e1dc247
|
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway. Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.
|
|
world
kindness
goodness
honesty
happiness
misattributed-to-mother-teresa
|
Kent M. Keith |
2562b6a
|
Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.
|
|
relationships
kindness
|
J.K. Rowling |
5895de0
|
For attractive lips, speak words of kindness
|
|
misattributed-audrey-hepburn
kindness
beauty
inspirational
charity
|
Sam Levenson |
20c6903
|
Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.
|
|
kindness
choice
inspiration
inspirational-attitude
inspirational-life
inspirational-quotes
inspire
life-and-living
life-quotes
living
motivation
optimistic
positive-affirmation
positive-life
inspiring
positive
positive-thinking
motivational
life-lessons
optimism
happiness
life
inspirational
attitude
giving
respect
choices
|
Roy T. Bennett |
21bbaac
|
Be mindful. Be grateful. Be positive. Be true. Be kind.
|
|
mindful
gratitude
kindness
inspiration
inspirational-quotes
life-and-living
life-quotes
optimistic
positive-affirmation
positive-life
positive
positive-thinking
optimism
life
truth
inspirational
living-life
mindfulness
|
Roy T. Bennett |
61290d9
|
Be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved and believes in the goodness in people.
|
|
being-human
humanism
kindness
human
humanity
goodness
inspiration
inspirational-attitude
inspirational-life
inspirational-quotes
inspire
life-and-living
life-quotes
living
optimistic
positive-affirmation
positive-life
inspiring
positive
positive-thinking
life-lessons
optimism
life
love
inspirational
inspirational-quote
smiles
life-philosophy
smile
human-nature
|
Roy T. Bennett |
13754ad
|
Life becomes easier and more beautiful when we can see the good in other people.
|
|
kindness
goodness
inspiration
inspirational-quotes
inspire
life-quotes
living
optimistic
positive-affirmation
positive-life
inspiring
positive
positive-thinking
optimism
life
inspirational
|
Roy T. Bennett |
31a2cb9
|
Acts of Kindness
|
|
kindness
inspiration
inspirational-quotes
inspire
life-quotes
living
optimistic
positive-affirmation
positive-life
inspiring
positive
positive-thinking
optimism
life
inspirational
kind
|
Roy T. Bennett |
92dd79b
|
Treat everyone with politeness and kindness, not because they are nice, but because you are.
|
|
kindness
inspiration
inspirational-quotes
life-quotes
life
inspirational
living-life
kind
|
Roy T. Bennett |
7efa4c5
|
Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
|
|
kindness
inspirational
|
Mark Twain |
bffe041
|
Always find opportunities to make someone smile, and to offer random acts of kindness in everyday life.
|
|
acts-of-kindness
opportunity
kindness
inspiration
inspirational-attitude
inspirational-life
inspirational-quotes
inspire
life-and-living
life-quotes
living
optimistic
positive-affirmation
positive-life
inspiring
positive
positive-thinking
life-lessons
optimism
happiness
life
inspirational
smile
|
Roy T. Bennett |
9cc5e00
|
Help others without any reason and give without the expectation of receiving anything in return.
|
|
kindness
inspiration
inspirational-quotes
inspire
life-quotes
living
inspiring
life
inspirational
give
giving
|
Roy T. Bennett |
c5e1f8e
|
How would your life be different if...You stopped making negative judgmental assumptions about people you encounter? Let today be the day...You look for the good in everyone you meet and respect their journey.
|
|
action
kindness
compassion
change
success
life
inspirational
judging
respect
assumption
|
Steve Maraboli |
34b1fff
|
We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over.
|
|
kindness
heart
|
Ray Bradbury |
9eb56ba
|
Kindness is not a business. True kindness expects nothing in return and should never act with conditions.
|
|
kindness
inspiration
inspirational-attitude
inspirational-life
inspirational-quotes
inspire
life-and-living
life-quotes
living
optimistic
positive-affirmation
positive-life
inspiring
positive
positive-thinking
life-lessons
optimism
life
inspirational
|
Roy T. Bennett |
0d457f0
|
But remember, boy, that a kind act can sometimes be as powerful as a sword.
|
|
kindness
inspirational
sword
kind
powerful
|
Rick Riordan |
025e191
|
Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things.
|
|
kindness
humanity
evil
|
Terry Pratchett |
b8bf2a4
|
It does not matter how long you are spending on the earth, how much money you have gathered or how much attention you have received. It is the amount of positive vibration you have radiated in life that matters,
|
|
positive-living
money
kindness
spirit
compassion
self-awareness
spirituality
happiness
life
love
philosophy
wisdom
inspirational
purposeful-living
happy-life
attention
oneness
purpose-in-life
positive-attitude
purpose-of-life
meaning-of-life
self-discovery
perspective
meditation
purpose
revelation
peace
respect
|
Amit Ray |
a884735
|
Always have a willing hand to help someone, you might be the only one that does.
|
|
kindness
inspiration
inspirational-quotes
inspire
life-quotes
living
optimistic
positive-affirmation
positive-life
inspiring
positive
positive-thinking
optimism
life
inspirational
kindness-quotes
giving
kind
|
Roy T. Bennett |
1026c43
|
One of the most spiritual things you can do is embrace your humanity. Connect with those around you today. Say, "I love you", "I'm sorry", "I appreciate you", "I'm proud of you"...whatever you're feeling. Send random texts, write a cute note, embrace your truth and share it...cause a smile today for someone else...and give plenty of hugs.
