The best quotes about kindness tend to be short, plain and surprisingly demanding. Philosophers have argued about kindness for more than two thousand years, and most of them landed on the same conclusion: it is a practice, not a mood. Below you will find twenty sayings on kindness, grouped by what they ask of you, from small everyday gestures to the kind of character that kindness slowly builds.
Aristotle gave one of the earliest careful definitions. In his Rhetoric (Book 2, chapter 7) he describes charis, usually translated as kindness or favour, as a service to someone in need, rendered not in return for anything and not for the giver’s own gain, but for the sake of the person helped. Kindness, on that account, has to be freely given to count.
Mencius, the Confucian thinker, grounded kindness in human nature. In his famous example (Mencius 2A6), anyone who suddenly sees a child about to fall into a well feels alarm and compassion, and he called that heart of compassion the sprout of benevolence. Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic emperor, made kindness a discipline of daily conduct: in Meditations 11.18 he writes that a good disposition is invincible if it is genuine, since even the most hostile person cannot stand against it for long. Sophocles gave the idea its most compact form in Ajax, where one favour always engenders another, which is the proverb you will meet again in the third section below.
The Tao Te Ching, attributed to Laozi (a figure whose historicity scholars still debate), gives kindness an almost political weight. In chapter 49 the sage treats good people well and also treats people who are not good well, so that goodness can grow, and chapter 63 advises responding to resentment with virtue. Different traditions, separated by oceans and centuries, keep arriving at the same place.
The Power of Kindness: How Small Acts Can Change the World
It is easy to dismiss kindness as soft. Yet every quote below makes a similar bet: that a single act of kindness, a small act of kindness repeated daily, shifts how people treat each other far beyond the original moment. A random act of kindness, such as paying a compliment, holding a door or checking in on a neighbour, costs little and is rarely forgotten by the person who receives it. If you want a kindness quote to remember, pick one that you can turn into a concrete action today, since the power of kindness is in the doing and not in the reading. Kindness does not require agreement, wealth or even time, and that is exactly why so many writers believe it can change the world one person at a time.
Quotes About Kindness in Everyday Words and Small Acts
Most kindness costs almost nothing. These quotes remind you that a kind word, a polite phrase or an unexpected compliment is within reach of everyone, every day.
It does not cost anything to say nice things
This saying has no single identifiable author and is considered a piece of traditional, proverbial wisdom. (Traditional Proverb)
Always be a little kinder than necessary
The Little White Bird (J. M. Barrie)
Kind words can be short and easy to speak
Often misattributed to Mother Teresa. (Unknown)
Say unexpected nice things to people
Common modern saying without a known singular originator; circulated in self-help and positivity contexts. (Modern English aphorism)
Politeness is to do and say the kindest things in the kindest way
The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness (Cecil B. Hartley)
There are no unimportant acts of kindness
Widely attributed to American disability advocate and poet Robert M. Hensel, who stated, 'There are no unimportant acts of kindness. A smile can alter a life.' The sentiment echoes ancient ethics, particularly Aesop's classic moral regarding small acts of goodwill. (Robert M. Hensel)
Never underestimate the power of a kind word or deed.
Unknown
Quotes About Being Kind to Strangers, Enemies and the Hard-to-Love
Being kind to friends is easy. The harder test, and the one Marcus Aurelius had in mind, is kindness toward strangers, toward people who are rude to you, and toward those who have wronged you. These sayings treat compassion and gentleness as strengths, and as a way of making peace.
Be kind to strangers
Common ethical principle found in many cultures and religions. (Cultural Proverb)
Respond to rudeness with kindness
A common cross-cultural moral precept paralleling teachings from ancient traditions, including the Tao Te Ching ('repay injury with kindness'), the Dhammapada, and biblical wisdom literature. (Proverb)
Forget a wrong, remember a kindness
Traditional proverb with no single known origin (English proverb)
Kindness is a great peacemaker
Commonly cited as a proverb; exact origin unknown. (Anonymous proverb)
You can never be too gentle
Common proverb, often used in parenting and interpersonal advice; precise origin unknown. (Proverb)
Develop your compassion
Attribution uncertain; commonly associated with Buddhist philosophy and teachings on loving-kindness. (Buddhist tradition)
Quotes About Kindness Coming Back to You
Many traditions teach that goodness returns. That is the sense of the Greek line from Ajax quoted earlier, and of the sowing-and-reaping images found in several religious traditions. Aristotle would add a caveat: if you give in order to be repaid, it is no longer kindness. The quotes below hold both ideas together.
Kindness begets kindness
Often attributed to Sophocles from the play 'Ajax', though the exact phrasing 'Kindness begets kindness' is a translation of the Greek 'Ἡ χάρις χάριν τίκτει'. (English Proverb)
He who plants kindness gathers joy
Common English proverb; origin uncertain. (English Proverb)
Every good deed you do genuinely comes back to you in abundance
A widespread aphorism with roots in multiple religious and philosophical traditions (e.g., karma in Eastern thought, sowing and reaping in Christianity) (Various cultural traditions)
Do something nice for someone else—and don't tell anyone about it
Attribution uncertain; embodies timeless wisdom from many cultural and religious traditions. (Traditional Proverb)
Quotes About Kindness as Character
In the end, kindness is less about single acts than about who you become. The final group looks at kindness as a trait of character, the quiet measure of a person that shows in how they treat people who can do nothing for them.
There is nothing so kingly as kindness and nothing so royal as truth
The Bridal Veil and Other Poems (Alice Cary)
Kind people act kindly
A traditional proverbial observation reflecting virtue ethics, emphasizing that authentic character is manifested in tangible deeds. (English Proverb)
The true measure of a person is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
Attribution disputed; often attributed to Samuel Johnson but not found in his known works. Also sometimes credited to Ann Landers. (Samuel Johnson)
How to Put These Kindness Quotes Into Practice
Reading about kindness is easy; living it is harder. Choose one saying from the lists above and treat it as a small experiment for a week. If you picked “Be kind to strangers,” notice every chance to be patient with someone you will never meet again. If you picked “Forget a wrong, remember a kindness,” write down a good deed someone did for you and thank them. Kindness to others tends to compound: the more you practise it, the more natural it feels, and the more likely the people around you are to pass it on. Aristotle’s test is useful here: ask whether you are doing the kind thing for the other person, or for the credit.
