80 Powerful Kindness Quotes That Will Stay with You (2024)

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Spread the love with inspirational kindness quotes from some of the most influential figures throughout history

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The best kindness quotes for everyone

The world can always use more stories of kindness. Plus, with National Random Acts of Kindness Day on Feb. 17 (not to mention World Kindness Day on Nov. 13), it’s only right to spread joy and love to others. One of the easiest ways to do this is with kindness quotes.

Below, you’ll find famous quotes about kindness. These “be kind” quotes are from inspirational figures, from Mark Twain and Maya Angelou to Princess Diana and more! Plus, we share kindness quotes that focus on the importance of having empathy and compassion for others, but also quotes that revolve around showing yourself some love too!

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Famous kindness quotes

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

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” —The Dalai Lama

“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.”—Henry van Dyke

“To extend yourself in kindness to anybody is an extension in kindness in the world.” —Oprah Winfrey

“Kindness isn’t a tactic. It’s a command. … Civility and decency aren’t incompatible with ‘taking sides.’ It doesn’t require anyone to fold in the face of angry opposition. Kindness doesn’t conflict with conviction, and our commitments to kindness are biblically inseparable from our commitments to justice. We aren’t to choose between them, we’re to embrace them both.” —David French

“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

“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” —Princess Diana

“Kind hearts are the gardens. Kind thoughts are the roots. Kind words are the blossoms. Kind deeds are the fruits.” —Kirpal Singh

“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” —Winston Churchill

“It doesn’t cost me anything to be kind.” —Paddington

“When words are both true and kind, they can change the world.” —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 is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” —Mark Twain

“The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she knows.” —Audrey Hepburn

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

“Being kind means responding to the needs of others—and people can be kind, no matter how old or young we are.” —Fred Rogers

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Kindness quotes about empathy and compassion

“Compassion isn’t about solutions. It’s about giving all the love that you’ve got.” —Cheryl Strayed

“A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve.” —Joseph Joubert

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

“That is what compassion does. It challenges our assumptions, our sense of self-limitation, worthlessness, of not having a place in the world, our feelings of loneliness and estrangement. These are narrow, constrictive states of mind. As we develop compassion, our hearts open.” —Sharon Salzberg

“A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal.” —Steve Maraboli

“You can cultivate mercy when you extend acts of compassion and kindness to yourself and to other people.” —Bree Miller

“Kindness begins with the understanding that we all struggle.”—Charles Glassman

“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“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

“Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life.” —Jackie Chan

“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members, a heart of grace and a soul generated by love.” —Coretta Scott King

“Never lose a chance of saying a kind word.” —William Makepeace Thackeray

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

“Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the figure of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” —Edith Wharton

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

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Be kind to yourself quotes

“Be kind to yourself, to others and everything around you.” —Alexandra Stoddard

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” —Jack Kornfield

“You is kind. You is smart. You is important.” —Kathryn Stockett, The Help

“Be kind to yourself, it’s the best medicine to heal and grow.” —Aziz Farheen

“Be kind to yourself this evening. Buy something for yourself. Treat yourself to a meal. Look at the mirror and give a smile to yourself.” —Yoko Ono

“You’ve been criticizing yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” —Louise L. Hay

“You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” —Eleanor Roosevelt

“Be kind to yourself so that you can be happy enough to be kind to the world.” —Misha Collins

“What we say to ourselves in the privacy of our own minds matters.” —Marie Forleo

“Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.” —Oscar Wilde

“Be nice to yourself. It’s hard to be happy when someone is always mean to you all the time.” —Christine Arylo

“Be kind to others, so that you may learn the secret art of being kind to yourself.” —Paramahansa Yogananda

“Be true to yourself, be kind to yourself, read and learn about everything that interests you, and keep away from people who bring you down.” —Steve Maraboli

“Loving yourself starts with liking yourself, which starts with respecting yourself, which starts with thinking of yourself in positive ways.” —Jerry Corsten

“Negative self-talk costs more than even the richest person can afford. So be nice to yourself whenever possible and know that it is always possible.” —Dough Pedersen

“Love yourself first and everything falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” —Lucille Ball

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Kindness quotes about animals

“You can judge a man’s true character by the way he treats his fellow animals.” —Paul McCartney

“So often when you start talking about kindness to animals someone comments that starving and mistreated children should come first. The issue can’t be divided like that. It isn’t a choice between children and animals. It’s our duty to care for both. Kindness is the important thing. Kids and animals are our responsibility.” —Minnie Pearl

“It takes nothing away from a human to be kind to an animal.” —Joaquin Phoenix

“Compassion for animals is intimately associated with goodness of character, and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man.” —Arthur Schopenhauer,The Basis Of Morality

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” —Anatole France

“My mother and dad were big animal lovers too. I just don’t know how I would have lived without animals around me. I’m fascinated by them—both domestic pets and the wild community. They just are the most interesting things in the world to me, and it’s made such a difference in my lifetime.” —Betty White

“True compassion is showing kindness towards animals, without expecting anything in return.” —Paul Oxton

“You have to love animals for what they are or leave them alone. The best thing you can do if you love them is leave them alone and see that other people do too.” —Pat Derby

“Love of animals is a universal impulse, a common ground on which all of us may meet. By loving and understanding animals, perhaps we humans shall come to understand each other.” —Louis J. Camuti

“We must remember that our actions towards animals reflect our humanity. It is our responsibility to be compassionate and kind.” —Velma Bronn Johnston

“It’s not whether animals will survive, it’s whether man has the will to save them.” —Anthony D. Williams

“Our ultimate goal should be to leave a world where all creatures can live freely, in harmony with nature, and without fear of human exploitation.” —Daphne Sheldrick

“Animals have certain rights, as inalienable as those of man to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” —Caroline Earle White

“Never believe that animals suffer less than humans. Pain is the same for them that it is for us. Even worse, because they cannot help themselves.” —Louis J. Camuti

“Life is as dear to mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not die, so do other creatures.” —The Dalai Lama

“I call my horses ‘divine mirrors’—they reflect back the emotions you put in. If you put in love and respect and kindness and curiosity, the horse will return that.” —Allan Hamilton

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Short kindness quotes for kids

“In the end only kindness matters.” —Jewel

“We rise by lifting others.” —Robert Ingersoll

“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” —Mahatma Gandhi

“To kindness and love, the things we need most!” —The Grinch

“Be a little kinder than you have to.” —E. Lockhart

“Kindness is always in stock.” —Katy Perry

“How beautiful a day can be, when kindness touches it!” —George Elliston

“Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” —Maya Angelou

“Forget injuries; never forget kindness.” —Confucius

“Always try to be a little kinder than is necessary.” —J.M. Barrie

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

“It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.” —John Templeton

“The only way to have a friend is to be one.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

“Where there is kindness there is goodness, and where there is goodness there is magic.” —Disney’s Cinderella

“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

Marissa Laliberte-Simonian is a London-based associate editor with the global promotions team at WebMD’s Medscape.com and was previously a staff writer for Reader's Digest. Her work has also appeared in Business Insider, Parents magazine, CreakyJoints, and the Baltimore Sun. You can find her on Instagram @marissasimonian.