With the passing of another year, we once more enter the season of festivities that begin, here in the United States, with Thanksgiving Day. No matter where we call home, it is always inspirational to reflect on those things for which we are grateful. And being thankful may prompt us to ask what we can do to make things better for others, especially with so many regions torn by conflict and a planet agitated by climate change.
While there is no one proper answer to that question, each effective response begins with kindness.
In that spirit, here are some of our favorite notions about being kind:
Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. —Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind. —Eric Hoffer
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. —Margaret Mead
What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness? —Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse. —Henry van Dyke
You cannot do kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. —Ralph Waldo Emerson
The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been kindness, beauty, and truth. —Albert Einstein
Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change. —Bob Kerrey
A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. —Amelia Earhart
Kindness begins with the understanding that we all struggle. —Charles Glassman
Be an agent of kindness. That is the best thanksgiving we can make.