Compassion Kindness Quotes & Sayings

We cannot dim another person's light without first extinguishing our own. — Alaric Hutchinson

When you take the high road you will see things that some people can't. — Shannon L. Alder

Pain in the body is a clear indication,
Something in the energy fields are blocking inner growth. — Nikki Rowe

As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way. — Mary Anne Radmacher

One man practicing kindness in the wilderness is worth all the temples this world pulls. — Jack Kerouac

A small kindness, a confluence of compassion, had saved his life. Was that strength, or a weakness? — Jacqueline Carey

I have to believe it's right to be a warm voice, a companion if I can be, as soon as ever I find a friend. — Betsy Cornwell

Loving-kindness and compassion are the basis for wise, powerful, sometimes gentle, and sometimes fierce actions that can really make a difference - in our own lives and those of others. — Sharon Salzberg

Mr. Ryan was going to have my ass. I was twenty minutes late. As I experienced this morning, he hated late. "Late" was a word not found in the Bennett Ryan Dickhead Dictionary. Along with "heart," "kindness," "compassion," "lunch break," or "thank you. — Christina Lauren

I warned myself against the danger of compassion in this case. How easy it would be to imagine the traumas of childhood that might have deformed her into the moral monster she had become, and then to convince myself that those traumas could be balanced - and their effects reversed - by sufficient acts of kindness. — Dean Koontz

Today is the best day to be compassionate and kind.
Extend your hand, open your heart with a sympathetic mind.
Be the symbol of love, kindness, and compassion. — Debasish Mridha

How far you go in life depends on ... — George Washington Carver

The essence of all religions is love, compassion and tolerance. Kindness is my true religion. No matter whether you are learned or not, whether you believe in the next life or not, whether you believe in God or Buddha or some other religion or not, in day-to-day life you must be a kind person. — Dalai Lama

Happy endings happen every day we share our generosity, peace, compassion, kindness, respect, timeless love and joy with our love ones, friends and others. — Angelica Hopes

Something is lacking. As one of the seven billion human beings, I believe everyone has the responsibility to develop a happier world. We need, ultimately, to have a greater concern for others' well-being. In other words, kindness or compassion, which is lacking now. We must pay more attention to our inner values. We must look inside." He — Dalai Lama XIV

I don't want to be rich and famous but I want to die knowing I stood infront of a broken man and gave him one reason to smile again. — Nikki Rowe

When you serve the humanity with compassion and kindness,
You express your spontaneous love and inner greatness. — Debasish Mridha

Your good deeds is an act of love. — Lailah Gifty Akita

I made the choice to be vegan because I will not eat (or wear, or use) anything that could have an emotional response to its death or captivity. I can well imagine what that must feel like for our non-human friends - the fear, the terror, the pain - and I will not cause such suffering to a fellow living being. — Rai Aren

Idea at play here is that of "morality." When young women are taught about morality, there's not often talk of compassion, kindness, courage, or integrity. There is, however, a lot of talk about hymens — Jessica Valenti

Over the previous few years, Vigil had become convinced that the next leap forward in human endurance would come from a dimension he dreaded getting into: character. Not the "character" other coaches were always rah-rah-rah-ing about; Vigil wasn't talking about "grit" or "hunger" or "the size of the fight in the dog." In fact, he meant the exact opposite. Vigil's notion of character wasn't toughness. It was compassion. Kindness. Love. That's right: love. — Christopher McDougall

The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful then a thousand heads bowing in prayer. — Mahatma Gandhi

She thought of the hardness and the coldness she had cultivated over those years and wondered if they were the mask she wore or if the mask had become her self. If the longing inside her for kindness, for warmth, for compassion, was the last seed of hope for her, she didn't know how to nurture it or if it could live. — Megan Whalen Turner

We're told compassion comes not from generosity but from compliance. We're told kindness means raiding a man's hard-earned wages and sending them off to Washington so they - not you - may dole them out in courtesies and indulgences. — Allen West

Our tenderness, compassion and kindness go with sensitive generous heart that should not be abused by others. — Angelica Hopes

As the flower blooms in spring, compassion grows in mindfulness. — Amit Ray

Make choices in life that don't leave people bitter, worse off or confused. Any choice that leads you to do this is a choice that didn't include God in the decision making process. — Shannon L. Alder