|
|
action
kindness
compassion
humanity
spirituality
motivational
success
life
inspirational
living-now
seize-the-day
|
Steve Maraboli |
927e2e2
|
This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.
|
|
kindness
morality
life
philosophy
inspirational
temple
brain
simple
ethics
|
Dalai Lama XIV |
a74a595
|
The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the greatest intention.
|
|
kindness
deeds
|
Kahlil Gibran |
75ed31a
|
I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness.
|
|
kindness
compassion
inspirational
christian-values
|
Mother Teresa |
7e9aa20
|
If nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that--warm things, kind things, sweet things--help and comfort and laughter--and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.
|
|
kindness
inspirational
givers
giving
|
Frances Hodgson Burnett |
4ab94da
|
It's important that what thoughts you are feeding into your mind because your thoughts create your belief and experiences. You have positive thoughts and you have negative ones too. Nurture your mind with positive thoughts: kindness, empathy, compassion, peace, love, joy, humility, generosity, etc. The more you feed your mind with positive thoughts, the more you can attract great things into your life.
|
|
experiences
mind
thoughts
kindness
joy
empathy
compassion
inspiration
inspirational-quotes
inspire
life-quotes
living
motivation
optimistic
positive-affirmation
positive-life
inspiring
positive
positive-thinking
motivational
optimism
life
love
inspirational
generosity
belief
humility
peace
|
Roy T. Bennett |
b4000aa
|
The real loneliness is living among all these kind people who only ask one to pretend!
|
|
loneliness
kindness
friends
family
insincerity
pretense
|
Edith Wharton |
244ea00
|
It only takes a split second to smile and forget, yet to someone that needed it, it can last a lifetime.
|
|
kindness
compassion
inspirational
smile
|
Steve Maraboli |
dc13d3f
|
One man practicing kindness in the wilderness is worth all the temples this world pulls.
|
|
kindness
serenity
|
Jack Kerouac |
59337d6
|
Conquer the angry one by not getting angry; conquer the wicked by goodness; conquer the stingy by generosity, and the liar by speaking the truth
|
|
kindness
goodness
love
truth
wisdom
inspirational
generosity
anger
knowledge
|
Siddh?rtha Gautama |
c39c9c9
|
I must be cruel only to be kind; Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.
|
|
kindness
|
William Shakespeare |
51c01d8
|
We're all born with selfish desires, so we can all relate to those feelings in others. But kindness is something made individually by each person...so it's easy to misunderstand when others are trying to be kind to you.
|
|
kindness
misunderstanding
|
Natsuki Takaya |
74d19d6
|
What I want is so simple I almost can't say it: elementary kindness.
|
|
kindness
life
simplicity
|
Barbara Kingsolver |
6166706
|
It is only with true love and compassion that we can begin to mend what is broken in the world. It is these two blessed things that can begin to heal all broken hearts.
|
|
true-love
kindness
compassion
love
inspirational
blessings
broken-heart
|
Steve Maraboli |
d150455
|
Do you know what people really want? Everyone, I mean. Everybody in the world is thinking: I wish there was just one other person I could really talk to, who could really understand me, who'd be kind to me. That's what people really want, if they're telling the truth.
|
|
kindness
|
Doris Lessing |
6308393
|
The motive behind criticism often determines its validity. Those who care criticize where necessary. Those who envy criticize the moment they think that they have found a weak spot.
|
|
bad-intentions
spot
validity
criticism
kindness
inspirational
good-intentions
necessary
intentions
envy
purity
weakness
sincerity
motives
|
Criss Jami |
56996f3
|
If you have kindness in your heart, you offer acts of kindness to touch the hearts of others wherever you go--whether they are random or planned. Kindness becomes a way of life.
|
|
kindness
inspiration
inspirational-attitude
inspirational-life
inspirational-quotes
inspire
life-and-living
life-quotes
living
optimistic
positive-affirmation
positive-life
inspiring
positive
positive-thinking
life-lessons
optimism
life
inspirational
|
Roy T. Bennett |
b309828
|
You have a unique gift to offer this world. 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. When you treat yourself kindly and respect the uniqueness of those around you, you will be giving this world an amazing gift... YOU!
|
|
be-yourself
be-you
kindness
motivational
success
happiness
inspirational
respect
self-esteem
|
Steve Maraboli |
5e5e218
|
You don't always have to chop with the sword of truth. You can point with it too.
|
|
kindness
|
Anne Lamott |
fd1d050
|
Why should we place Christ at the top and summit of the human race? Was he kinder, more forgiving, more self-sacrificing than ? Was he wiser, did he meet death with more perfect calmness, than ? Was he more patient, more charitable, than ? Was he a greater philosopher, a deeper thinker, than ? In what respect was he the superior of ? Was he gentler than , more universal than ? Were his ideas of human rights and duties superior to those of ? Did he express grander truths than ? Was his mind subtler than 's? Was his brain equal to 's or 's? Was he grander in death - a sublimer martyr than ? Was he in intelligence, in the force and beauty of expression, in breadth and scope of thought, in wealth of illustration, in aptness of comparison, in knowledge of the human brain and heart, of all passions, hopes and fears, the equal of , the greatest of the human race?
