There are countless quotations about kindness and about the path to creating a kind life.  As I post them on my home page, I will also archive them here to create a growing library of inspirational quotes.  Below the quotes, I plan to compile a list of books and films I have encountered that address kindness–either directly or indirectly.  I invite you to send me your suggestions for additions to the lists.

Kindness Quotes

“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)

“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.” (Dalai Lama)

“I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you’ll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you’ll make something that didn’t exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.” (Neil Gaiman)

“He who sees a need and waits to be asked for help is as unkind as if he had refused it.”  (Dante Alighieri)

“Every day, we are given countless opportunities to offer our gifts to those at work, in our families, our relationships…. If you give less than what you are, you dishonor the gift of your own precious life.”  (Wayne Muller)

“Be kind. Everyone you meet is carrying a heavy burden.”  (Ian MacLaren)

“Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.” (Samuel Johnson)

“We become what we love.  Whatever you are giving your time and attention to, day after day, is the kind of person you will eventually become.” (Wayne Muller)

“Tell me what you pay attention to, and I will tell you who you are.” (Jose Ortega y Gasset)

“All we are is a result of what we have thought.  If we focus the lion’s share of our energy on what we believe is wrong…, we gradually grow into people who are good at seeing what is wrong….  Instead of creating a life of beauty and meaning, we may simply become better and better at seeing only what is broken.” (Wayne Muller)

“Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you–not because they are nice, but because you are.” (Author Unknown)

“It’s impossible to get better and look good at the same time.” (Julia Cameron)

“We have no reason to mistrust our world, for it is not against us.  Has it terrors, they are our terrors; has it abysses, those abysses belong to us; are dangers at hand, we must try to love them….  Perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave.  Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us.”  (Rainier Maria Rilke)

“He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully.” (St. Paul)

“Kindness can become its own motive.  We are made kind by being kind.” (Eric Hoffer)

“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”  (Dalai Lama XIV)

“Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness.” (George Sand)

“Human freedom involves our capacity to pause, to choose the one response toward which we wish to throw our weight.”  (Rollo May)

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space.  In that space is our power to choose our response.  In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” (Victor Frankl)

“Kindness. Easy to do. Easy not to do. Choose the latter, no one will notice. Choose the former and lives may change.”  (Julian Bowers Brown‏)

“When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people.” (Abraham Joshua Heschel)

“One who knows how to show and to accept kindness will be a friend better than any possession.”  (Sophocles)

“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)

“They say philosophers and wise men are indifferent. Wrong. Indifference is a paralysis of the soul, a premature death.”  (Anton Chekhov) 

“Indifference.” Jerusha surprised herself with the answer. “Indifference, Gundhalinu, is the strongest force in the universe. It makes everything it touches meaningless. Love and hate don’t stand a chance against it. It lets neglect and decay and monstrous injustice go unchecked. It doesn’t act, it allows. And that’s what gives it so much power.” (Joan D. Vinge, The Snow Queen)

“Self-care is never a selfish act – it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer others. Anytime we can listen to true self and give the care it requires, we do it not only for ourselves, but for the many others whose lives we touch.”  (Parker Palmer)

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”  (Dr. Seuss)

“In dealing with those who are undergoing great suffering, if you feel ‘burnout’ setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself. The point is to have a long-term perspective.”  (Dalai Lama)

Your past mistakes are meant to guide you, not define you. (Anonymous)

“Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.” (Christopher Germer)

“The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.”  (Anna Quindlen)

“Be not afraid.  A kind life, a life of spirit, is fundamentally a life of courage—the courage simply to bring what you have, to bring who you are.” (Wayne Muller)

“Each smallest act of kindness reverberates across great distances and spans of time—affecting lives unknown to the one whose generous spirit was the source of this good echo, because kindness is passed on and grows each time it’s passed, until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage, years later and far away.” (Dean Koontz)

“When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind.”  (R.J. Palacio)

“Don’t underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.”  (Winnie the Pooh)

“Silence is sometimes the best answer” (Dalai Lama)

“We become what we love.  Whatever you are giving your time and attention to, day after day, is the kind of person you will eventually become.” (Wayne Muller)

“The way we live our life is our spiritual practice—no more, no less, nothing but, nothing else.” (Robert Corin Morris)

“When I am constantly running there is no time for being. When there is no time for being there is no time for listening.” (Madeleine L’Engle)

“The more you know yourself, the more patience you have for what you see in others.” (Erik Erikson)

“Even if our efforts of attention seem for years to be producing no result, one day a light that is in exact proportion to them will flood the soul.” (Simone Weil)

