Kindness

Do not turn your face away from anyone who is poor, and the face of God will not be turned away from you. ~ Tobit

Kindness refers to actions and behavior marked by concern for others welfare, comfort and happiness. It is embraced as a vitally important ethical virtue in most societies, religions, philosophies and cultures.

Arranged alphabetically by author or source:
A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z · Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations · See also · External links

A

• No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
  • Aesop. The Lion and the Mouse.

• Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.
  • Scott Adams, in "A Kind Word", in DNRC Newsletter #9 (December 1995).

B

Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary? ~ J. M. Barrie

• Kindness is wisdom. There is none in life
  But needs it and may learn.
  • Philip James Bailey, Festus (1813), scene Home.

• Both man and womankind belie their nature
  When they are not kind.
  • Philip James Bailey, Festus (1813), scene Home.

• Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary?
  • J. M. Barrie in The Little White Bird (1902).

• KINDNESS, n. A brief preface to ten volumes of exaction.
  • Ambrose Bierce, The Cynic's Word Book (1906); republished as The Devil's Dictionary (1911).

• Charlie and I never will operate Berkshire in a manner that depends on the kindness of strangers – or even that of friends who may be facing liquidity problems of their own.
  • Warren Buffett, Chairman's Letter - 2017. Berkshire Hathaway (February 24, 2018).

• The style of kindness has changed.
  • Louise Burfitt-Dons in speech to World Kindness Movement (November 2007).

• I would help others out of a fellow-feeling.
  • Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), Democritus to the Reader.

• 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, quoted in Words from the Wise : Over 6,000 of the Smartest Things Ever Said (2007) by Rosemarie Jarski.

C

• You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.
  • Al Capone, as quoted in Forbes (6 October 1986).

• Sed tamen difficile dictu est, quantopere conciliat animos hominum comitas affabilitasque sermonis.
  • It is difficult to tell how much men's minds are conciliated by a kind manner and gentle speech.
  • Cicero, De Officiis (44 CE), II. 14.

• He never raised his voice. That was the worst thing — the fury of the Time Lord. And then we discovered why — why this Doctor, who had fought with gods and demons, why he had run away from us and hidden... He was being kind.
  • Paul Cornell, in "The Family of Blood" about the 10th incarnation of the Doctor in the Doctor Who series.

D

• Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindnesses and small obligations, given habitually, are what win and preserve the heart, and secure comfort.
  • Sir Humphry Davy, reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 363.

• So my heart advice will be to really be kind-hearted, to be a good hearted person. Whether you are Buddhist or not – there is really no need for me to convince anyone to become a Buddhist. If your mind is very pure and always has positive thinking, this is good – try not to ever go into the side of negative thinking! For example, if you find that someone looks at you and you think “Do they mean something bad to me? Do they think something bad about me?” Don’t even go into that! Just smile back. Just be pure. As pure as you can. Your heart should be pure and really open to everyone. So smile back at people that you think might not like you. This is something that you have, that’s possible. We can all totally be a kind hearted person with positive thinking and pure heart. Everyone is able to do that, whether you are Buddhist or not. This is my heart advice."

• Jetsunma Jamyang Drolma The Enthronement of Jetsunma Jamyang Drolma

• Kindness by secret sympathy is tied;
  For noble souls in nature are allied.
  • John Dryden, Aureng-Zebe: A Tragedy (1675), Act IV, scene i.

E

• The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavours, life would have seemed empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts - possessions, outward success, luxury - have always seemed to me contemptible.
  • Albert Einstein in My Worldview (My World-view) (1931)

F

• 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.

G

• Their cause I plead — plead it in heart and mind;
  A fellow-feeling makes one wondrous kind.
  • David Garrick, Epilogue on Quitting the Stage (June, 1776).

• 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 Stephen Grellet , variants of this have been been widely circulated as a Quaker saying since at least 1869, and attributed Grellet since at least 1893. W. Gurney Benham in Benham's Book of Quotations, Proverbs, and Household Words (1907) states that though sometimes attributed to others, "there seems to be some authority in favor of Stephen Grellet being the author, but the passage does not appear in any of his printed works." It appears to have been published as an anonymous proverb at least as early as 1859, when it appeared in Household Words : A Weekly Journal.
  • Variant: I expect to pass through this life but once. If therefore there be any kindnesses I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow beings, 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.

• The family, the state, the entire world: they are all aggregations of individuals, and if each individual simply lived and acted according to pure-hearted kindness – that is, with a spirit of independence and freedom, the will to help the weak, and caring for one’s neighbor – we would all be able to live a peaceful and perfect collective life. We human beings should develop our spirit of independence and solidarity and fight against those who oppose this, even at the risk of our own lives.
  • Uchiyama Gudō, Common Consciousness (1991), translated by Fabio Rambelli in Zen Anarchism: The Egalitarian Dharma of Uchiyama Gudō. Institute of Buddhist Studies. 2013. ISBN 978-1886439511. 

