world needs is a new kind of army — the army of the kind. ~Cleveland Amory

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. ~Dalai Lama

During my second year of nursing school our professor gave us a quiz. I breezed through the questions until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Surely this was a joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before the class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our grade. "Absolutely," the professor said. "In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello." I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy. ~JoAnn C. Jones, Guideposts, January 1996

I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble. ~Rudyard Kipling

Don't be yourself — be someone a little nicer. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

There is no greater loan than a sympathetic ear. ~Frank Tyger

Never miss an opportunity to make others happy, even if you have to leave them alone in order to do it. ~Author Unknown

A fellow who does things that count, doesn't usually stop to count them. ~Variation of a saying by Albert Einstein

Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. ~Variation of a saying that has been around since at least 1861 ("Kindness: A language which the dumb can speak, and the deaf can understand"), author of original saying is possibly Christian Nestell Bovee, see quoteinvestigator.com/2013/10/26/kindness-see

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness. ~Seneca

A kind word is like a Spring day. ~Russian Proverb

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not. ~Samuel Johnson

There is one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life — reciprocity. ~Confucius

Don't wait for people to be friendly, show them how. ~Author Unknown

The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway. ~Henry Boye

When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people. ~Abraham Joshua Heschel

If we should deal out justice only, in this world, who would escape? No, it is better to be generous, and in the end more profitable, for it gains gratitude for us, and love. ~Mark Twain

Life is mostly froth and bubble,

Two things stand like stone,

Kindness in another's trouble,

Courage in your own.

~Adam Lindsay Gordon

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these. ~George Washington Carver

You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. ~John Wooden

Kindness, like a boomerang, always returns. ~Author Unknown

If those who owe us nothing gave us nothing, how poor we would be. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin

In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,

Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;

And passing even into my purer mind,

With tranquil restoration:—feelings, too,

Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,

As have no slight or trivial influence

On that best portion of a good man's life,

His little, nameless, unremembered acts

Of kindness and of love....

~William Wordsworth, 1798

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

   

 

By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach. ~Winston Churchill

Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out. ~Frank A. Clark

Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind. ~Henry James

The kindest word in all the world is the unkind word, unsaid. ~Author Unknown

The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines. ~Charles Kuralt, On the Road With Charles Kuralt

In a world full of people who couldn't care less, be someone who couldn't care more. ~Author Unknown

Love thy neighbor, and if it requires that you bend your understanding of the truth, the Truth will understand. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com

We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. ~Epictetus

One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind. ~Malayan Proverb

Being considerate of others will take your children further in life than any college degree. ~Marian Wright Edelman

A little flattery, like a warm bath and soft towel, will let you get along with yourself, lie down with yourself, and sleep. ~Willis Goth Regier, In Praise of Flattery, 2007

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. ~Leo Buscaglia

Be pitiful, for every man is fighting a hard battle. ~John Watson, 1897, commonly attributed to Plato as "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." (Thanks, Garson O'Toole of quoteinvestigator.com!)

[E]very day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. ~Maya Angelou

This man beside us also has a hard fight with an unfavouring world, with strong temptations, with doubts and fears, with wounds of the past which have skinned over, but which smart when they are touched. It is a fact, however surprising. And when this occurs to us we are moved to deal kindly with him, to bid him be of good cheer, to let him understand that we are also fighting a battle; we are bound not to irritate him, nor press hardly upon him nor help his lower self. ~John Watson, 1903

Kind hearts are the gardens,

Kind thoughts are the roots,

Kind words are the blossoms,

Kind deeds are the fruits.

~19th century rhyme used in primary schools

A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses. ~Chinese Proverb

There is no effect more disproportionate to its cause than the happiness bestowed by a small compliment. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com

As the bus slowed down at the crowded bus stop, the Pakistani bus conductor leaned from the platform and called out, "Six only!" The bus stopped. He counted on six passengers, rang the bell, and then, as the bus moved off, called to those left behind: "So sorry, plenty of room in my heart — but the bus is full." He left behind a row of smiling faces. It's not what you do, it's the way that you do it. ~The Friendship Book of Francis Gay, 1977

We always prefer war on our own terms to peace on someone else's. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

Have you had a kindness shown?