“Being considerate of others will take your children further in life than any college degree.”  (Marian Wright Edelman)

“Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.” (Robert Louis Stevenson) 

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” (Kurt Vonnegut)

“It is not the nature of the task, but its consecration, that is the vital thing.” (Martin Buber)

“Wounding and healing are not opposites. They’re part of the same thing. It is our wounds that enable us to be compassionate with the wounds of others. It is our limitations that make us kind to the limitations of other people. It is our loneliness that helps us to find other people or to even know they’re alone with an illness. I think I have served people perfectly with parts of myself I used to be ashamed of. ”  (Rachel Naomi Remen)

“The little unremembered acts of kindness and love are the best parts of a person’s life.” (William Wordsworth)

“When you carry out acts of kindness you get a wonderful feeling inside.  It is as though something inside your body responds and says, yes, this is how I ought to feel.” (Harold Kushner)

“If you treat people right, they will treat you right … ninety percent of the time.”  (Franklin D. Roosevelt)

“Being kind doesn’t mean being gullible.” (Aniket Jawale)

“True kindness is rooted in a deep sense of abundance, out of which flows a sense that even as I give, it is being given back to me.” (Wayne Muller)

“He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully.” (St. Paul)

“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)

“The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.”  (Tom Bodett)

“Unkind people imagine themselves to be inflicting pain on someone equally unkind.” (Marcel Proust)

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” (Desmond Tutu)

“Generosity brings happiness at every stage of its expression. We experience joy in forming the intention to be generous. We experience joy in the actual act of giving something. And we experience joy in remembering the fact that we have given.”  (Gautama Buddha)

“I can live for two months on a good compliment.” (Mark Twain)

“No one has ever become poor by giving.” (Anne Frank)

“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” (Chief Seattle, 1854)

“I do not think the measure of a civilization is how tall its buildings of concrete are, but rather how well its people have learned to relate to their environment and fellow man.” (Sun Bear of the Chippewa Tribe)

“The common mistake that bullies make is assuming that because someone is nice that he or she is weak. Those traits have nothing to do with each other. In fact, it takes considerable strength and character to be a good person.” (Mary Elizabeth Williams)

“We live under the illusion that organizations are ‘them’ when, in reality, they are ‘us.’  If we wish to work in evolved organizations, we must each be the first to start the journey.” (Lance Secretan)

“When we treat people merely as they are, they will remain as they are. When we treat them as if they were what they should be, they will become what they should be.”  (Thomas S. Monson) 

“Invent your world. Surround yourself with people, color, sounds, and work that nourish you.” – Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy (Sark)

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

“He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.” (Immanual Kant)

“Animals don’t lie. Animals don’t criticize. If animals have moody days, they handle them better than humans do.” (Betty White)

“Curiosity is the single most important attribute with which humans are born. More than a simple desire to discover or know things, curiosity is a powerful tool, like a scalpel or a searchlight. Curiosity changes us. It is also a way to effect change, perhaps even on a global level.” (Loren Rhoads)

“Let go of certainty. The opposite isn’t uncertainty. It’s openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow.” (Tony Schwartz)

“When we aren’t curious in conversations we judge, tell, blame and even shame, often without even knowing it, which leads to conflict.” (Kirsten Siggins)

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” (Albert Einstein)

“Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you’ve got a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies, God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.” (Kurt Vonnegut)

“Our lives are made of these moments.  Simple words and actions, taken together, weave a single day, and our days become our life.  Every gesture is a seed, and the seed determines the harvest.” (Wayne Muller)

“A gift is like a seed; it is not an impressive thing. It is what can grow from the seed that is impressive. If we wait until our seed becomes a tree before we offer it, we will wait and wait, and the seed will die from lack of planting…. The miracle is not just the gift; the miracle is in the offering, for if we do not offer, who will?” (Wayne Muller) 

“Love doesn’t mean doing extraordinary or heroic things. It means knowing how to do ordinary things with tenderness.” (Jean Vanier)

“Tell me what you pay attention to, and I will tell you who you are.” (Jose Ortega y Gasset)

“I was once asked why I don’t participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I’ll be there.” (Mother Teresa)

“What we choose to love is very important for what we love leads our eyes, ears, and hearts on a pilgrimage that shapes the texture of our lives.” (Wayne Muller)

“Be kind to people and don’t judge, for you do not know what demons they carry and what battles they are fighting.” (Vashti Quiroz-Vega)

“When we do what we love, again and again, our life comes to hold the fragrance of that thing.” (Wayne Muller)

