I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strangely, I am read more

I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strangely, I am ungrateful to these teachers

Have you the heart? When your head did but ache,
I knit my handkercher about your brows--
read more

Have you the heart? When your head did but ache,
I knit my handkercher about your brows--
The best I had, a princess wrought it me--
And I did never ask it you again;
And with my hand at midnight held your head,
And like the watchful minutes to the hour,
Still and anon cheered up the heavy time,
Saying, 'What lack you?' and 'Where lies your grief?'

One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind.

One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind.

Yet do I fear thy nature.
It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness
To read more

Yet do I fear thy nature.
It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way.

Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.

Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.

He carried and nourished in his breast a snake, tender-hearted
against his own interest.
[Lat., Colubram sustulit
read more

He carried and nourished in his breast a snake, tender-hearted
against his own interest.
[Lat., Colubram sustulit
Sinuque fovet, contra se ipse misericors.]

That best portion of a good man's life, His little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.

That best portion of a good man's life, His little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.

It is difficult to tell how much men's minds are conciliated by a
kind manner and gentle speech.
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It is difficult to tell how much men's minds are conciliated by a
kind manner and gentle speech.
[Lat., Sed tamen difficile dictu est, quantopere conciliat animos
hominum comitas affabilitasque sermonis.]

It is one of the beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to be kind to another, read more

It is one of the beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to be kind to another, without helping himself.