The good man is the friend of all living things.

I believe we are still so innocent. The species are still so innocent that a person who is apt to be murdered believes that the murderer, just before he puts the final wrench on his throat, will have enough compassion to give him one sweet cup of water.

Every loss of life is terrible.

I’m not happy all the time, and I wouldn’t want to be because that would make me a shallow person. But I do try to find the good in everybody.

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world.

We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers.

It’s hard to practice compassion when we’re struggling with our authenticity or when our own worthiness is off-balance.

Some people never go crazy, What truly horrible lives they must live.

So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it.

The other day the President said, I know you’ve had some rough times, and I want to do something that will show the nation what faith that I have in you, in your maturity and sense of responsibility. He paused, then said, would you like a puppy?

He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.

To give alms is nothing unless you give thought also.

All religions try to benefit people, with the same basic message of the need for love and compassion, for justice and honesty, for contentment.

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

We must, all of us, learn actually not to have enemies, but only confused adversaries who are ourselves in disguise.

I don’t think that much about my relationship with my mother and what it did to me. I sometimes feel terrible regret about her, what her life must have been like. Often, when I’m enjoying something, I think of how meager her rewards were and how much courage, in a way, she needed to go on living.

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?

Sadat was a great and good man, and his most bitter and dangerous enemies were people who were obsessed with hatred for his peaceful goals.

Abe Foxman has been a friend and advisor of mine for a long time.

When people need love and understanding and support the most is when they deserve it the least.

When I write, it’s like choosing which shoes I’m going to put on. More often than not, my lyrics are personal – but I sometimes have to put myself in other people’s shoes.

You know that your happiness and suffering depend on the happiness and suffering of others. That insight helps you not to do wrong things that will bring suffering to yourself and to other people.

Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is because we are not the person involved.

Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.

I can tell you, honest friend, what to believe: believe life; it teaches better that book or orator.

If you are not being bullied all I would say – cause I like to talk about the other side of it as well – is you know, be someone that nurtures, and if there’s someone in your class that maybe doesn’t have a lot of friends, be the person that sits with them in the cafeteria sometimes; be the bigger person.

A sense of duty is useful in work but offensive in personal relations. People wish to be liked, not to be endured with patient resignation.

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.

Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.

If we love our country, we should also love our countrymen.

Whether a person is straight or gay, Republican, Democrat, good person, not a good person, they’re all welcome, because to me, church is a place you’re supposed to get healed and whole and loved.

There is danger that we lose sight of what our friend is absolutely, while considering what she is to us alone.

There never was any heart truly great and generous, that was not also tender and compassionate.

Information helps you to see that you’re not alone. That there’s somebody in Mississippi and somebody in Tokyo who all have wept, who’ve all longed and lost, who’ve all been happy. So the library helps you to see, not only that you are not alone, but that you’re not really any different from everyone else.

Encouragement to others is something everyone can give. Somebody needs what you have to give. It may not be your money; it may be your time. It may be your listening ear. It may be your arms to encourage. It may be your smile to uplift. Who knows?

You pity the fool because you don’t want to beat up a fool! You know, pity is between sorry and mercy. See, if you pity him, you know, you won’t have to beat him up. So that’s why I say fools, you gotta give another chance because they don’t know no better. That’s why I pity them!

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.

If anything, we should feel sorry for the people who want us to feel bad about ourselves, because they are the ones struggling for approval. In middle school, bullies tortured other kids because they thought it would make people like them more.

A real Christian is a person who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip.

Positional leaders ignore the fact that every person has hopes, dreams, desires, and goals of his own. And leaders must bring their vision and the aspirations of the people they lead together in a way that benefits everyone.

Love other human beings as you would love yourself.

You can see neurosis from below – as a sickness – as most psychiatrists see it. Or you can understand it as a compassionate man might: respecting the neurosis as a fumbling and inefficient effort toward good ends.

The happiest people I know as a nation are the Burmese; their brightness and cheeriness are proverbial. Kindness to animals is one of their greatest ‚weaknesses‘; no Burmese will kill an animal, even if it is to put it out of pain.

Noble deeds that are concealed are most esteemed.

We learn martial arts as helping weakness. You never fight for people to get hurt. You’re always helping people.

The thing to do, it seems to me, is to prepare yourself so you can be a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud. Somebody who may not look like you. May not call God the same name you call God – if they call God at all. I may not dance your dances or speak your language. But be a blessing to somebody. That’s what I think.

Culture makes people understand each other better. And if they understand each other better in their soul, it is easier to overcome the economic and political barriers. But first they have to understand that their neighbour is, in the end, just like them, with the same problems, the same questions.

Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.

Now that I understand that I’m an addict, I definitely have compassion for my mother. I get it.

If one by one we counted people out For the least sin, it wouldn’t take us long To get so we had no one left to live with. For to be social is to be forgiving.

Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.

When we believe the best of people, we let go of each thing they do that is hurtful to us. And we choose to think things like, ‚I don’t believe they meant to hurt me.‘ ‚Maybe they’re having a bad day or don’t feel well.‘ ‚They probably don’t even realize how they sound.‘

I always ask God to work through me and let me be a light of some kind and help in this world, so I always pray for that, and I always want to do good.

I feel like I write so that people can think of it as theirs. If my song is exactly about your life right now, then it is – I don’t even want to say that it’s mine, because it’s yours.

Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

Gays are some of the nicest, kindest, most loving people in the world.

If you want to see the true measure of a man, watch how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.