|
|
shakespeare
kindness
wisdom
bruno
epicurus
gautama-buddha
giordano-bruno
laozi
zeno
zeno-of-citium
zoroaster
cicero
baruch-spinoza
epictetus
spinoza
buddha
buddhism
socrates
stoicism
patience
isaac-newton
johannes-kepler
kepler
newton
william-shakespeare
|
Robert G. Ingersoll |
6834909
|
If, by the virtue of charity or the circumstance of desperation, you ever chance to spend a little time around a Substance-recovery halfway facility like Enfield MA's state-funded Ennet House, you will acquire many exotic new facts [...] That certain persons simply will not like you no matter what you do. Then that most nonaddicted adult civilians have already absorbed and accepted this fact, often rather early on [...] That sleeping can be a form of emotional escape and can with sustained effort be abused [...] That purposeful sleep-deprivation can also be an abusable escape. That gambling can be an abusable escape, too, and work, shopping, and shoplifting, and sex, and abstention, and masturbation, and food, and exercise, and meditation/prayer [...] That loneliness is not a function of solitude [...] That if enough people in a silent room are drinking coffee it is possible to make out the sound of steam coming off the coffee. That sometimes human beings have to just sit in one place and, like, hurt [...] That there is such a thing as raw, unalloyed, agendaless kindness [...] That the effects of too many cups of coffee are in no way pleasant or intoxicating [...] That if you do something nice for somebody in secret, anonymously, without letting the person you did it for know it was you or anybody else know what it was you did or in any way or form trying to get credit for it, it's almost its own form of intoxicating buzz. That anonymous generosity, too, can be abused [...] That it is permissible to want [...] That there might not be angels, but there are people who might as well be angels.
|
|
loneliness
kindness
alienation
|
David Foster Wallace |
59810fd
|
People who love themselves come across as very loving, generous and kind; they express their self-confidence through humility, forgiveness and inclusiveness.
|
|
kindness
inspirational
self-love
generosity
|
Sanaya Roman |
5849788
|
Stop comparing yourself to others. Always strive to improve yourself to become better today than you were yesterday to serve those around you and the world.
|
|
be-yourself
kindness
inspiration
inspirational-quotes
inspire
life-quotes
living
motivation
optimistic
positive-affirmation
positive-life
inspiring
positive
positive-thinking
motivational
optimism
life
inspirational
authentic-living
growth
|
Roy T. Bennett |
06ae62a
|
My son, do not forget my teaching, But let your heart keep my commandments; For length of days and years of life And peace they will add to you. Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
|
|
kindness
trust
god
truth
peace
|
Anonymous |
3038c71
|
A gift. A gift from a queen who had seen another woman in hell and thought to reach back a hand. With no thought of it ever being returned. A moment of kindness, a tug on a thread.
|
|
kindness
|
Sarah J. Maas |
a3b4d36
|
I admire those who do good and expect nothing in return.
|
|
kindness
goodness
inspiration
inspirational-quotes
inspire
life-quotes
living
optimistic
positive-affirmation
positive-life
inspiring
positive
positive-thinking
optimism
life
inspirational
|
Roy T. Bennett |
31a2d32
|
I was helpless in trying to return people's kindness, but also helpless to resist it. Kindness is a scarier force than cruelty, that's for sure. Cruelty isn't that hard to understand. I had no trouble comprehending why the phone company wanted to screw me over; they just wanted to steal some money, it was nothing personal. That's the way of the world. It made me mad, but it didn't make me feel stupid. If anything, it flattered my intelligence. Accepting all that kindness, though, made me feel stupid. Human benevolence is totally unfair. We don't live in a kind or generous world, yet we are kind and generous. We know the universe is out to burn us, and it gets us all the way it got Renee, but we don't burn each other, not always. We are kind people in an unkind world, to paraphrase Wallace Stevens. How do you pretend you don't know about it, after you see it? How do you go back to acting like you don't need it? How do you even the score and walk off a free man? You can't. I found myself forced to let go of all sorts of independence I thought I had, independence I had spent years trying to cultivate. That world was all gone, and now I was a supplicant, dependent on the mercy of other people's psychic hearts.
|
|
grief
kindness
|
Rob Sheffield |
e087aad
|
I prefer you to make mistakes in kindness than work miracles in unkindness.
|
|
kindness
inspirational
|
Mother Teresa |
f127b88
|
No truth can cure the sadness we feel from losing a loved one. No truth, no sincerity, no strength, no kindness, can cure that sorrow. All we can do is see that sadness through to the end and learn something from it, but what we learn will be no help in facing the next sadness that comes to us without warning.
|
|
warning
sorrow
kindness
learning
sadness
strength
truth
sincerity
|
Haruki Murakami |
3de83aa
|
If you've ever been homesick, or felt exiled from all the things and people that once defined you, you'll know how important welcoming words and friendly smiles can be.
|
|
kindness
|
Stephen King |
8e0f580
|
God damn it, you've got to be kind.
|
|
kindness
|
Kurt Vonnegut |
22d3ac5
|
You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should've behaved better.
|
|
truth-telling
kindness
self-awareness
honesty
genuineness
|
Anne Lamott |
fe7abe4
|
You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
|
|
kindness
|
Debbie Macomber |
60481c0
|
But remember, boy, that a kind act can sometimes be as powerful as a sword. As a mortal, I was never a great fighter or athlete or poet. I only made wine. The people in my village laughed at me. They said I would never amount to anything. Look at me now. Sometimes small things can become very large indeed.
|
|
kindness
small-things
wine
|
Rick Riordan |
63e66b4
|
How good life is when one does something good and just!
