Kindness and compassion: favorite quotations

Having recently written about compassion and how it is linked to our great human potential, I wanted to share some of my favorite quotes about kindness and compassion. I hope you enjoy this collection, please feel free to post some of your favorite quotations in the comments. I very much look forward to reading them!

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"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle." ~ Plato

"Our task must be to free ourselves . . . by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty." ~ Albert Einstein 

"As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others" ~ Audrey Hepburn 

"Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace." ~ Albert Schweitzer

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." ~ Aesop

"No one has ever become poor by giving." ~ Ann Frank, from Diary of Ann Frank

"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." ~ Dalai Lama XIV

"One man practicing kindness in the wilderness is worth all the temples this world pulls." ~ Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums

"Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see." ~ Mark Twain

"Only the development of compassion and understanding of others can bring of the tranquility and happiness we all seek." ~ Dalai Lama XIV

"Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love." ~ Lao Tzu

"Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive." ~ Dalai Lama XIV

"Compassion is the basis of morality." ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

"I have just three things to teach, simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures." ~ Lao Tzu

"Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness." ~ Seneca

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May all beings be happy!