“If your understanding of the divine made you kinder, more empathetic, and impelled you to express sympathy in concrete acts of loving-kindness, this was good theology. But if your notion of God made you unkind, belligerent, cruel, of self-righteous, or if it led you to kill in God s name, it was bad theology. ”
“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the greatest intention.”
“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.”
“I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness.”
“The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful then a thousand heads bowing in prayer.”
“It only takes a split second to smile and forget, yet to someone that needed it, it can last a lifetime.”
“One man practicing kindness in the wilderness is worth all the temples this world pulls.”
“Don t be reckless with other people s hearts, and don t put up with people that are reckless with yours.”
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”
“I must be cruel only to be kind; Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.”
“I d thought once, actually, of taking your mind, if you asked. I d thought I could help you fall asleep at night. He opened his mouth to say something. Shut it again. His face closed for a moment, his unreadable mask falling into place. He spoke softly. But that wouldn t be fair; for after I slept you d be left awake, with no one to help you sleep.”
“...treat people with understanding when you can, and fake it when you can t until you do understand.”
“For it is in giving that we receive.”
“He who sees a need and waits to be asked for help is as unkind as if he had refused it.”
“What I want is so simple I almost can t say it: elementary kindness.”
“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.”