The HyperTexts

Best Kindness and Compassion Quotes and Epigrams

compiled by Michael R. Burch

The quotes and epigrams about kindness and compassion below are well worth reading, remembering and consulting from time to time. I am dedicating this page to my lovely wife Beth, because she practices the tender arts of love, compassion and kindness on a daily basis. If you are concerned about bigotry, intolerance and bullying, please listen to Beth's personal message of hope and encouragement by clicking here: Elizabeth Harris Burch. The other people quoted here are certainly an eclectic group, including poets, philosophers, princesses, religious icons, actors, comedians, politicians, a sportswriter, and even a Kung-Fu legend!

Unfading are the gardens of kindness.—Greek proverb
A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that dispenses roses.—Chinese proverb
A kind word is like a Spring day.—Russian proverb
Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge.—William Shakespeare
Always be a little kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some sort of battle.—a variation on Plato, John Watson and James M. Barrie
Do something nice for a complete stranger, then say, "You've been hit by a random act of kindness; pass it on!"—Elizabeth Harris Burch
Sometimes we never know just how special we are until someone else points it out to us.—Elizabeth Harris Burch
This world would be such a beautiful place if we all just chose to be kind to each other.—Elizabeth Harris Burch
I'm glad I'm funny. I'm glad I make people happy, because that's very important. But I'm proud to be known as a kind person.—Ellen DeGeneres
I'm going to be kind, because then it all just kind of spreads, and the world is a little nicer out there.—Ellen DeGeneres
I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion ... and helping those in need. To me, those are traditional values.—Ellen DeGeneres
Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, believing that one day someone might do the same for you.—Princess Diana
As much as we need a prosperous economy, we also need a prosperity of kindness and decency.—Caroline Kennedy
Ask yourself: Have you been kind today? Make kindness your daily modus operandi and change your world.—Annie Lennox
Any good that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now ... for I shall not pass this way again.—Etienne Griellet
You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.—Albert Schweitzer
Treat everyone you meet as if they are God in drag.—Ram Dass
Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness.—Confucius
A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.—Amelia Earhart
Only kindness matters. We are God's hands.—Jewel
My life is unjust, but I can strive for justice. My life is unkind, but I can vote for kindness.—Vachel Lindsay
One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.—Booker T. Washington
Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up.—Jesse Jackson
I admire the fact that the central core of Buddhist teaching involves mindfulness and loving kindness and compassion.—Ron Reagan (son of President Reagan)
We can choose between the future and the past, between reason and ignorance, between true compassion and mere ideology.—Ron Reagan
Eradicating a religion of kindness is, I think, a terrible thing for the Chinese to attempt.—Martin Scorsese
Kindness is a mark of faith, and whoever is not kind has no faith.—Mohammed
My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.—Dalai Lama
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.  If you want to be happy, practice compassion.—Dalai Lama
He who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.—Saint Basil
To walk in kindness is to walk in the way of Christ.—John Rodman Williams
He who aspires to paradise should learn to deal with people with kindness.—Abu Bakr
Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.—Lao Tzu
Getting money is not all a man's business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.—Samuel Johnson
Everyone responds to kindness.—Richard Gere
A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.—William Arthur Ward
A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles.—Washington Irving
A word of kindness is seldom spoken in vain, while witty sayings are as easily lost as the pearls slipping from a broken string.—George Dennison Prentice
For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.—Audrey Hepburn
The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.—John E. Southard
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.—Alexander Pope
A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.—Dave Barry
The best way to knock the chip off your neighbor's shoulder is to pat him on the back.—Author Unknown
There is no effect more disproportionate to its cause than the happiness bestowed by a small compliment.—Robert Brault
One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind.—Malayan Proverb
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 haven't any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.—Bob Hope
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.—Author Unknown
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
There is no greater loan than a sympathetic ear.—Frank Tyger
Someone who does things that count, doesn't usually stop to count them.—Albert Einstein (a variation)
Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.—Seneca
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.—Mark Twain
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.—Unknown
The best portion of a good man's life: his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.—William Wordsworth
An enemy to whom you show kindness becomes your friend.—Saadi
Deliberately seek opportunities for kindness, sympathy, and patience.—Evelyn Underhill
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 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 D. Roosevelt
I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in the kindness of human beings.—Pearl S. Buck
I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.—Tennessee Williams
To err on the side of kindness is seldom an error.—Liz Armbruster
Kindness has converted more sinners than zeal, eloquence, or learning.—Frederick William Faber
Kindness in ourselves is the honey that blunts the sting of unkindness in another.—Grantland Rice
Kindness is always fashionable.—Amelia E. Barr
Kindness is ever the begetter of kindness.—Sophocles
Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.—Samuel Johnson
Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.—Theodore Isaac Rubin
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.—Mark Twain
Kindness is the sunshine in which virtue grows.—Robert Green Ingersoll
Kindness is wisdom.—Philip James Bailey
Kindness makes a fellow feel good whether it's being done to him or by him.—Frank Howard Clark
Kindness, I've discovered, is everything in life.—Isaac Bashevis Singer
Love is like a friendship caught on fire ... As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.—Bruce Lee
I believe that man will not merely endure; he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among the creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of kindness and compassion.—William Falconer

The HyperTexts