kindness

Be Silly
Be Honest
Be Kind

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Before you speak-

Is it truthful?
Is it necessary?
Is it kind?

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.
Dalai Lama

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

Kindness
Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.
Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

Naomi Shihab Nye, “Kindness” from Words Under the Words: Selected Poems. Copyright © 1995 by Naomi Shihab Nye. Reprinted with the permission of the author.

"There's only one rule that I know of, babies - God damn it, you've got to be kind."

- Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

“If you can't be kind, at least be vague.”

― Judith Martin

**Starring this thread. Thanks MD!**

Kindness, I've discovered, is everything in life.

-Isaac Bashevis Singer

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.

~Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

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

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.

~Samuel Johnson

When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.

~Abraham Joshua Heschel

Amen

Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.

~Adam Lindsay Gordon

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

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

Yes. This.

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

When my oldest daughter was a teenager, she had many many issues. It was then I worked to hone down my wishes for her to two things - that she be honest, especially to herself, and that she be kind.

~Ruth

These are wonderful. Thank you.

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

- (often attributed to) Philo of Alexandria

“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.”
- Lao Tzu

No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted. ~ Aesop

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

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

The truest greatness lies in being kind, the truest wisdom in a happy mind.
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

"Forget injuries;
never forget kindness."
-- Confucius

I THEREFORE PLEDGE ...
TO CONDUCT myself in a harmonious, peaceable manner, avoiding selfish or arrogant behaviour, giving love and kindness to those around me.
-- Guy Dauncy

I think we need more love in the world. We need more kindness, more compassion, more joy, more laughter. I definitely want to contribute to that.
-- Ellen DeGeneres

"The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth..."
-- Albert Einstein

He that has done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.
-- Benjamin Franklin

What we all have in common is an appreciation of kindness and compassion; all the religions have this. We all lean towards love.
-- Richard Gere

We have a duty to look after each other. If we lose control of our government, then we lose our ability to dispense justice and human kindness. Our first priority today, then, is to defeat utterly those forces of greed and corruption that have come between us and our self-governance.
-- Doris Haddock (Granny D)

"Compassionate the mountains rise
Dim with the wistful dimness of old eyes
That, having looked on life time out of mind,
Know that the simple gift of being kind
Is greater than all the wisdom of the wise."
-- DuBose Heyward

Kindness ... loving people more than they deserve.
-- Joseph Joubert (1754-1824)

Ask yourself: Have you been kind today? Make kindness your daily modus operandi and change your world.
-- Annie Lennox

Kindness is not a thought process, it's completely from the heart. It's about not looking away. It's about standing up and being defiant and seeing when something needs to be done -- not being afraid to stand up and step up, but to stay present with that person, whether it's someone we know or not. -- Noelani Musicaro

"Love in action is service to the world. There are those who are in need of some loving kindness in the unique way that you can provide. Give of yourself and let the leaven of love be your guide."
-- Lynne Namka (LynneNamka.com)

"If there is any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not deter or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again."
-- William Penn

There is perhaps no surer road to peace than the one that starts from little islands and oases of genuine kindness, islands and oases constantly growing in number and being continually joined together until eventually they ring the world.
-- Father Dominique Pire

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?
-- Jean Jacques Rousseau

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

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

"You can accomplish by kindness what you cannot do by force."
-- Publilius Syrus (1st century BC)

"Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor... Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting." -- Mother Teresa