Last Updated on December 19, 2022
It doesn’t take a lot to be kind. You don’t need to be rich, talented, or be outgoing to brighten someone’s day. Current struggles may prompt you into survival mode, but don’t let problems cloud your eyes and harden your heart.
Kindness can be as simple as being considerate, courteous, or thoughtful.
Small Acts of Kindness You Can Do Today
What is kindness? In essence, being kind means putting others before yourself. Your motivation is simply to help others – and get those warm, fuzzy feelings. Start today with these random acts:
- Befriend the new kid in school or your new co-worker;
- Give a positive review to a local restaurant;
- Reach out to an old friend or relative;
- Start a fundraiser for a cause you deeply care about;
- Spend time with your grandparents or a senior in your community;
- Leave an encouraging or supportive comment on a friend’s post;
- Buy from your local retailers or small mom-and-pop stores;
- Help your mom or dad with chores around the house;
- Adopt a pet from a local animal shelter;
- Create a feeder for wildlife in your garden or porch;
- Donate old books, clothes, and toys to those in need; and
- Leave a generous tip to your servers (if you can manage).
Remember: kindness doesn’t just extend to human beings, but to every living thing you encounter. Oh, and don’t forget to have fun!
Kindness Quotes To Inspire You
It can be difficult to imagine a kind world with everything that’s been going on lately. But don’t underestimate the power of small acts. If you do one good thing a day, you can inspire others to do the same. Keep an open mind and a gentle heart. Kindness, after all, is its own reward.
To help you on your quest to make a difference, here are several quotes on kindness to read every day.
1. “A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.” — Amelia Earhart
2. “The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines.”— Charles K
uralt, On the Road With Charles Kuralt
3. “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” — Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
4. “Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change.” — Bob Kerrey
5. “Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.” — Theodore Isaac Rubin
6. “The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own.” — Benjamin Disraeli
7. “You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
8. “Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness.” — George Sand
9. “Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” — Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
10. “Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.” — Samuel Johnson
11. “Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver.” — Barbara de Angelis
12. “Don’t cast a shadow on anyone unless you’re providing shade.” — Terri Guillemets
13. “When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.” — Abraham Joshua Heschel
14. “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” — Dalai Lama
15. “A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.” — William Arthur Ward
16. “There is no greater loan than a sympathetic ear.” — Frank Tyger
17. “Nothing in life means anything unless someone cares, and the whole trick is to keep being that someone.” — Robert Brault
18. “Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” — Scott Adams
19. “One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.” — Booker T. Washington
20. “In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy.” — Karl Reiland
21. “The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.” — John E. Southard
22. “The level of our success is limited only by our imagination and no act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.” — Aesop
23. “Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping him up.” — Jesse Jackson
24. “Kindness is just love with its work boots on.” — Author Unknown
25. “Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.” — Lucius Annaeus Seneca
26. “To err on the side of kindness is seldom an error.” — Liz Armbruster
27. “When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.” — Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
28. “Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.” — Maya Angelou
29. “Because that’s what kindness is. It’s not doing something for someone else because they can’t, but because you can.” — Andrew Iskander
30. “There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” — Edith Wharton
31. “Kind people are the best kind of people.” — Author Unknown
32. “You can accomplish by kindness what you cannot by force.” — Publilius Syrus
33. “The more sympathy you give, the less you need.” — Malcolm S. Forbes
34. “Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.” — James Matthew Barrie
35. “Don’t wait for people to be friendly, show them how.” — Author Unknown
36. “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt
37. “To give and then not feel that one has given is the very best of all ways of giving.” — Max Beerbohm
38. “Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” — Mark Twain
39. “Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out.” — Frank A. Clark
40. “Kindness is the greatest wisdom.” — Unknown