Top 200 Compassion Quotes (2025 Update)
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151. “I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness.”

— Mother Teresa

152. “Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.”

— Booker T. Washington

153. “The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings.”

— Buddha

154. “Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let the pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.”

— Iain Thomas

155. “If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.”

— Emily Dickinson

156. “I know of only one duty, and that is to love.”

— Albert Camus

157. “You will regret many things in life but you will never regret being too kind or too fair.”

— Brian Tracy

158. “Be like a flower that gives its fragrance even to the hand that crushed it.”

— Ali ibn Abi Talib

159. “I cannot do all the good that the world needs. But the world needs all the good that I can do.”

— Jana Stanfield

160. “We must know that we have been created for greater things, not just to be a number in the world, not just to go for diplomas and degrees, this work and that work. We have been created in order to love and to be loved.”

— Mother Teresa

161. “If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart. I’ll stay there forever.”

— A. A. Milne

162. “Compassion is the ultimate expression of your highest self.”

— Russell Simmons

163. “It does not matter whether you are a theist or atheist, what matters is sincerity, forgiveness, and compassion.”

— Dalai Lama XIV

164. “See the light in others, and treat them as if that is all you see.”

— Wayne W. Dyer

165. “We are each made for goodness, love and compassion. Our lives are transformed as much as the world is when we live with these truths.”

— Desmond Tutu

166. “Find your own Calcutta. Find the sick, the suffering and the lonely right there where you are.”

— Mother Teresa

167. “As we learn to have compassion for ourselves, the circle of compassion for others – what and whom we can work with, and how – becomes wider.”

— Pema Chödrön

168. “When a man wants to murder a tiger he calls it sport; when a tiger wants to murder him he calls it ferocity.”

— George Bernard Shaw

169. “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

— Mother Teresa

170. “Always treat people as ends in themselves, never as means to an end.”

— Immanuel Kant

171. “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”

— Audre Lorde

172. “To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.”

— Howard Zinn

173. “Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things.”

— Thomas Merton

174. “Love is the absence of judgment.”

— Dalai Lama XIV

175. “Free your heart from hatred – forgive. Free your mind from worries – most never happen. Live simply and appreciate what you have. Give more. Expect less.”

— Stephen R. Covey

176. “A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.”

— Amelia Earhart

177. “Be silly. Be honest. Be kind.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

178. “I would like my life to be a statement of love and compassion – and where it isn’t, that’s where my work lies.”

— Ram Dass

179. “Compassion is a verb.”

— Nhat Hanh

180. “Compassion refers to the arising in the heart of the desire to relieve the suffering of all beings.”

— Ram Dass

181. “To care for those who once cared for us is one of the highest honors.”

— Tia Walker

182. “Obedience out of love is joy.”

— Heidi Baker

183. “God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.”

— Kurt Vonnegut

184. “Children learn about the nature of the world from their family. They learn about power and about justice, about peace and about compassion within the family. Whether we oppress or liberate our children in our relationships with them will determine whether they grow up to oppress and be oppressed or to liberate and be liberated.”

— Desmond Tutu

185. “If you meet someone whose soul is not aligned with yours, send them love and move along.”

— Wayne W. Dyer

186. “In the face of suffering, one has no right to turn away, not to see.”

— Elie Wiesel

187. “The sooner one develops compassion in this journey, the better. Compassion lets us appreciate that each individual is doing what he or she must do, and that there is no reason to judge another person or oneself. You merely do what you can to further your own awakening.”

— Ram Dass

188. “Self-compassion is key because when we’re able to be gentle with ourselves in the midst of shame, we’re more likely to reach out, connect, and experience empathy.”

— Brené Brown

189. “There’s always another level up. There’s always another ascension. More grace, more light, more generosity, more compassion, more to shed, more to grow.”

— Elizabeth Gilbert

190. “Respect for human rights is not social work; it is not merely an act of compassion. It is the first obligation of government and the source of its legitimacy.”

— Ronald Reagan

191. “To love another person is to see the face of God.”

— Victor Hugo

192. “If you are motivated by loving kindness and compassion, there are many ways to bring happiness to others right now, starting with kind speech.”

— Nhat Hanh

193. “God’s dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, and for compassion.”

— Desmond Tutu

194. “Compassion and pity are very different. Whereas compassion reflects the yearning of the heart to merge and take on some of the suffering, pity is a controlled set of thoughts designed to assure separateness. Compassion is the spontaneous response of love; pity, the involuntary reflex of fear.”

— Ram Dass

195. “Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent than the one derived from fear of punishment.”

— Mahatma Gandhi

196. “Nature is cruel but we don’t have to be.”

— Temple Grandin

197. “Now I can look at you in peace; I don’t eat you any more.”

— Franz Kafka

198. “Go slowly, breathe and smile.”

— Nhat Hanh

199. “Let us be kind to one another, to be aware of each other’s needs, and try to help in that regard.”

— Thomas S. Monson

200. “Prayer within breath is silence, love within infinity is silence, Wisdom without word is silence, compassion without aim is silence, action without doer is silence, smiling with all existence is silence.”

— Sri Sri Ravi Shankar