|
|
kindness
goodness
justice
|
Fyodor Dostoyevsky |
0d36fa9
|
Kindness is strength. Good-nature is often mistaken for virtue, and good health sometimes passes for genius. Anger blows out the lamp of the mind. In the examination of a great and important question, every one should be serene, slow-pulsed, and calm. Intelligence is not the foundation of arrogance. Insolence is not logic. Epithets are the arguments of malice.
|
|
virtue
kindness
strength
intelligence
epithets
good-nature
serene
insolence
malice
arrogance
genius
logic
|
Robert Green Ingersoll |
e9a2b03
|
The wine god sighed. 'Oh Hades if I know. But remember, boy, that a kind act can sometimes be as powerful as a sword. As a mortal, I was never a great fighter or athlete or poet. I only made wine. The people in my village laughed at me. They said I would never amount to anything. Look at me now. Sometimes small things can become very large indeed.' He left me alone to think about that. And as I watched Clarisse and Chris singing a stupid campfire song together, holding hands in the darkness, where they thought nobody could see them, I had to smile.
|
|
kindness
inspirational
wine-god
greek-mythology
greek-gods
smile
greek
gods
percy-jackson
|
Rick Riordan |
f0a8ae4
|
There is more beauty than our eyes can bear, precious things have been put into our hands and to do nothing to honor them is to do great harm.
|
|
courage
world
kindness
life
love
inspirational
fortitude
brave
precious
stewardship
grace
deception
kind
eyes
|
Marilynne Robinson |
347c1ec
|
He felt in his heart cruelty and cowardice, the things which made him brave and kind.
|
|
kindness
fantasy
|
T.H. White |
614d0c3
|
There are those who do not hold that there is any innate goodness to mankind. To them I say, had you lived my life, you would not believe it. I have known the depths to which mortals are capable of descending, and I have seen the heights. I have seen how kindness and compassion may grow in the unlikeliest of places, as the mountain flower forces its way through the stern rock.
|
|
kindness
goodness
kushiels-dart
jacqueline-carey
|
Jacqueline Carey |
0644ecd
|
I'll pray that you grow up a brave man in a brave country. I will pray you find a way to be useful. I'll pray, and then I'll sleep.
|
|
courage
prayer
world
kindness
jesus
god
life
love
inspirational
fortitude
praying
brave
prudence
precious
stewardship
grace
kind
pray
|
Marilynne Robinson |
f336457
|
It seems to me that no matter what religion you subscribe to, acts of kindness are the stepping-stones to making the world a better place--because we become better people in it.
|
|
kindness
religion
|
Jodi Picoult |
e75c5d3
|
Every small, unselfish action nudges the world into a better path. An accumulation of small acts can change the world.
|
|
kindness
selfishness
|
Robin Hobb |
5c5eed9
|
He is as full of valor as of kindness. Princely in both.
|
|
kindness
meekness
graciousness
humility
|
William Shakespeare |
589c273
|
Grace is the permanent climate of divine kindness; the perennial infusion of springtime into the winter of bleakness.
|
|
kindness
|
John O'Donohue |
9d49af8
|
The greatest cause in the world is joyfully rescuing people from hell, meeting their earthly needs, making them glad in God, and doing it with a kind, serious pleasure that makes Christ look like the Treasure he is.
|
|
kindness
christianity
treasure
god
life
purpose
christ
|
John Piper |
0802171
|
Theologians talk about a prevenient grace that precedes grace itself and allows us to accept it. I think there must also be a prevenient courage that allows us to be brave - that is, to acknowledge that there is more beauty than our eyes can bear, that precious things have been put into our hands and to do nothing to honor them is to do great harm. And therefore, this courage allows us, as the old men said, to make ourselves useful. It allows us to be generous, which is another way of saying exactly the same thing.
|
|
courage
kindness
life
love
generous
brave
stewardship
giving
grace
|
Marilynne Robinson |
a0744b7
|
Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you're already in heaven now.
|
|
enlightenment
heaven
kindness
meaning
living-outside-yourself
fulfillment
salvation
purpose
|
Jack Kerouac |
aaa6319
|
"Some love comes like the wind off the sea, while others grow slowly from the seeds of friendship and kindness." - Carline"
|
|
kindness
love
friendzone
love-at-first-sight
|
Raymond E. Feist |
b8bb7a9
|
Ellen's life was not easy, nor was it happy, but she did not expect life to be easy, and, if it was not happy, that was woman's lot. It was a man's world, and she accepted it as such. The man owned the property, and the woman managed it. The man took credit for the management, and the woman praised his cleverness. The man roared like a bull when a splinter was in his finger, and the woman muffled the moans of childbirth, lest she disturb him. Men were rough of speech and often drunk. Women ignored the lapses of speech and put the drunkards to bed without bitter words. Men were rude and outspoken, women were always kind, gracious and forgiving.
|
|
men
kindness
women
|
Margaret Mitchell |
4113931
|
"There was a time when a new deputy tried to teach Mr. Fruit about the difference between a red and a green light, but Mr. Fruit had resisted all efforts to reorder what he had been doing perfectly well for many years. He had not only monitored the comings and goings of the town, his presence softened the ingrained evil that flourished along the invisible margins of the town's consciousness. Any community can be judged in its humanity or corruption by how it manages to accommodate the Mr. Fruits of the world. Colleton simply adjusted itself to Mr. Fruit's harmonies and ordinations. He did whatever he felt was needed and he did it with style. "That's the Southern way" my grandmother said. "That's the nice way."
|
|
kindness
pat-conroy
southern
|
Pat Conroy |
1074f9a
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What is kinder--to believe the best of people and burden them with a nobility beyond their endurance--or to see them as they are, and accept it because it makes them comfortable?