“Conquer the angry one by not getting angry; conquer the wicked by goodness; conquer the stingy by generosity, and the liar by speaking the truth.” (Gautama Buddha)

“If a person seems wicked, do not cast him away. Awaken him with your words, elevate him with your deeds, repay his injury with your kindness. Do not cast him away; cast away his wickedness.” (Lao Tzu)

“Kindness covers all of my political beliefs. No need to spell them out. I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn’t always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.” (Roger Ebert)

“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness.” (Seneca)

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.  If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”  (Dalai Lama)

“When you open a door for others, you sometimes open doors for yourself.” (Donald L. Hicks)

“Now I see the secret of making the best person: it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.” (Walt Whitman)

“My father said there were two kinds of people in the world: givers and takers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better.” (Marlo Thomas)

“Look into your own heart, discover what it is that gives you pain and then refuse, under any circumstance whatsoever, to inflict that pain on anybody else.” (Karen Armstrong)

“Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution.” (Khalil Gibran)

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

“Be kind; everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” (Attributed to Philo of Alexandria, Plato and Ian MacLaren)

“It is only with true love and compassion that we can begin to mend what is broken in the world. It is these two blessed things that can begin to heal all broken hearts.” (Steve Maraboli) 

“When we make judgments we’re inevitably acting on limited knowledge, isn’t it best to ask if we seek to understand, or simply let them be?” (Jay Woodman)

“I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind.” (Khalil Gibran)

“Every day, we are given countless opportunities to offer our gifts to those at work, in our families, our relationships…. If you give less than what you are, you dishonor the gift of your own precious life.” (Wayne Muller)

“I do not like that man. I must get to know him better.” (Abraham Lincoln)

“Let us learn to live with kindness, to love everyone, even when they do not love us.” (Pope Francis)

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” (Franklin D. Roosevelt)

“Courage is the first of human virtues because it makes the other virtues possible.” (Aristotle)

“A kind life…is fundamentally a life of courage.” (Wayne Muller)

“Everyday courage has few witnesses. It is no less noble because no drum beats and no crowds shout your name.” (Robert Louis Stevenson)

“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.” (Mark Twain)

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” (Anaïs Nin)

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” (Dalai Lama)

“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)

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” (Leo Tolstoy)

“Learning to love is hard and we pay dearly for it. It takes hard work and a long apprenticeship, for it is not just for a moment that we must learn to love, but forever.” (Fyoder Dostoevsky)

“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)

“Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.” (Albert Schweitzer)

“You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.” (Jim Rohn)

“If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it.” (Lucy Larcom)

“The true essence of humankind is kindness. There are other qualities which come from education or knowledge, but it is essential, if one wishes to be a genuine human being and impart satisfying meaning to one’s existence, to have a good heart.” (The Dalai Lama)

“How would your life be different if…you stopped making negative judgmental assumptions about people you encounter? Let today be the day…you look for the good in everyone you meet and respect their journey.” (Steve Maraboli)

“The beginning of personal transformation is absurdly easy. We have only to pay attention to the flow of attention itself.” (Marilyn Ferguson)

“We do not actually know other people; we only know our judgments.” (Bryant McGill)

“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)

“If you have to choose between being kind and being right, choose being kind and you will always be right.” (Anonymous)

“Your reputation is more important than your paycheck, and your integrity is worth more than your career.” (Ryan Freitas)

“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.” (Meister Eckert)

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” (Melody Beattie)

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.” (Martha Graham)

“You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.” (John Wooden)

“Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.” (Theodore Isaac Rubin)

“Our greatest gift is to allow ourselves to feel alive in this sea, moving with the tides of lovingkindness as they move into us, through us, out of us into others, only to return again and again.” (Wayne Muller)

“You may be sorry that you spoke, sorry you stayed or went, sorry you won or lost, sorry so much was spent. But as you go through life, you’ll find you’re never sorry you were kind.” (Herbert Prochnow)

“Character is when we have the discipline to follow through with the goal after the mood in which the goal was set passes.” (Michael Broome)

“Kindness is an inner desire that makes us want to do good things even if we do not get anything in return. It is the joy of our life to do them. When we do good things from this inner desire, there is kindness in everything we think, say, want and do.” (Emanuel Swedenborg)

“Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” (Rumi) 

“It’s all a matter of paying attention, being awake in the present moment, and not expecting a huge payoff. The magic in this world seem to work in whispers and small kindnesses.” (Charles de Lint)

“We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” (Max De Pree)

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” (Aesop)

“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as you can.” (John Wesley)

“We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over.” (Ray Bradbury)

