Kindness Quotes - 6
More Kindness Quotes
English life, while very pleasant, is rather bland. I expected kindness and gentilityand I found it, but there is such a thing as too much couth.
— 1971In the Observer, 24 Sep.
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.
Dalai Lama— "Kindness and Compassion" p. 47 Tenzin Gyatso
All is well, practice kindness, heaven is nigh.
jack kerouac— Visions of Gerard (1963)
Fierce for the right, he bore his partIn strife with many a valiant foe;But Laughter winged his polished dart,And kindness tempered every blow.
william winter— I. H. Bromley, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
They love their land because it is their own, And scorn to give aught other reason why; Would shake hands with a king upon his throne, And think it kindness to his Majesty.
fitz-greene halleck— Connecticut.
This shows the kindness of God to His creatures, even to us weak beings. His righteousness and justice as regards all animals are well known; for in the transient world there is among the various kinds of animals no individual being distinguished from the rest of the same species... all physical, psychical, and vital forces and organs that are possessed by one individual are found also in the other individuals. If any one is somehow different it is by accident, in consequence of some exception, and not by a natural property; it is also a rare occurrence.
maimonides— Ch.12 (Part III)
Doth perfect beauty stand in need of praise at all? Nay; no more than law, no more than truth, no more than loving kindness, nor than modesty.
marcus aurelius— IV, 20. (Book IV)
For tho' the faults were thick as dust In vacant chambers, I could trust Your kindness.
— Alfred Tennyson, To the Queen, Stanza 5.
I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again.
— Attributed to Anna B. Hegeman, as reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 362
An eye can threaten like a loaded and levelled gun, or can insult like hissing or kicking; or, in its altered mood, by beams of kindness, it can make the heart dance with joy.
ralph waldo emerson— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Conduct of Life, Behavior.
... all men will be grateful to you: the Hellenes (Greeks) for your kindness to them and the rest of the nations, if by your hands they are delivered from barbaric despotism and are brought under the protection of Hellas.
— Isocrates, "To Philip", 5.154, Loeb
[...] it is right to be kind and even sacrifice ourselves to people who need kindness and lie in our way – otherwise, besides failing to help them, we run into the aridity of self-development. To seek for recipients of one's goodness, to play the Potted Jesus leads to the contray the Christian danger.
e. m. forster— Commonplace Book, p. 243 (1963).
What though the spicy breezes Blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle; Though every prospect pleases, And only man is vile: In vain with lavish kindness The gifts of God are strown; The heathen in his blindness Bows down to wood and stone.
Reginald Heber— Reginald Heber, From Greenland's Icy Mountains, Missionary Hymn (1819), st. 1.
I expect to pass through this world 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. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
— As quoted anonymously in The Lamp Vol. XXVI (February-July 1903)
Liberty, equality bad principles! The only true principle for humanity is justice; and justice to the feeble becomes necessarily protection or kindness.
— Henri-Frédéric Amiel, undated entry of December 1863 or early 1864, in Amiel's Journal : The Journal Intime of Henri-Frédéric Amiel as translated by Humphry Ward (1893), p. 215
Non-violence and kindness to living beings is kindness to oneself. For thereby one's own self is saved from various kinds of sins and resultant sufferings and is able to secure his own welfare.
— Mahavira, as quoted in Religion and culture of the Jains (1975) by Jyotipras?da Jaina, p. 187
kindness has converted more sinners than either zeal, eloquence, or learning.
— Frederick William Faber, reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 363
My true religion is kindness.
tenzin gyatso— 14th Dalai Lama, in Kindness, Clarity, and Insight (1984)
It is a terrible thing, this kindness that human beings do not lose. Terrible because when we are finally naked in the dark and cold, it is all we have.
— 1969 The Left Hand of Darkness, ch.13.
PETA has a proven track record of success. Each victory PETA wins for the animals is a stepping stone upon which we build a more compassionate world for all beings - and we will never give up our fight until all animals are treated with respect and kindness.
beatrice arthur— Interview, The Human Society, January 7, 2004
There is a relation belonging to this species of property, unlike that of the apprentice or the hired man, which awakens whatever there is of kindness or of nobility of soul in the heart of him who owns it; this can only be alienated, obscured, or destroyed, by collecting this species of property into such masses that the owner is not personally acquainted with the individuals who compose it.
jefferson davis— Senate speech, 1860
Naked she lay, clasped in my longing arms, I filled with love, and she all over charms; Both equally inspired with eager fire, Melting through kindness, flaming in desire. With arms, legs, lips close clinging to embrace.
wilmot, john, 2nd earl of rochester— The Imperfect Enjoyment (published 1680).
I was particularly won over by his sweet disposition, by his general kindness, by his simplicity, and by his friendliness.
louis de broglie— On the character of Albert Einstein, New Perspectives in Physics, p. 182.
I am not […] asserting that humans are either genial or aggressive by inborn biological necessity. Obviously, both kindness and violence lie within the bounds of our nature because we perpetrate both, in spades. I only advance a structural claim that social stability rules nearly all the time and must be based on an overwhelmingly predominant (but tragically ignored) frequency of genial acts, and that geniality is therefore our usual and preferred response nearly all the time. […] [T]he center of human nature is rooted in ten thousand ordinary acts of kindness that define our days.
stephen jay gould— "Ten Thousand Acts of Kindness", p. 282
On that best portion of a good man's life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.
william wordsworth— William Wordsworth, Lines Composed Above Tintern Abbey
Thanksgiving provides a formal context in which to consider the instances of kindness that have enlightened our lives, for moments of grace that have gotten us through when all seemed lost. These are fine and sentimental subjects for contemplation.
john carroll— San Francisco Chronicle [2] (24 November 2005)
Real kindness seeks no return; What return can the world make to rain clouds?
thiruvalluvar— Tirukkural, Verse XXII.1
Love is something more stern and splendid than mere kindness.
C. S. Lewis— The Problem of Pain (1940)
kindness has converted more sinners than either zeal, eloquence, or learning.
frederick William faber— P. 363. (Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895))