• My true religion is Kindness.
  • Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, Kindness, Clarity, and Insight (1984).

• 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.
  • Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, The Dalai Lama : A Policy of Kindness (1990), "Kindness and Compassion", p. 47.

• 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.
  • Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, The Dalai Lama : A Policy of Kindness (1990), "Kindness and Compassion", p. 52.

H

• Care about the beings you care about in gorgeous and surprising ways. Color outside the lines. Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty. This is your last chance.
  • Anne Herbert in "Handy tips on how to behave at the death of the world" in Whole Earth Review (Spring 1995).

• It is a little embarrassing that after forty-five years of research and study, the best advice I can give people is to be a little kinder to each other
  • Aldous Huxley in This Timeless Moment: A Personal View of Aldous Huxley (1968), by Laura Archera Huxley, p.117.

K

• Now we are on the front lines, not just caring for patients, but for healthcare workers who are caring for patients ... That’s the niche of infection prevention. ... I think when you are open and vulnerable it allows opportunities for acts of kindness ...
  • Colleen Kraft as quoted by Deborah Netburn, 'Please don't cry, Dr. Kraft': How one doctor is handling the coronavirus pandemic. Los Angeles Times (8 April 2020).

L

• And if you ask what is the temper which is most fitted to be victorious over sin on earth, I answer that in it the warp of a sunny gentleness must be woven across the woof of a strong character. That will make the best tissue to stand the wear and tear of the world's trials. Our Lord was divinely gentle, but He was also strong with a wondrous strength and firmness.
  • W. H. Littleton, reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 255.

• Though he was rough, he was kindly.
  • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Courtship of Miles Standish (1858), Part III.

• The greater the kindred is, the lesse the kindnesse must bee.
  • John Lyly, Mother Bombie (published 1594), Act III, scene 1.

M

• Seek to mingle gentleness in all your rebukes; bear with the infirmities of others; make allowance for constitutional frailties; never say harsh things, if kind things will do as well.
  • J. R. MacDuff, reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 256.

• Just because an animal is large, it doesn't mean he doesn't want kindness; however big Tigger seems to be, remember that he wants as much kindness as Roo.
  • A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner.

• Va, dans ce monde, il faut être un peu trop bon pour l’être assez.
  • Come, in this world, one has to be a little too kind to be kind enough.
    • Pierre de Marivaux, The Game of Love and Chance (1730), Act I, Scene II

• Kindness is a mark of faith, and whoever has not kindness has not faith.
  • Muhammad, as quoted in Al-Islam‎ (1926) by Khwajah Kamal al-Din, p. 47.

P

• One who can define kindness only as the absence of cruelty has surely not begun to understand the nature of either.
  • Edgar Pangborn, Angel’s Egg (originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction, in June 1951)

Q

• وَإِذْ أَ َذْنَا مِيثَاقَ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ لاَ تَعْبُدُونَ إِلاَّ اللّهَ وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَاناً وَذِي الْقُرْبَى وَالْيَتَامَى وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَقُولُواْ لِلنَّاسِ حُسْناً وَأَقِيمُواْ الصَّلاَةَ وَآتُواْ الزَّكَاةَ ثُمَّ تَوَلَّيْتُمْ إِلاَّ قَلِيلاً مِّنكُمْ وَأَنتُم مِّعْرِضُونَ
  • And (remember) when We made a covenant with the Children of Israel, (saying): Worship none save Allah (only), and be good to parents and to kindred and to orphans and the needy, and speak kindly to mankind; and establish worship and pay the poor-due. Then, after that, ye slid back, save a few of you, being averse.
    • Quran, Al-Baqarah, Āyāt 83; Translated by Marmaduke Pickthall in The Meaning of the Glorious Koran, 1930.
  • And when We took compact with the Children of Israel: You shall not serve any save God; and to be good to parents, and the near kinsman, and to orphans, and to the needy; and speak good to men, and perform the prayer, and pay the alms. ́ Then you turned away, all but a few of you, swerving aside.
    • Translated by Arthur John Arberry in The Koran Interpreted, 1955.

• إِنَّ اللّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
  • Lo! Allah loveth the kindly.
    • Quran, Al-Ma'idah, Āyāt 15-16. Translated by Marmaduke Pickthall in The Meaning of the Glorious Koran, 1930.

S

• We cannot be too gentle, too kind. Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment of each other. Joy, radiant joy, streams from the face of one who gives and kindles joy in the heart of one who receives. All condemnation is from the devil. Never condemn each other, not even those whom you catch committing an evil deed. We condemn others only because we shun knowing ourselves. When we gaze at our own failings, we see such a morass of filth that nothing in another can equal it. That is why we turn away, and make much of the faults of others. Keep away from the spilling of speech. Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace. Keep silent, refrain from judgement. This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult, outrage, and will shield your glowing hearts against the evil that creeps around.
  • Seraphim of Sarov Meadows, Mel (2010). A novel Uzzah. Lulu.com. p. 76. ISBN 9780557229918. 