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kindness
justice
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Ayn Rand |
ae87922
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I thought society would do the right thing. Now I look around and I think -- society never does the right thing. Sometimes people do the right thing. Sometimes one person makes a difference. But civilization has rules, and I've learned them well -- never be helpless, never be sick, never be poor.
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human-rights
poverty
kindness
society
helplessness
health
sickness
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Christina Dodd |
4b4db23
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They looked at me, and were so full of delight in the pleasure they were giving me that some final thread of resistance gave way and I understood not only how entirely generous they were but also that generosity might be the greatest pleasure there is.
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kindness
happiness
generosity
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William Maxwell |
2fb6971
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We resonate with one another's sorrows because we are interconnected. Being whole and simultaneously part of a larger whole, we can change the world simply by changing ourselves. If I become a center of love and kindness in this moment, then in a perhaps small but hardly insignificant way, the world now has a nucleus of love and kindness it lacked the moment before. This benefits me and it benefits others.
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|
sorrow
kindness
love
being-whole
benefits-all
benefits-me
change-ourselves
resonate
interconnectedness
center
mindfulness
meditation
change-the-world
|
Jon Kabat-Zinn |
e489b6e
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I have a very simple morality: not to do good or evil to anyone. Not to do evil, because it seems only fair that others enjoy the same right I demand for myself - not to be disturbed - and also because I think that the world doesn't need more than the natural evils it already has. All of us in this world are living on board a ship that is sailing from one unknown port to another, and we should treat each other with a traveller's cordiality. Not to do good, because I don't know what good is, nor even if I do it when I think I do. How do I know what evils I generate if I give a beggar money? How do I know what evils I produce if I teach or instruct? Not knowing, I refrain. And besides, I think that to help or clarify is, in a certain way, to commit the evil of interfering in the lives of others. Kindness depends on a whim of our mood, and we have no right to make others the victims of our whims, however humane or kind-hearted they may be. Good deeds are impositions; that's why I categorically abhor them.
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kindness
morality
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Fernando Pessoa |
4f7b793
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My happiness comes from the kindness of those around me.
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kindness
positive
happiness
tohru-honda
|
Natsuki Takaya |
6ab16f9
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"I have a very simple philosophy of life: Kindness. Ferocious, unrelenting, ruthless, committed, passionate, kindness.
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kindness
philosophy-of-life
|
David Gerrold |
11c5078
|
"Oh, Myr," he chokes out. "I hate having to ask this of you..." He glances towards the car again, and I crouch down in the shadows, hoping it's too dark for him to see whether the window is open or closed. The woman pats his arm, cradling her hand against his elbow. "You know I'd do anything for you and Hil," she says. I like her voice. It's throaty and rich. "You'd do anything?" my father repeats numbly. "Even now? After -?" "Even now," the woman says firmly."
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|
kindness
fear
past
love
asking
request
help
forgiveness
guilt
|
Margaret Peterson Haddix |
a6ba8de
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If we treated others with the consideration that one would give to those who only had a few days to live, then we would be kinder, at least.
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kindness
|
Alexander McCall Smith |
18eb4ba
|
Sometimes I've survived anger only one minute at a time, by saying to myself again and again that the best kind of revenge is some kind of life beyond this, some kind of goodness. And I can lay no claim to goodness until I can prove that mean people have not made me mean.
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|
revenge
kindness
inspiring
|
Barbara Kingsolver |
c275c01
|
If you feel your value lies in being merely decorative, I fear that someday you might find yourself believing that's all that you really are. Time erodes all such beauty, but what it cannot diminish is the wonderful workings of your mind: Your humor, your kindness, and your moral courage. These are the things I cherish so in you. I so wish I could give my girls a more just world. But I know you'll make it a better place. - Marmee
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|
courage
kindness
little-women
values
|
Louisa May Alcott |
36dbedc
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The most powerful thought is a prayerful thought. When I'm praying for you, I am praying for my own peace of mind. I can only have for myself what I am willing to wish for you.
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|
prayer
kindness
empathy
compassion
blessings-quotes
peace-of-mind
prayer-quotes
prayerful-habits
prayerful-life
prayers-answered
wish-creation
wishes-fulfilled
power-of-love
giving
charity
sharing
generosity
selflessness
prosperity
inner-peace
thoughtful
power-of-thoughts
|
Marianne Williamson |
c1942bf
|
Listen to me. Forget all you saw. Leave it. Take your mind from it. It has nothing to do with you. But use it for experience. Now you know what hurt it brings to women when men come into the world. Remember, and make it up to your Mama and to all women...And another thing let it do. There is no room for pride in any man. There is no room for unkindness. There is not room for wit at the expense of others. All men are born the same, and equal. As you saw today, so come Captains and the Kings and the Tinkers and the Tailors. Let the memory direct your dealings with men and women. And be sure to take good care of Mama. Is it?
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kindness
women
pride
wit
|
Richard Llewellyn |
249fcb7
|
She also keeps talking about the Billie Holiday record she bought for me. And she says she wants to expose me to all these great things. And to tell you the truth, I don't really want to be exposed to all these great things if it means that I'll have to listen to Mary Elizabeth talk about all the great things she exposed me to all the time. It almost feels like of the three things involved: Mary Elizabeth, me, and the great things, only the first one matters to Mary Elizabeth. I don't understand that. I would give someone a record so they could love the record, not so they would always know that I gave it to them.
