Trying to be kind to others I often get my soul shredded into a kind of spiritual pasta.
They might not need me – yet they might – I’ll let my Head be just in sight – A smile as small as mine might be Precisely their necessity –
There is a haughtiness of kindness which has the appearance of wickedness.[Es giebt einen Übermuth der Güte, welcher sich wie Bosheit ausnimmt.]
The world had somehow gone too far, and spontaneous kindness could never be so easy.
Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.
One man practicing kindness in the wilderness is worth all the temples this world pulls.
Nothing human disgusts me unless it’s unkind.
Never lose a chance of saying a kind word.
Men tend to have the beliefs that suit their passions. Cruel men believe in a cruel god and use their belief to excuse cruelty. Only kindly men believe in a kindly god, and they would be kindly in any case.
Kindnesses are easily forgotten; but injuries! – what worthy man does not keep those in mind?
Kindness has its mishaps; often it is attributed to temperament; people are seldom willing to recognize it as the secret effort of a noble soul.[La bonté n’est pas sans écueils: on l’attribue au caractère, on veut rarement y reconnaître les efforts secrets d’une belle âme.]
Kindness and a caring mind are two separate qualities. Kindness is manners. It is superficial custom, an acquired practice. Not so the mind. The mind is deeper, stronger, and, I believe, it is far more inconstant.