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” (Rumi)

“Humans aren’t as good as we should be in our capacity to empathize with feelings and thoughts of others, be they humans or other animals on Earth. So maybe part of our formal education should be training in empathy. Imagine how different the world would be if, in fact, that were ‘reading, writing, arithmetic, empathy’.” (Neil deGrasse Tyson)

“In my opinion, good energy—kindness, decency, and love—is the most transformative force in the world.” (Cory Booker)

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” (Fred Rogers)

“I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness.” (Mother Teresa)

“Courage. Kindness. Friendship. Character. These are the qualities that define us as human beings, and propel us, on occasion, to greatness.” (R.J. Palacio)

“All the big words—virtue, justice, truth…—are dwarfed by the greatness of kindness.” (Stephen Fry)

“Your greatness is measured by your kindness; your education and intellect by your modesty; your ignorance is betrayed by your suspicions and prejudices, and your real caliber is measured by the consideration and tolerance you have for others.” (William J.H. Boetcker)

“It’s not our job to toughen our children up to face a cruel and heartless world. It’s our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless.” (L.R. Knost)

“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” (James Baldwin)

“We become what we love. Whatever you are giving your time and attention to, day after day, is the kind of person you will eventually become.” (Wayne Muller)

“A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.” (Saint Basil, Bishop of Cesarea)

“Though it may seem that your kindness is not always appreciated, it does indeed have an impact every time. The less it seems to be appreciated, the more it is needed, and the more of a positive difference it can make. Kindness is not something that becomes depleted when it is used. The more true, unconditional kindness you offer, the more you will have to offer, and the more there will be for everyone. Genuine kindness is not an act of weakness or capitulation, but rather a powerful demonstration of confidence in your purpose. Not at all naïve or unrealistic, kindness is a sign of true strength and real sophistication. Kindness does not mean allowing others to take advantage of you or of anyone else. Kindness means doing what you know is right and creating real, substantial, lasting value for those around you. Live and act with kindness, and the value of each action is multiplied many, many times over. Live with kindness and you live with the power to make a difference in every life you touch.” (Ralph Marston)

“It’s a little embarrassing that after 45 years of research and study, the best advice I can give people is to be a little kinder to each other.” (Aldous Huxley)

“The words of kindness are more healing to a drooping heart than balm or honey.”  (Sarah Fielding)

“For it is in giving that we receive.” (Francis of Assisi)

“Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, and don’t put up with people that are reckless with yours.” (Mary Schmich)

“Speak only if it improves upon the silence” (Mahatma Gandhi)

“The times it’s most important to be kind are also when it’s hardest to be kind.” (Donna Cameron)

“On most days, the biggest thing you can do is a small act of kindness, decency or love.” (Cory Booker)

“If you ask me what I came to this world to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud.” (Emile Zola)

“Be kind to yourself in the year ahead. Remember to forgive yourself, and to forgive others. It’s too easy to be outraged these days, so much harder to change things, to reach out, to understand. Try to make your time matter: minutes and hours and days and weeks can blow away like dead leaves, with nothing to show but time you spent not quite ever doing things, or time you spent waiting to begin. Meet new people and talk to them. Make new things and show them to people who might enjoy them. Hug too much. Smile too much. And, when you can, love.” (Neil Gaiman)

“Within you there is a stillness and sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.” (Hermann Hesse)

“There is a way to live that makes the angels cry out in rapture. There is a way to live that makes each cell a star.” (from “Clearing,” Morgan Farley)

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.” (Mother Teresa)

“I simply do not think that yelling, swearing, threatening or belittling will get you to the place you want to be faster than kindness, understanding, patience and a little willingness to compromise.” (Rachel Nichols)

“Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.” (The Dalai Lama) 

“The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.” (Annie Dillard)

“Don’t die with your best song still unsung.” (Anonymous)

“A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives the roses.” (Chinese Proverb)

“Wherever there is a human in need, there is an opportunity for kindness and to make a difference.” (Kevin Heath)

“There are few problems in life which kindness and common sense cannot make simple and manageable.” (Mary Burchell) 

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” (Jimi Hendrix)

“To be kind is more important than to be right. Many times what people need is not a brilliant mind that speaks but a special heart that listens.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

“What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?” (Jean Jacques Rousseau)

“To belittle, you have to be little” (Khalil Gibran)

“We can never elevate ourselves by putting someone else down.” (Donna Cameron)

“When you argue with a fool, make sure he is not similarly engaged.” (Proverb)

“It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.” (Moliere)

“If you want to be a rebel, be kind.” (Pancho Ramos Stierle)