What is success? What does it mean that someone is successful?
Success can be different things to different people. For us being successful is a conscious choice to be oneself. Success does not have to be dependent on any external circumstances and rules dictated by the mainstream society.
It does not matter where we live and what we possess. When we love and support ourselves unconditionally choosing to be ourselves as much as we can, this is for us, Being Successful. — Raphael Zernoff

I am the symbol of peace,
I am the humanity
I am the symbol of goodness
I am the community
I am the symbol of change
I am the light in darkness
I am the symbol of compassion
I am the soul of kindness
I am the symbol of joyful future
I will bring brightness
I am the symbol of unity and harmony
I will bring happiness. — Debasish Mridha

Over the years I've found it much more helpful to follow the advice of Sister Liebert and seek to treat each young person as a teacher from God, someone God has placed in my life in order to help me grow in faith. When I encounter a young person, I find it much more helpful to think that she (or he) may be the only Jesus I'll ever know. Perhaps by seeking to encounter the presence of Christ in young people, we'll find ourselves better able to see them, hear them, feel compassion for them, and respond in kindness. — Mark Yaconelli

If you are motivated by loving kindness and compassion, there are many ways to bring happiness to others right now, starting with kind speech. — Nhat Hanh

I could really use someone else's smile today. — Richelle E. Goodrich

Though there are many barriers to expressing unreserved love, no such impediments to a developing a loving and generous heart deter a spiritual warrior. He who is without love is bereft of richness of life. Compassion, empathy, kindness, tenderness, and patience are essential for love. Anger, frustration, jealously, greed, and hatred are the antonym to love. When we love other people with all our ferocity, we transcend the misuse, waste, pain, tragedy, death, anguish, erotic obsessions, unaccountable confusion, and self-absorbed personal ambitions that, if left unchecked, numb our earthly existence. — Kilroy J. Oldster

Never give up and never give in. The truth always finds a way to be told. — Shannon L. Alder

If you want to teach real religion to the kids, throw away the Bible, the Vedas, the Quran and all the scriptures, and teach them the religion of love. — Abhijit Naskar

Jesus conveyed the impression of complete love, compassion, kindness, and infinite patience. — Mary C. Neal

This ring means that I choose to spend the rest of my life with you. I promise to love you in the nurturing and selfless way that you love me. I've changed so much since I've known you. Your love has given me the strength to be softer. You've taught me kindness and compassion. You make me better. — Portia De Rossi

I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness. — Mother Teresa

In reality, we live in every one. Deep down there is a rose in every heart. — Amit Ray

Those who say life is knocking them down and giving them a tough time are usually the first to beat themselves up. Be on your own side. — Rasheed Ogunlaru

We can have skills training in mindfulness so that we are using our attention to perceive something in the present moment. This perception is not so latent by fears or projections into the future, or old habits, and then I can actually stir loving-kindness or compassion in skills training too, which can be sort of provocative, I found. — Sharon Salzberg

I who am the beauty of the green earth and the white moon among the stars and the mystery of the waters, I call upon your soul to arise, and to come unto me, for I am the soul of nature, that gives life to the universe, from me all things proceed, and unto me all things must return, but for those who would seek to worship me, let them do so with joy in their hearts for all acts of love and of pleasure are my rituals, let them develop within them the qualities of compassion, kindness, humility, love, understanding. But for those who seek to know me, let them know that if all they are seeking and they are yearning it will avail them not until they learn the great mystery that which you seek you find not within yourself you'll never find it without. For I am that which is attained at the end of all suffering. I am she of a thousand names. — The Empress

[P]eople think of compassion as, like, kindness. The image comes to mind of some nice New Age guy bending to something with a look on his face like he's about to cry. And I don't think that's it. I think of it more as a quality of openness that comes with being in a state of unusual attentiveness. — George Saunders

The healthy should be reminded that we are all dying because it is through our own reminder of mortality that we accelerate our good intentions, into actions people can see. — Shannon L. Alder

It's a little embarrassing that after 45 years of research & study, the best advice I can give people is to be a little kinder to each other. — Aldous Huxley

How good life is when one does something good and just! — Fyodor Dostoyevsky

A joke is never a joke if it is at the expense of another person's feelings — Heather Wolf

The root of compassion is not empathy; that is kindness. Kindness is great, but it is not the ultimate compassion. Ultimate compassion relieves the suffering that comes from separateness. The suffering that comes from separateness is relieved only when you are fully present with another person, not when you are separately present. — Ram Dass

It only takes a split second to smile and forget, yet to someone that needed it, it can last a lifetime. — Steve Maraboli