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|
kindness
love
histrionic-people
obnoxious-people
self-centered-people
snobs
selflessness
selfishness
gifts
|
Stephen Chbosky |
c2baa1a
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"But, Mameha-san, I don't want kindness!" "Don't you? I thought we all wanted kindness. Perhaps what you mean is that you want something more than kindness. And that is something you're in no position to ask."
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kindness
life
love
|
Arthur Golden |
c5937c0
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This is the shade of difference: the door of the physician should never be shut, the door of the priest should always be open.
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kindness
love
priest
|
Victor Hugo |
255428e
|
In God's scheme what is a few billion years here and there. Perhaps there have come and gone a dozen human civilizations in the past billion years that we know nothing about. And after this civilization we are living in destroys itself, it will all start up again in a million years when the planet has all its messes cleaned up. Then, finally, one of these civilizations, say five billion years from now, will last because people treat each other the way they ought to.
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kindness
humanity
inspirational
|
Leon Uris |
f50e372
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When the positive revolution takes hold it will no longer be enough for politicians to gain points through attack or being negative. Politicians will be expected to be constructive.
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|
kindness
empathy
positive-thinking
women-s-values
support
|
Edward De Bono |
d533e1c
|
Though Julian could be marvelously kind in difficult circumstances of all sorts, I sometimes got the feeling that he was less pleased by kindness itself than by the elegance of the gesture.
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kindness
julian-morrow
the-secret-history
elegance
fake
|
Donna Tartt |
f62d9f8
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On the way home I absently minded (you know what I mean) went through a stop sign in Hyannis so of course there was a police car to apprehend me. A soft answer turnethed away wrath, fortunately.
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kindness
speeding
|
Edward Gorey |
f3aa980
|
Everything passed, and what trace of its passage remained? It seemed to Kitty that they were all, the human race, like the drops of water in that river and they flowed on, each so close to the other and yet so far apart, a nameless flood, to the sea. When all things lasted so short a time and nothing mattered very much, it seemed pitiful that men, attaching an absurd importance to trivial objects, should make themselves and one another so unhappy.
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|
metaphor
human-race
kindness
humanity
triviality-of-life
|
W. Somerset Maugham |
5bf8563
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To that point, he had always found the vicomtesse overflowing with friendly politeness, that sweet-flowing grace conferred by an aristocratic education, and which is never truly there unless it comes, automatically and unthinkingly, straight from the heart. [...] For anyone who had learned the social code, and Rastignac had absorbed it all in a flash, these words, that gesture, that look, that inflection in her voice, summed up all there was to know about the nature and the ways of men and women of her class. He was vividly aware of the iron hand underneath the velvet glove; the personality, and especially the self-centeredness, under the polished manners; the plain hard wood, under all the varnish. [...] Eugene had been entirely too quick to take this woman's word for her own kindness. Like all those who cannot help themselves, he had signed on the dotted line, accepting the delightful contract binding both benefactor and recipient, the very first clause of which makes clear that, as between noble souls, perfect equality must be forever maintained. Beneficience, which ties people together, is a heavenly passion, but a thoroughly misunderstood one, and quite as scarce as true love. Both stem from the lavish nature of great souls.
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|
personality
kindness
people
character
ties
hypocrisy
kind
|
Honoré de Balzac |
cb29811
|
"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls a butterfly." --Richard David Bach The caterpillar believes it is dying because it's being sealed in a tomb. The Master knows that the caterpillar is not dying, and is simply transitioning (to something more). This points out that things are never over, that change is carrying us, (so often kicking and screaming), to higher states of being. I find it interesting that the caterpillar spends it's caterpillar existence crawling, (on a lone weed in the midst of an endless beautiful forest), surviving on bitter, poisonous leaves. Yet resists the changes to come. After the caterpillars "death"... And upon the butterflie's rebirth... The butterfly lives out it's butterfly existence experiencing all of the forest's wonders, being carried by the wind, landing on beauty, and drinking sweet nectar, all the while, being shielded from harm by the caterpillar's bitter and poisonous experiences of eating the weeds.
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|
prayer
kindness
spirit
compassion
meaning
trust
inspiring
spiritual-quotes
forgiveness
|
Raymond D. Longoria Jr. |
3cd0ce5
|
La verdadera amistad, pensaban, resiste el paso del tiempo, es desinteresada y generosa, no pide nada a cambio, solo lealtad.
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true
kindness
no-expectations
|
Isabel Allende |
338049d
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That was what counted, she told herself: those unexpected moments of appreciation, unanticipated glimpses of beauty or kindness - any of the things that attached us to this world, that made us forget, even for a moment, its pain and its transience.
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kindness
life-and-living
|
Alexander McCall Smith |
7b5b71e
|
Such kindness wasn't a gift but a goad, scraping against one's skin like a yoke of thorns. She would have preferred him stiff, defensive, even offensive.
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|
men
kindness
love
pride
|
Lauren Willig |
982ddf2
|
One that society can't forgive, but I can.
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|
kindness
compassion
friendship
life
love
truth
forgivable
unforgiven
confess
healing
grace
heartache
surrender
|
Dennis Lehane |
f2e104d
|
Don't tease me. Everything wounds me now except perfect kindness.