Pass it on;

'Twas not given for thee alone,

Pass it on;

Let it travel down the years,

Let it wipe another's tears,

'Til in Heaven the deed appears -

Pass it on.

~Henry Burton, Pass It On

Make it a practice to judge persons and things in the most favorable light at all times and under all circumstances. ~Saint Vincent de Paul

Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something. ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Be thoughtful of others and you will not be shy, for they are incompatible addictions. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com

The best way to knock the chip off your neighbor's shoulder is to pat him on the back. ~Author Unknown

Open your heart — open it wide; someone is standing outside. ~Quoted in Believe: A Christmas Treasury by Mary Engelbreit

Because that's what kindness is. It's not doing something for someone else because they can't, but because you can. ~Andrew Iskander

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again. ~Og Mandino

If every man's internal care

Were written on his brow,

How many would our pity share

Who raise our envy now?

~Peitro Metastasio

Kindness is the greatest wisdom. ~Author Unknown

A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person. ~Dave Barry, "Things That It Took Me 50 Years to Learn"

If thou are a master, be sometimes blind; if a servant, sometimes deaf. ~Thomas Fuller

Even when you do not feel big hearted, you can give yourself permission to act that way. ~Lama Willa Miller

Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame. ~Alexander Pope, Epilogue to the Satires, 1738

There's a lot of not caring that goes under the name of minding your own business. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com

Life is short but there is always time for courtesy. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Social Aims

The best practical advice I can give to the present generation is to practice the virtue which the Christians call love. ~Bertrand Russell

If we cannot be clever, we can always be kind. ~Alfred Fripp

To give and then not feel that one has given is the very best of all ways of giving. ~Max Beerbohm

One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him. ~Booker T. Washington

The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you. ~John E. Southard

In order to be remembered, leave nothing behind but goodness. ~Yogi® Tea

Getting money is not all a man's business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life. ~Samuel Johnson

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. ~Ludwig Feuerbach, The Essence of Christianity

Love someone who doesn't deserve it. ~Author Unknown

Kind people are the best kind of people. ~Author Unknown

The more sympathy you give, the less you need. ~Malcolm S. Forbes

Treat everyone you meet as if they are God in drag. ~Ram Dass

Always carry with you a little reasonable doubt, should you meet someone who needs to be found innocent. ~Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com

It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens. ~Baha'u'llah

There are no traffic jams when you go the extra mile. ~Kenneth McFarland

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. ~Nelson Henderson

If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl. ~H.L. Mencken

To err on the side of kindness is seldom an error. ~Liz Armbruster, on rbrault.blogspot.com

Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves. ~James Matthew Barrie

In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy. ~Karl Reiland

How far that little candle throws his beams!

So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

~William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, much later adapted to "So shines a good deed in a weary world" by David Seltzer for the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Thanks Aidan!)

I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. ~William Penn

The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own. ~Benjamin Disraeli

How beautiful a day can be

When kindness touches it!

~George Elliston

Sometimes someone says something really small, and it just fits right into this empty place in your heart. ~From the television show My So-Called Life

Something that has always puzzled me all my life is why, when I am in special need of help, the good deed is usually done by somebody on whom I have no claim. ~William Feather

Real charity doesn't care if it's tax-deductible or not. ~Dan Bennett

When your suffering is a little greater than my suffering I feel that I am a little cruel. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin

I soothe my conscience now with the thought that it is better for hard words to be on paper than that Mummy should carry them in her heart. ~Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

Always be a little kinder than necessary. ~James M. Barrie

If you step on people in this life, you're going to come back as a cockroach. ~Willie Davis