People will always notice something about you. It might be the way you walk or the way you talk, or just simply your personality. Live each day in the way you want to be remembered. Live in such a way that people will be inspired by those unique qualities that you have and strive to live better lives for themselves. — Amaka Imani Nkosazana

No one has ever become poor by giving. — Anne Frank

Kindness that turns to bitterness when it is not appreciated was never kindness at all. — Vironika Tugaleva

It is no kindness to treat unhappy people as helpless, hopeless, or inadequate, no matter what has happened to them. Kindness is having faith in the truth and that people can handle it and use it for their benefit. True compassion is helping people help themselves. — William Glasser

In a world where very few people care if you live or die, there is a light that shines in the distance. It has a name that they call hope and it carries with it people that never stop caring. They learned long ago that extending mercy was not a choice, but a place where God lives. — Shannon L. Alder

If you develop a pure and sincere motivation, if you are motivated by a wish to help on the basis of kindness, compassion, and respect, then you can carry on any kind of work, in any field, and function more effectively. — Dalai Lama

I wish the hearts of human beings pumped with kind desires.
I wish every gaze landed on the eyes of others compassionately.
I wish hatred, envy, and vengeance were alien concepts to humankind.
I wish the precious worth of every soul was universally understood. — Richelle E. Goodrich

Compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves. — Pema Chodron

Don't ever mistake my silence for ignorance, my calmness for acceptance or my kindness for weakness. Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength. — Dalai Lama

Let your love be the kindness to make a homeless person believe that a soul needs something more than just four walls and a ceiling. — Munia Khan

It's time that Islam should be redefined by the world based upon, the goodness of all the peace-loving Muslims, instead of the theoretical teachings of some books, be it Quran or the Hadith. — Abhijit Naskar

One that society can't forgive, but I can. — Dennis Lehane

Kindness is a virtue neither modern nor urban. One almost unlearns it in a city. Towns have their own beatitude; they are not unfriendly; they offer a vast and solacing anonymity or an equally vast and solacing gregariousness. But one needs a neighbor on whom to practice compassion. — Phyllis McGinley

I think we would do much better as a whole if we focused more compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience than on how all the non-Christians are ruining society with their bad behavior and politics. — Kelly Minter

Great life, great deeds. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Happiness is when you fight for souls that barely hang on. — Shannon L. Alder

I do understand what love is, and that is one of the reasons I can never again be a Christian. Love is not self denial. Love is not blood and suffering. Love is not murdering your son to appease your own vanity. Love is not hatred or wrath, consigning billions of people to eternal torture because they have offended your ego or disobeyed your rules. Love is not obedience, conformity, or submission. It is a counterfeit love that is contingent upon authority, punishment, or reward. True love is respect and admiration, compassion and kindness, freely given by a healthy, unafraid human being. — Dan Barker

Everyone is overcoming something, be gentle. — Nikki Rowe

How much better the world would be if we all gave gifts of understanding, and compassion, of service, and friendship, of kindness and gentleness. — Thomas S. Monson

The best of who you are is not from who you have in your life, rather who they helped you become because they loved you. — Shannon L. Alder

Gratitude is the combination of appreciate, love, kindness, and compassion in a beautiful heart. — Debasish Mridha

...rewilding is all about being nice, kind, compassionate, empathic, and harnessing our inborn goodness and optimism. We must all work together at this. It's about time we focus on the good side of human and animal nature. ... nature offers many lessons for kinder society. Blood shouldn't sell. — Marc Bekoff

Be kind to people whether they deserve your kindness or not. If your kindness reaches the deserving good for you if your kindness reaches the undeserving take joy in your compassion. — James Fadiman

What is most important is to go deep into ourselves and discover the loving kindness and compassion of the buddha within - the awakened nature we all possess. — Shinjo Ito

Do no harmful actions, do not become attached to the cycle of death and rebirth, show kindness, respect the old and have compassion for the young, do not have a heart that rejects or a heart that covets and have no worry or sadness in your heart. This is what is called enlightenment. Do not seek it elsewhere. — Dogen

A dog has the soul of a philosopher. — Plato

Live with an open mind and an open heart. Always choose love over fear and kindness over cruelty. — Laurence Overmire

The Dalai Lama challenged me - he said, 'Why can't you use technological tools to study kindness and compassion? — Richard Davidson

That's how powerful you are, girl ... You pretty, but pretty alone is not what people see. You the kinda pretty, the kinda beauty, that's like a mirror. Men and women see themselves in you, only now they so beautiful that they can't bear to see you go. — Walter Mosley

