- “Kindness is the greatest wealth of all. Small acts of kindness last longer than a lifetime. This lesson, that kindness and generosity and faith in your fellow man are more important than money, is the first and greatest lesson my father ever taught me. And in this way he will always be with us, and always live forever.” ― Eddie Jaku, The Happiest Man on Earth
- “Nonviolence aims at doing no harm to living being. Compassion aims at doing good to all being.” ― Amit Ray, Nonviolence: The Transforming Power
- “We are, or rather our natural desire to evade pain and to attain pleasure is, the primary reason we do or say every single thing we do or say.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana, The Selfish Genie: A Satirical Essay on Altruism
- “Compassion is like mother giving love to her children. Mother’s ways are higher than others, even when everyone rejects, mother accepts with her arms open and wide.” ― Amit Ray
- “Love is divineLove is pure.Love is noble.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!
- “An unkindness for an unkindness does not goodness make.” ― Akiroq Brost
- “God whispered, “You endured a lot. For that I am truly sorry, but grateful. I needed you to struggle to help so many. Through that process you would grow into who you have now become. Didn’t you know that I gave all my struggles to my favorite children? One only needs to look at the struggles given to your older brother Jesus to know how important you have been to me.” ― Shannon L. Alder
- “The peasants of love pillage the town of my prideful heart until I burn with compassion.” ― Curtis Tyrone Jones
- “It doesn’t matter how you conceive of divinity. It only matters that you see it in everything, including yourself.” ― Eric Micha’el Leventhal
- “I choose to be at peace. I look at others with the eyes of compassion, I forgive them and bless them with peace. I let go of anger and judgment. I am at peace.” ― Eileen Anglin
- “May you comfort and healing.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!
- “Of what use are words that don’t draw people closer together?” ― Marty Rubin
- “Genuine compassion cannot be imposed from without. It doesn’t happen simply by hearing a sermon on love, or being sent on a loving mission. How often have we set out to love to world—or even more difficult, to love some tiresome, undeserving, mule-headed person on our street—and given up, feeling exasperated, unappreciated, used, tired, burned out, or just plain cynical? The point is, you don’t arbitrarily make up your mind to be compassionate so much as you choose to follow a journey that transforms your heart into a compassionate space.” ― Sue Monk Kidd, Firstlight: The Early Inspirational Writings of Sue Monk Kidd
- “Unless we understand how the twists and turns of life operate to make us, we cannot comprehend who and what we are. Without self-awareness, we are blind to registering the intertexture of other people’s inner life. Gracefully enduring personal hardships expands our minds to extend sympathy and empathy for other people. By casting our personal life experiences into a supple storytelling casing, we create the translucent membrane that quarters the fusion of our flesh, nerves, blood, and bones. Self-understanding is an essential step in loving the entire world.” ― Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls
- “Have compassion and forgive the mistakes of others. If you cannot forgive ignore but never hate them, because hatred will always lead to destruction.” ― Alok Jagawat
- “Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.” ― Albert Schweitzer
- “When we refuse to work with our disappointment, we break the Precepts: rather than experience the disappointment, we resort to anger, greed, gossip, criticism. Yet it’s the moment of being that disappointment which is fruitful; and, if we are not willing to do that, at least we should notice that we are not willing. The moment of disappointment in life is an incomparable gift that we receive many times a day if we’re alert. This gift is always present in anyone’s life, that moment when ‘It’s not the way I want it!” ― Charlotte Joko Beck
- “Sometimes the people who are the hardest to love are the ones who need it most.” ― Kristi Ling, Operation Happiness: The 3-Step Plan to Creating a Life of Lasting Joy, Abundant Energy, and Radical Bliss
- “Acts committed in the heat of passion as much as acts of heartfelt compassion have the power to disenchant” ― Maria Tatar, Beauty and the Beast: Classic Tales About Animal Brides and Grooms from Around the World
- “You may possibly become rich by just caring about yourself and what you want to gain from life but you cannot possibly enrich the lives of everyone you meet that way. The pathway to enlightenment and transformation and liberation is the heart not the mind.” ― Rasheed Ogunlaru
- “As spiritual searchers we need to become freer and freer of the attachment to our own smallness in which we get occupied with me-me-me. Pondering on large ideas or standing in front of things which remind us of a vast scale can free us from acquisitiveness and competitiveness and from our likes and dislikes. If we sit with an increasing stillness of the body, and attune our mind to the sky or to the ocean or to the myriad stars at night, or any other indicators of vastness, the mind gradually stills and the heart is filled with quiet joy. Also recalling our own experiences in which we acted generously or with compassion for the simple delight of it without expectation of any gain can give us more confidence in the existence of a deeper goodness from which we may deviate. (39)” ― Ravi Ravindra, The Wisdom of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras: A New Translation and Guide by Ravi Ravindra
- “With love, we can save every soul from self-destruction.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!
- “Nonviolence is kindling light of love into the dark places and budding trust from the threshold of hopelessness.” ― Amit Ray, Nonviolence: The Transforming Power
- “The most effective way to show compassion to another is to listen, rather than talk.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh, No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering
- “Isn’t it time to start giving yourself the great gift of your own love?” ― Scott Stabile
- “Mostly we think of people with great authority as higher up, far away, hard to reach. But spiritual authority comes from compassion and emerges from deep inner solidarity with those who are ‘subject’ to authority. The one who is fully like us, who deeply understands our joys and pains or hopes and desires, and who is willing and able to walk with us, that is the one to whom we gladly give authority and whose ‘subjects’ we are willing to be.It is the compassionate authority that empowers, encourages, calls forth hidden gifts, and enables great things to happen. True spiritual authorities are located in the point of an upside-down triangle, supporting and holding into the light everyone they offer their leadership to.” ― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith
- “Compassion, kindness, empathy, sympathy, mercy, and understanding are six connected values that should be implanted in the young generation, as they are what motivates people to help and stand for each other. A heart that is filled with mercifulness is a heart that will help its society and the whole world to continue, improve, and thrive.” ― Noora Ahmed Alsuwaidi
- “The key to your power is simple: love. Love is strength. Your compassion is commanding. Your ability to heal is hailing. Let this be your Goddess ethos.” ― Emma Mildon, Evolution of Goddess: A Modern Girl’s Guide to Activating Your Feminine Superpowers
- “Talk to ourselves in the same way we’d talk to someone we’d love. Yes, you made a mistake. You’re human. You don’t have to do it like anyone else does. Fixing it and making amends will help. Self-loathing will not. Reach out to someone we trust–a person who has earned the right to hear our story and who has the capacity to respond with empathy.” ― Brené Brown, Rising Strong
- “Anguish is the universal language” ― Alice Fulton