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|
kindness
the-green-knight
iris-murdoch
teasing
sensitive
|
Iris Murdoch |
ab3b6ae
|
"I actually thought you would be kind," said the vampire. "Go away!" screamed Devnee. He did not answer. "I didn't have to be kind," Devnee told him. "Victoria was kind for me." He laughed. "No one can be kind for you, my dear," said the vampire. "But I don't mind, of course. I have you now. There's no escape, my dear. You and I, Devnee Fountain, are a team."
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kindness
vampire
|
Caroline B. Cooney |
a8a20eb
|
Then, the massive hands lifted the new people up to a pair of giant indescribable lips and whispered, in a fundamentally untranslatable Creator-language, something that meant, approximately: THIS TIME, BE KIND TO ONE ANOTHER. REMEMBER: EACH OF YOU WANTS TO BE HAPPY. AND I WANT YOU TO. EACH OF YOU WANTS TO LIVE FREE FROM FEAR. AND I WANT YOU TO. EACH OF YOU ARE SECRETLY AFRAID YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. BUT YOU ARE, TRUST ME, YOU ARE.
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kindness
politics
fear
election
satire
|
George Saunders |
b1f62dc
|
"On Wednesday night, November 13, (1861), Lincoln went with Seward and Hay to McClellan's house. Told that the general was at a wedding, the three waited in the parlor for an hour. When McClellan arrived home, the porter told him the president was waiting, but McClellan passed by the parlor room and climbed the stairs to his private quarters. After another half hour, Lincoln again sent word that he was waiting, only to be informed that the general had gone to sleep. Young John Hay was enraged, " I wish here to record what I consider a portent of evil to come," he wrote in his diary, recounting what he considered an inexcusable "insolence of epaulettes," the first indicator "of the threatened supremacy of the military authorities." To Hay's surprise, Lincoln "seemed not to have noticed it specially, saying it was better at this time not to be making points of etiquette & personal dignity." He would hold McClellan's horse, he once said, if a victory could be achieved. Though Lincoln, the consummate pragmatist, did not express anger at McClellan's rebuff, his aides fumed at every instance of such arrogance. Lincoln's secretary, William Stoddard, described the infuriating delay when he accompanied Lincoln to McClellan's anteroom. "A minute passes, then another, and then another, and with every tick of the clock upon the mantel your blood warms nearer and nearer its boiling-point. Your face feels hot and your fingers tingle, as you look at the man, sitting so patiently over there...and you try to master your rebellious consciousness." As time went by, Lincoln visited the haughty general less frequently. If he wanted to talk with McClellan, he sent a summons for him to appear at the White House."
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|
kindness
forbearance
self-restraint
humility
pragmatism
patience
|
Doris Kearns Goodwin |
344581c
|
"Now anybody can be "kind." And everybody's supposed to be. Except that long ago it was something you were born into and couldn't help. Now it's just a faked-up attitude half the time, like teachers the first day of class."
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|
kindness
philosophy
|
Robert M. Pirsig |
b9a7abd
|
Men's lives are short . The hard man and his cruelties will be Cursed behind his back and mocked in death. But one whose heart and ways are kind - of him strangers will bear report to the whole wide world, and distant men will praise him. - Penelope in Robert Fitzgerald trans. THE ODYSSEY (364)
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|
kindness
success
penelope
meaning-of-life
legacy
remembrance
respect
|
Robert Fitzgerald |
bc447e8
|
If 10 percent of the population were to take a consciously ethical outlook on life and act accordingly, the resulting change would be more significant than any change of government,
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kindness
morality
moral-philosophy
ethics
|
Peter Singer |
9d59e5e
|
There is really no natural limit to the practice of loving kindness in meditation or in one's life. It is an ongoing, ever-expanding realization of interconnectedness. It is also its embodiment. When you can love one tree or one flower or one dog or one place, or one person or yourself for one moment, you can find all people, all places, all suffering, all harmony in that one moment. Practicing in this way is not trying to change anything or get anywhere, although it might look like it on the surface. What it is really doing is uncovering what is always present. Love and kindness are here all the time, somewhere, in fact, everywhere. Usually our ability to touch them and be touched by them lies buried below our own fears and hurts, below our greed and our hatreds, below our desperate clinging to the illusion that we are truly separate and alone. (...). Make sure that you are not to help anybody else or the planet. Rather, you are simply holding them in awareness, honoring them, wishing them well, opening to their pain with kindness and compassion and acceptance.
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|
illusion
kindness
compassion
life
love
all-people
all-places
expanding
honouring
opening-to-pain
uncovering
unlimited
well-wishing
everywhere
interconnectedness
touched
loving
loving-kindness
mindfulness
realisation
presence
meditation
harmony
awareness
|
Jon Kabat-Zinn |
2bd3a97
|
"I don't know why--it's just that--I don't know--they're not kin."--Surprising word, I think to myself never used it before. Not of kin--sounds like hillbilly talk--not of a kind--same root--kindness, too--they can't have real kindness toward him, they're not his kin -- . That's exactly the feeling. Old word, so ancient it's almost drowned out. What a change through the centuries. Now anybody can be "kind." And everybody's supposed to be. Except that long ago it was something you were born into and couldn't help. Now it's just a faked-up attitude half the time, like teachers the first day of class. But what do they really know about kindness who are not kin."