In a world plagued with commonplace tragedies, only one thing exists that truly has the power to save lives, and that is love. — Richelle E. Goodrich

realized during the practice that a lot of what was holding me back originated from my fear of pain and suffering, and once I found myself capable of breathing in the pain and suffering of myself and others, and comfortable radiating kindness, love, and compassion, a lot of the fetters holding me back dissolved away. — Chade-Meng Tan

Good deeds awaken the good spirit of every soul. — Lailah Gifty Akita

Through mindfully practising love and compassion we are able to heal our hearts and minds from our hurt and suffering, thus bringing harmony into this world. The more we are open to love, the easier it is to share kindness with all living creatures. — Christopher Dines

When we are devoted to the development of kindness, it becomes our ready response, so that reacting from compassion, from caring, is not a question of giving ourselves a lecture: 'I don't really feel like it, but I'd better be helpful, or what would people think?' — Sharon Salzberg

For me, love is an enhanced state of kindness, compassion, service, respect, and humility, an emotion I feel we are all here to give and to receive. — Nathan East

People are already disappointed by their acquaintances, they can not handle anymore hate from stranger, so show some instantaneous kindness and forgiveness to them. — Amit Kalantri

I don't want to take away anybody's religion, but simply to make them see what religion really means. — Abhijit Naskar

Love yourself and extend the love to others. — Lailah Gifty Akita

We all are so deeply interconnected; we have no option but to love all. Be kind and do good for any one and that will be reflected. The ripples of the kind heart are the highest blessings of the Universe. — Amit Ray

Peace is not the absence of violence or war; it is the presence of kindness, compassion, love, and care. — Debasish Mridha

True beauty is a warm heart, a kind soul, and an attentive ear. — Ken Poirot

To live a wonderful life, be curious and impregnate your thoughts with kindness, compassion, and pure love. — Debasish Mridha

Every person's story contains chapters of pain and loss, victory and defeat, love and hate, pride and prejudice, courage and fear, faith and self-distrust, charity and kindness, selfishness and jealously. Every person's story also contains folios of hopefulness and truthfulness, deceit and despair, action and change, passion and compassion, excitement and boredom, birth and creation, mutation and defect, generation and preservation, delusions and illusions, imagination and fantasy, bafflement and puzzlement. What makes a person's selfsame story unique is how he or she organizes the pure and impure forces that comprise them, how they respond to internal and external crisis, if they act in a safeguarding and humble manner, or lead a self-seeking and destructive existence. — Kilroy J. Oldster

If we're destroying our trees and destroying our environment and hurting animals and hurting one another and all that stuff, there's got to be a very powerful energy to fight that. 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

Mum always taught us that compassion and kindness were the most important things in life, that it was better to be kind than right. — Rebecca Gibney

When you find yourself in need of spiritual nourishment, it is in the opportunities to serve others that you will find the abundance you seek. — Steve Maraboli

The opposite of scarcity is not abundance; the opposite of scarcity is simply enough. Empathy is not finite, and compassion is not a pizza with eight slices. When you practice empathy and compassion with someone, there is not less of these qualities to go around. There's more. Love is the last thing we need to ration in this world. The refugee in Syria doesn't benefit more if you conserve your kindness only for her and withhold it from your neighbor who's going through a divorce. Yes, perspective is critical. But I'm a firm believer that complaining is okay as long as we piss and moan with a little perspective. Hurt is hurt, and every time we honor our own struggle and the struggles of others by responding with empathy and compassion, the healing that results affects all of us. — Brene Brown

I've always found the idea of 'saving' your virginity intriguing: it's not as if we're packing our Saran-wrapped hymens away in the freezer, after all, or pasting them in scrapbooks. But packed-away virginities aside, the interesting - and dangerous - idea at play here is that of 'morality. When young women are taught about morality, there's not often talk of compassion, kindness, courage, or integrity. There is, however, a lot of talk about hymens (though the preferred words are undoubtedly more refined - think 'virginity' and 'chastity'): if we have them, when we'll lose them, and under what circumstances we'll be rid of them. — Jessica Valenti

I admire the fact that the central core of Buddhist teaching involves mindfulness and loving kindness and compassion. — Ron Reagan

Why must you know the details of my troubles to have compassion? Is it not enough to show compassion simply because you know that everyone has troubles? — Richelle E. Goodrich

Compassion is an act of love. — Lailah Gifty Akita