• A little more than kin, and less than kind.
  • William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1600-02), Act I, scene 2, line 65.

• When your head did but ache,
  I knit my handkerchief about your brows,
  The best I had, a princess wrought it me,
  And I did never ask it you again;
  And with my hand at midnight held your head,
  And, like the watchful minutes to the hour,
  Still and anon cheer'd up the heavy time,
  Saying, "What lack you?" and, "Where lies your grief?"
  • William Shakespeare, King John (1598), Act IV, scene 1, line 41.

• Yet do I fear thy nature;
  It is too full o' the milk of human kindness.
  • William Shakespeare, Macbeth (1605), Act I, scene 5, line 14.

• the tender gravity of kindness
  • Naomi Shihab Nye Everything Comes Next: Collected and New Poems (2020)

• Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
  you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
  • Naomi Shihab Nye Everything Comes Next: Collected and New Poems (2020)

• For kindness begets kindness evermore,
  But he from whose mind fades the memory
  Of benefits, noble is he no more.
  • Sophocles Ajax Line 522.

• A life of kindness is the primary meaning of divine worship.
  • Emanuel Swedenborg, New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine #124

T

• Deeds of kindness are equal in weight to all the commandments.
  • Talmud.

• This world is not for the poor, nor the next for the unkind.
  • Tiruvalluvar in the Thirukkural 247.

• Give alms from your possessions, and do not let your eye begrudge the gift when you make it. Do not turn your face away from anyone who is poor, and the face of God will not be turned away from you.
  • Tobit 4:7 NRSV

W

• On that best portion of a good man's life,
  His little, nameless, unremembered acts
  Of kindness and of love.
  • William Wordsworth, Lines Composed Above Tintern Abbey (1798).

Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations

Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 415-16.

• 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,
  'Till in Heaven the deed appears—
  Pass it on.
  • Rev. Henry Burton, Pass It On.

• And Heaven, that every virtue bears in mind,
  E'en to the ashes of the just is kind.
  • Homer, The Iliad, Book XXIV, line 523. Pope's translation.

• There's no dearth of kindness
  In this world of ours;
  Only in our blindness
  We gather thorns for flowers.
  • Gerald Massey, There's no Dearth of Kindness.

• Colubram sustulit
  Sinuque fovet, contra se ipse misericors.
  • He carried and nourished in his breast a snake, tender-hearted against his own interest.
  • Phaedrus, Fables, Book IV. 18.

• Sociis atque amicis auxilia portabant Romani, magisque dandis quam accipiundis beneficiis amicitias parabant.
  • The Romans assisted their allies and friends, and acquired friendships by giving rather than receiving kindness.
  • Sallust, Catilina, VI.

• Ubicumque homo est, ibi beneficio locus est.
  • Wherever there is a human being there is an opportunity for a kindness.
  • Seneca the Younger, De Vita Beata, Ch. XXIV.

• Bis gratum est, quod dato opus est, ultro si offeras.
  • If what must be given is given willingly the kindness is doubled.
  • Syrus, Maxims.

• Pars beneficii est, quod petitur, si cito neges.
  • It is kindness immediately to refuse what you intend to deny.
  • Syrus, Maxims.

See also

• Agape
• Benevolence
• Charity
• Love
• Mercy

External links

Virtues
Altruism • Asceticism • Beneficence • Benevolence • Bravery • Carefulness • Charity • Cheerfulness • Cleanliness • Common sense • Compassion • Constancy • Courage • Dignity • Diligence • Discretion • Earnestness • Faith • Fidelity • Forethought • Forgiveness • Friendship • Frugality • Gentleness • Goodness • Grace • Gratitude • Holiness • Honesty • Honor • Hope • Hospitality • Humanity • Humility • Integrity • Intelligence • Justice • Kindness • Love • Loyalty • Mercy • Moderation • Modesty • Optimism • Patience • Philanthropy • Piety • Prudence • Punctuality • Poverty • Purity • Self-control • Simplicity • Sincerity • Sobriety • Sympathy • Temperance • Tolerance

Vices
Aggression • Anger • Apathy • Arrogance • Bigotry • Contempt • Cowardice • Cruelty • Dishonesty • Drunkenness • Egotism • Envy • Evil speaking • Gluttony • Greed • Hatred • Hypocrisy • Idleness • Ignorance • Impatience • Impenitence • Ingratitude • Inhumanity • Intemperance • Jealousy • Laziness • Lust • Malice • Neglect • Obstinacy • Philistinism • Prejudice • Pretension • Pride • Recklessness • Self-righteousness • Selfishness • Superficiality • Tryphé • Unkindness • Usury • Vanity • Worldliness