This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
"Truth is like the stars; it does not appear except from behind obscurity of the night. Truth is like all beautiful things in the world; it does not disclose its desirability except to those who first feel the influence of falsehood. Truth is a deep kindness that teaches us to be content in our everyday life and share with the people the same happiness." - Kahlil Gibran
"I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers." - Kahlil Gibran
"Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution." - Kahlil Gibran
"Fear, not kindness, restrains the wicked." - Latin Proverbs
"How good it would be if we could learn to be rigorous in judgment of ourselves, and gentle in our judgment of our neighbors! In remedying defects, kindness works best with others, sternness with ourselves. It is easy to make allowances for our faults, but dangerous; hard to make allowances for others’ faults, but wise." - Maltbie Babcock, fully Maltbie Davenport Babcock
"Life is what we are alive to. It is not length, but breadth. To be alive only to appetite, pleasure, pride, money-making, and not to goodness and kindness, purity and love, history, poetry, music, flowers, stars, God and eternal hopes, it is to be all but dead." - Maltbie Babcock, fully Maltbie Davenport Babcock
"Twelve Things to Remember: The value of time. The success of perseverance. The pleasure of working. The dignity of simplicity. The worth of character. The power of kindness. The influence of example. The obligation of duty. The wisdom of economy. The virtue of patience. The improvement of talent. The joy of originating." - Marshall Field
"There is hunger for ordinary bread, and there is hunger for love, for kindness, for thoughtfulness; and this is the great poverty that makes people suffer so much." - Mother Teresa, born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu NULL
"Kindness has converted more people than zeal, science, or eloquence." - Mother Teresa, born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu NULL
"I prefer you to make mistakes in kindness than work miracles in unkindness." - Mother Teresa, born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu NULL
"There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will be to treat others with respect, kindness, and generosity." - Nathaniel Branden
"Since it appears that helping someone produces a feeling of happiness, it follows that you can increase your happiness by simply adding to the number of times you perform an act of kindness." - Norman Vincent Peale
"There seemed to be nothing she could add to the material things we already had. And so she offered something of far greater value: a gift of the heart, an act of kindness carried out in our name." - Norman Vincent Peale
"The soul that perpetually overflows with kindness and sympathy will always be cheerful." - Parke Godwin
"The true source of cheerfulness is benevolence. The pursuits of mankind are commonly frigid and contemptible, and the mistake comes, at last, to be detected. But virtue is a charm that never fades. The soul that perceptually overflows with kindness and sympathy will always be cheerful." - Parke Godwin
"Part of what we are is whom we’ve loved." - Parke Godwin
"I’ve learned and unlearned all my life; it’s helped me to survive. There are no constants, nothing is immutable, only random circumstance from which our experience builds a coherent arc of life. And for that arc you have only to be truly done with one thing before moving to another. There’s an art in letting go." - Parke Godwin
"Love and hell are alike in that respect; they are what you bring to them. The script is yours; only the props are furnished." - Parke Godwin
"By a sweet tongue and kindness, you can drag an elephant with a hair." - Persian Proverbs
"Love is the art of hearts, and heart of arts." - Philip James Bailey
"In the friendship of the lover there is no real kindness; he has an appetite and wants to feed upon you. “Just as the wolf loves the lamb, so the lover adores his beloved.”" - Plato NULL
"It’s about whether we’re going to be able to look forward to our descendants and hand this world over to them in much better shape, so they will look back on us with kindness and with praise – rather than cursing us for our apathy, or our narcissism, or our refusal to stand up tall for justice and freedom in the world." - Ralph Nader
"Defect in manners is usually the defect of fine perceptions. Men are too coarsely made for the delicacy of beautiful carriage and customs. It is not quite sufficient to good breeding, a union of kindness and independence." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"He who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love." - Richard Brooks
"Kindness is the sunshine in which virtue grows." - Robert Ingersoll, fully Robert Green "Bob" Ingersoll