“We can never elevate ourselves by putting someone else down.” (Donna Cameron)

 “To belittle, you have to be little” (Khalil Gibran)

“A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.” (Amelia Earhart)

“How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment. We can start now, start slowly, changing the world. How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make a contribution toward introducing justice straightaway. And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness!” (Anne Frank)

“The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.” (Paulo Coelho)

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” (Howard Thurman)

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” (William Arthur Ward)

“Be kind to everybody. Make art and fight the power.” (Colson Whitehead) 

“Many men fail because they do not see the importance of being kind and courteous to the men under them. Kindness to everybody always pays for itself. And, besides, it is a pleasure to be kind.” (Charles M. Schwab)

“Love without motives. Give without expectations. Forgive without conditions.” (Buky Ojelabi)

“The more you know yourself, the more patience you have for what you see in others.” (Erik Erikson)

“Political civility is not about being polite to each other. It’s about reclaiming the power of ‘We the People’ to come together, debate the common good and call American democracy back to its highest values amid our differences.” (Parker Palmer)

“If you want to be a rebel, be kind.” (Pancho Ramos Stierle)

“The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.” (Paulo Coelho)

“One key to knowing joy is being easily pleased.” (Mark Nepo)

“Appreciate the little things, for one day you may look back and find they were the big things.” (Anonymous)

“Elegance and kindness is an elegant and kind reply to the rudeness of this world.” (Mehmet Murat ildan)

“Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you.” (H. Jackson Brown, Jr.)

“Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.” (W. Clement Stone)

“No act of kindness is too small. The gift of kindness may start as a small ripple that over time can turn into a tidal wave affecting the lives of many.” (Kevin Heath)

“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” (Pablo Picasso)

“Be kind to unkind people—they probably need it the most.” (Ashleigh Brilliant)

“Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.” (L.R. Knost)

“To err on the side of kindness is seldom an error.” (Liz Armbruster)

“When I do good, I feel good, and when I do bad, I feel bad, and that’s my religion.” (Abraham Lincoln)

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” (Albert Schweitzer)

“There are two ways of exerting one’s strength; one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.” (Booker T. Washington)

 “You can accomplish by kindness what you cannot by force.” (Publilius Syrus)

“No one is born hating another person…People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” (Nelson Mandela)

“What advantage has the person who will not listen over the one who cannot hear?” (Joyce Rachelle)

“Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.” (Joyce Meyer) 

“I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it.” (Edith Sitwell)

“…we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” (John F. Kennedy)

“Helping others, that’s the main thing. The only way for us to help ourselves is to help others and to listen to each other’s stories.” (Elie Wiesel) 

“We’re all just walking each other home.” (Ram Dass)

“What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded … sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.” (George Saunders)

“The secret of living well is not in having all the answers, but in pursuing unanswerable questions in good company.” (Rachel Naomi Remen)

“Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.” (Albert Camus)

“We scientists have found that doing a kindness produces the single most reliable momentary increase in well-being of any exercise we have tested… Here is the exercise: find one wholly unexpected kind thing to do tomorrow and just do it. Notice what happens to your mood.” (Martin Seligman) 

“Ask yourself: Have you been kind today? Make kindness your modus operandi and change your world.” (Annie Lennox)

“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion, against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world…would do this, it would change the earth.” (William Faulkner)

“Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” (Franklin Delano Roosevelt)

“Kindness causes us to learn, and to forget, many things.” (Anne-Sophie Swetchine) 

“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.” (Shannon Alder)

“When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.” (Jean Shinoda Bolen)

“Nourishing yourself in a way that helps you blossom in the direction you want to go is attainable, and you are worth the effort.” (Deborah Day)

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.” (Maya Angelou)

“The paradox of education is precisely this – that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.” (James Baldwin)

“If you can control your behavior when everything around you is out of control, you can model for your children a valuable lesson in patience and understanding…and snatch an opportunity to shape character.” (Jane Clayson Johnson)

“Mean is easy. Mean is lazy. Mean is self-satisfied and slothful. You know what takes effort? Being kind. Being patient. Being respectful.” (Jake Tapper)

“My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.” (Maya Angelou)

You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make. (Jane Goodall) 

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

“We cannot, of course, save the World because we do not have authority over its parts. We can serve the world though. That is everyone’s calling, to lead a life that helps.” (Barry Lopez)

“The price of privilege is the moral duty to act when one sees another person treated unfairly.” (Isabel Wilkerson, Caste) 

“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”  (James Baldwin) 

“The highest form of wisdom is kindness” (The Talmud)