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|
words
kindness
family
kin
society
language
|
Robert M. Pirsig |
23098fb
|
The Limoges set has brought us more joy in its absence than it ever did in our cupboards. Of course, we no longer own a set of china to pass down to our kids, but that's okay. Francois and I plan on giving our children something more valuable, the simple truth that the best way to go through life is to be a major donor of kindness. We'll tell them that it's possible to own a whole bunch of beautiful, valuable things and still be miserable. But sometimes just having a recipe for chocolate Bunt cake can make a person far, far happier.
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kindness
|
Firoozeh Dumas |
fc6d978
|
I find it a challenge to respect capable people who care only for their own interests.
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|
kindness
wisdom
respect
|
Brandon Mull |
aff9073
|
Ruth marveled at how two souls-- two completely different species-- could make each other so happy. If you were kind to animals, they repaid that kindness a thousandfold.
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kindness
|
Alan Brennert |
38a85d2
|
. . . there was something that Isabel had said that always stuck in his mind. Remember what you have and the other person doesn't. It was simple--almost too simple--advice and yet, like all such home advice, it expressed a profound truth.
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kindness
|
Alexander McCall Smith |
e7221f2
|
Jesus, I told meself, harden the fuck up. She heard me say that once, Mum. To me little cousin out by the laundry where he was bawling, his knee bleeding a tiny bit. She had that disgusted look on her face. What? I said. I didn't do nothin. You're no better than your father, she said. Listen to you, Jaxie, you sound just like him. I didn't talk to her for three days.
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kindness
mercy
|
Tim Winton |
385128e
|
I suspect that God is what you do, not what or who you believe in. But people do shit things all the time, I said. There's something wrong with us. Perhaps. And maybe not. But when you do right, Jaxie, when you make good -- well, then you are an instrument of God. Then you are joined to the divine, to the life-force, to life itself. That's what I believe. That's what I hope for. And it's what I have missed. That's all jumblyfuck to me, I said as decent as I could. Well, think of it this way, he said, pushing his specs back up his nose. When somebody does me a kindness, it enlarges me, adds to my life, you see? And not only mine -- it adds to all life. Which is why I wanted to thank you. For coming here. Me? Fintan gave a sad little laugh. And I caught him looking at me goony as an emu. What? I said. Don't you understand me, boy? Can't you see it? Jaxie Clackton, you are an instrument of God.
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|
kindness
love
life-force
|
Tim Winton |
8b18de3
|
"Forgive me for saying so, Your Highness," Clarissa said slowly, "but for one as unaccustomed to good deeds as you, perhaps it would be best if you started with one on a smaller scale. Something like, I don't know, spreading bread crumbs for birds?" "Birds?" Valentina stared at Clarissa as if she had sprouted wings and would fly off. "Why on earth would I wish to feed birds?" "It was just a thought," Clarissa murmured."
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kindness
princess
|
Victoria Alexander |
9059139
|
It was a good thing to be an African. There were terrible things that happened in Africa, things that brought shame and despair when one thought about them, but that was not all there was in Africa. However great the suffering of the people of Africa, however harrowing the cruelty and chaos brought about by soldiers--small boys with guns, really--there was still so much in Africa from which one could take real pride. There was the kindness, for example, and the ability to smile, and the art and the music.
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|
suffering
kindness
|
Alexander McCall Smith |
b1f7ff4
|
Mais ta beaute est si singuliere, c'est une bonte ouverte ou chacun peut se servir autant que ses mains le lui permettent, elle est si grande, infiniment grande ta bonte, mais pardonne-moi- elle est indolente.
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kindness
|
Stefan Zweig |
3885311
|
I sometimes think there's two sides to the commandment; and that we may say, 'Let others do unto you, as you would do unto them,' for pride often prevents our giving others a great deal of pleasure, in not letting them be kind, when their hearts are longing to help; and when we ourselves should wish to do just the same, if we were in their place.
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kindness
golden-rule
pride
|
Elizabeth Gaskell |
92e1327
|
"We would sit down fifteen, sometimes twenty, to the table on seder nights: my parents; the maiden aunts - Birdie, Len, and before the war, Dora, sometimes Annie; cousins of varying degree, visiting from France or Switzerland; and always a stranger or two would come. There was a beautiful, embroidered tablecloth which Annie had brought us from Jerusalem, gleaming white and gold on the table. My mother, knowing that sooner or later there would be accidents, always had a preemptive "spill" herself - she would manage somehow, very early in the evening, to tip a bottle of red wine onto the tablecloth, and thereafter no guest would be embarrassed if they knocked over a glass. Though I know she did this deliberately, I could never predict how or when the "accident" would occur; it always looked absolutely spontaneous and authentic. (She would immediately spread salt on he wine stain, and it became much paler, almost disappearing; I wondered why salt had this power.)"
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kindness
hospitality
|
Oliver Sacks |
baaaa72
|
That had day changed him. It had changed the entire village. Shaken by the death of a boy they had loved, each person found ways to be more worthy of the sacrifice he had made. They had become kinder, more careful, more attentive to one another.
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|
grief
kindness
sacrifice
death
redemption
|
Lois Lowry |
49d8324
|
"Numinous," Ursula said, breaking the silence eventually. "There's a spark of the divine in the world -- not God, er'er done with God, but something. Is it love? Not silly romantic love, but something more profound..." "I think it's perhaps something we don't have a name for," Teddy said. "We want to name everything. Perhaps that's where we've gone wrong."
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kindness
love
|
Kate Atkinson |