"Kindness, quite simply, is the rent we must pay for the space we occupy on this planet." - Robin Sharma
"A good deed is never lost. He who sows courtesy, reaps friendship; he who plants kindness, gathers love; pleasure bestowed upon a grateful mind was never sterile, but generally gratitude begets reward." - Saint Basil, aka Basil of Caesarea, Saint Basil the Great NULL
"He who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love." - Saint Basil, aka Basil of Caesarea, Saint Basil the Great NULL
"What is the noblest pedigree? Loving kindness to men." - Salomon ibn Gabirol, aka Solomon ben Judah or Avicebron
"Kindness begets kindness." - Sophocles NULL
"One who knows how to show and to accept kindness will be a friend better than any possession." - Sophocles NULL
"Loving kindness is greater than laws; and the charities of life are more than all ceremonies." - Talmud or The Talmud NULL
"Loving kindness survives death." - Talmud or The Talmud NULL
"Deeds of kindness are equal in weight to all the commandments." - Talmud or The Talmud NULL
"Loving-kindness is greater than law; and the charities of life are more than all the ceremonies." - Talmud or The Talmud NULL
"Without kindness, there can be no true joy." - Thomas Carlyle
"He merits no thanks that does a kindness for his own end." - Thomas Fuller
"Let thy carriage be friendly, but not foolishly free; an unwary openness causeth contempt, but a little reservedness, respect; and handsome courtesy, kindness." - Thomas Fuller
"Kindness is the noblest Weapon to conquer with." - Thomas Fuller
"The doer of the favor is the firmer friend of the two, in order by continued kindness to keep the recipient in his debt; while the debtor feels less keenly from the very consciousness that the return he makes will be a payment, not a free gift." - Thucydides NULL
"The key to the art of prayer is thought. As we think so we pray. The highest level of prayer is to think God’s thoughts after Him, to attune our lives to love, hope, faith, justice, kindness; to become open channels for the goodness of God. Prayer is quiet meditation about eternal values. It is the mind adventuring in the universe. Prayer moves with the instantaneous speed of thought, through infinite space, to the four corners of the earth, to the depth of the human heart, to the mountaintop of inspiration." - Wilferd Peterson, fully Wilferd Arlan Peterson
"Kindness is virtue itself." - Alphonse de Lamartine, fully Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine
"Patience, kindness, love, good will, joy, happiness, wisdom and understanding are qualities which never grow old. Cultivate them and express them and remain young in mind and body" - Joseph Murphy
"Following his release from imprisonment on Kislev 19, 5559 (1798), an event which marked the Chassidic movement's decisive victory over its opponents, Rabbi Schneur Zalman sent a letter to his followers. The letter begins by quoting the verse in which Jacob says to G‑d, "I am diminished by all the kindnesses... You have shown Your servant" (Genesis 32:11). "The meaning of this," explains Rabbi Schneur Zalman "is that every kindness bestowed by G‑d upon a person should cause him to be exceedingly humble. For a [Divine] kindness is [an expression of] ... 'His right hand does embrace me' (Song of Songs 2:6) -- G‑d is literally bringing the person close to Himself, far more intensely than before. And the closer a person is to G‑d ... the greater the humility this should evoke in him... This because 'all before Him is as naught' (Zohar), so that the more 'before Him' a person is, the more 'as naught' [does he perceive himself to be].... This is the attribute of Jacob... The very opposite is the case in the contrasting realm of ... kelipah (evil): the greater the kindness shown a person, the more he grows in arrogance and self-satisfaction..." The letter concludes: "Therefore, I come with a great call to all our community regarding the many kindnesses which G‑d has exceedingly shown us: Assume the attribute of Jacob... Do not feel yourselves superior to your brethren (i.e., the opponents of Chassidism); do not give free rein to your mouths regarding them, or hiss at them, G‑d forbid. [I] strictly warn: Make no mention [of our victory]. Only humble your spirits and hearts with the truth of Jacob."" - Shneur Zalman of Liadi
"From a note penned by Rabbi Schneur Zalman shortly before his passing: The truly humble soul recognizes that its mission in life lies in the pragmatic aspect of Torah, both in studying it for himself and explaining it to others; and in doing acts of material kindness by lending an empathizing mind and counsel from afar regarding household concerns, though the majority, if not all, of these concerns are things of falsehood. For the loftiest beginnings are rooted in the end." - Shneur Zalman of Liadi
"No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure. " - Emma Goldman