KINDNESS
’Tis better to buy a small bouquet,
And give to your friend this very day,
Then a bushel of roses white and red,
To lay on his coffin after he’s dead.
—Irish blessing
Kindness is a language the deaf can hear and the dumb can understand.
—Seneca
There is no tranquilizer in the world more effective than a few kind words.
Do you know a soul downhearted
Needing cheer along life’s way?
If you do, then share your gladness,
Freely speak kind words today.
—Beverly J. Anderson
If someone were to pay you ten cents for every kind word you ever spoke about people, and then take back five cents for every unkind word you ever spoke about people, would you be poor or rich?
Do all the good you can,
in all the ways you can,
in all the places you can,
at all the times you can,
to all the people you can,
as long as ever you can.
—John Wesley
The only people you should try to get even with are those who have helped you.
There has never been an overproduction of kind words.
Kindness always pays but it pays most when you don’t do it for pay.
Often the only thing a child can remember about an adult in later years, when he or she is grown, is whether or not that person was kind to him or her.
—Billy Graham
One kind word can warm up three winter months.
—Japanese proverb
The best portion of a good life is little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.
—William Wordsworth
You can no more have love without kindness than you can have springtime without flowers. The greatest thing a man can do for his heavenly Father is to be kind to some of His other children.
—Guy King
Someone said regarding William Beecher, “You never knew the force of his kindness until you had done him some wrong.”
If you confer a benefit, never remember it. If you receive one, never forget it.
A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives you roses.
—Chinese proverb
How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.
—George Washington Carver
Little acts of kindness—small may be their cost,
Yet when they are wanting—life’s best charm is lost.
Kind words soothe and quiet and comfort the hearer. They shame him out of his sour, morose, unkind feelings. We have not yet begun to use kind words in such abundance as they ought to be used.
—Blaise Pascal
Scatter kindness along the way and you will never walk alone.
You can never tell when you do an act
Just what the result will be;
But with every deed you are serving a need,
Though its harvest you may not see.
Kindness is one thing you cannot give away; it always comes back!
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, some will accuse you of selfish motives.
Do good anyway.
If you succeed, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest anyway.
What takes years to build may be destroyed overnight.
Build well anyway.
One of the most difficult things to give away is kindness; it is usually returned.
—Cort R. Flint
In Les Miserables, Victor Hugo tells the story of Jean Valjean. His only crime was the theft of a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s starving children. After serving nineteen years for his crime, he was released. Unable to find work because he had been a convict, he came to the home of a Christian bishop who kindly gave him supper and a place to sleep. Yielding to temptation, however, Valjean stole the bishop’s silver plates and slipped out into the night. But he was apprehended and brought back to the scene of the crime. The kind bishop did not want to prosecute the man. Deciding to try to win him to the Lord instead, he told the officers he wanted Valjean to have the silver plates. Turning to the culprit, he said, “And Jean, you forgot to take the candlesticks.” The criminal was astounded and the kindness later resulted in his conversion. This brought a deep sense of joy to the compassionate bishop.
—Our Daily Bread
There is a beautiful Hebrew legend of two brothers who lived side by side on adjoining lands. One was the head of a large family, the other lived alone. One night, the older brother lay awake and thought, “My brother lives alone; he has not the companionship of wife and children to cheer his heart as I have. While he sleeps, I will carry some of my sheaves into his field.”
At the same hour, the younger brother reasoned, “My brother has a large family, and his necessities are greater than mine. As he sleeps I will put some of my sheaves on his side of the field.”
Thus, the two brothers went out, each laden with sheaves—and met at the dividing line. There they embraced. Years later, at the very place stood the Jerusalem temple, and on the very spot of their meeting stood the temple’s altar.
Always try to be a little kinder than necessary.
—James M. Barrie
Former President William McKinley was once planning to appoint an ambassador to a foreign country. There were two candidates whose qualifications were almost equal, and McKinley searched his mind for some yardstick by which he might measure the true greatness of the men in question. He later confided that the self-centeredness of the one and the magnanimous kindness of the other were the deciding factors in the scale of his judgment. Many years before, when he was still a representative in Congress, McKinley said he had boarded a street car at the rush hour and managed to get the last vacant seat.
An old washer woman entered shortly afterward carrying a heavy basket. She walked the length of the car and stood in the aisle, hardly able to keep her balance as the vehicle swayed from side to side in its race down the tracks. No one offered her a seat. One of the men the President was later to consider was sitting opposite where she was standing. McKinley noticed that he shifted his newspaper in order to avoid seeing her. Mr. McKinley walked down the aisle, took her basket of washing and offered her his seat in the back of the car. The candidate never knew that this little act of selfishness had deprived him of perhaps the crowning honor of his lifetime. For the President later recalled this unkindness and decided to appoint the other man as his ambassador.
“What is good?”
I asked in a musing mood.
Order, said the law court;
Knowledge, said the school;
Truth, said the wise man;
Pleasure, said the fool;
Love, said the maiden;
Beauty, said the dreamer;
Home, said the sage;
Fame, said the soldier;
Equity, said the seer;
Spoke my heart full sadly,
“The answer is not here.”
Then within my bosom
Softly this I heard:
“Each heart holds this secret;
Kindness is the word.”
—John Boyle O’Reilly
Stephen Grellet was a French-born Quaker who died in New Jersey in 1855. Grellet would be unknown to the world today except for a few lines that made him immortal. The familiar lines, which have served as an inspiration to so many people, are these:
“I shall pass through this world but once. Any good that I can do, or any kindness that I can show any human being, let me do it now and not defer it. For I shall not pass this way again.”
Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.
—Confucius
A shepherd in India was troubled by his neighbor’s dogs, who were killing his sheep. Shepherds usually counter that problem with lawsuits or barbed wire fences or even shotguns, but this man went to work on his neighbors with a better idea. To every neighbor’s child he gave a lamb or two as pets, and in due time, when all his neighbors had their own small flocks, they began to tie up their dogs, and that put an end to the problem.
—J. Wallace Hamilton
H. H. Lee said that at one end of the truck terminal where he worked was a coal company with a high fence around it. Nearby was a railroad, and each day several freight trains passed by. Lee often noticed that the owner of the yard, who was a Christian, threw chunks of coal over the fence at various places along the track. One day he asked the man why he did this. With compassion in his voice, he replied, “A poor elderly woman lives across the street, and I know that her old-age pension is inadequate to buy enough coal. After the trains go by, she walks along and picks up the pieces she thinks have fallen from the coal car behind the engine. Her eyesight is failing, and she doesn’t realize that diesels have replaced steam locomotives. I don’t want to disappoint her, so I just throw some pieces over the fence to help her.” That is Christianity in action!
KNOWLEDGE
He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not is a fool; avoid him.
He who knows not and knows that he knows not, is simple; teach him.
He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep; wake him.
He who knows, and knows that he knows, is a wise man; follow him.
I’d rather know a lot of things for certain than to be sure of a lot of things that aren’t so.
—Josh Billings
Know what you know, and know that you don’t know what you don’t know—that is characteristic of one who knows.
—Confucius
A devoted follower of Socrates asked him the best way to acquire knowledge. Socrates responded by leading him to a river and plunging him beneath the surface. The man struggled to free himself, but Socrates kept his head submerged. Finally, after much effort, the man was able to break loose and emerge from the water. Socrates then asked, “When you thought you were drowning, what one thing did you want most of all?” Still gasping for breath, the man exclaimed, “I wanted air!” The philosopher wisely commented, “When you want knowledge as much as you wanted air, then you will get it!” The same is true with our desire for righteousness.
He has learned more and more about less and less so that he knows everything about nothing