Kinder than is necessary. Because it's not enough to be kind. One should be kinder than needed.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of being exceptionally kind to others, beyond what is merely required.
R. J. Palacio's quote encourages us to practice kindness in an extraordinary manner, suggesting that mere kindness is insufficient in a world that often needs more compassion. By advocating for a level of kindness that surpasses expectations, it calls for a deeper commitment to care for others and create positive change in our interactions.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a motivational speech at a charity event to inspire attendees to show more kindness.
If every person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than is necessary - the world really would be a better place. And if you do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, someday, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God.
Courage. Kindness. Friendship. Character. These are the qualities that define us as human beings, and propel us, on occasion, to greatness.
Whenever there is a conflict between being right and being kind, if possible, choose being kind.
The best way to measure how much you've grown isn't by inches or the number of laps you can now run around the track or even your grade point average - though those things are important, to be sure. It's what you've done with your time, how you've chosen to spend your days, and whom you have touched this year. That, to me, is the greatest measure of success.
Love contending with friendship, and self with each generous impulse._x000D_ _x000D_ To and fro in his breast his thoughts were heaving and dashing,_x000D_ _x000D_ As in a foundering ship.
But you make me sing like a guitar humming . . .
He, too, stood looking at her for a moment - and it seemed to her that it was not a look of greeting after an absence, but the look of someone who had thought of her every day of that year. She could not be certain, it was only an instant, so brief that just as she caught it, he was turning.
Is it easy to love God' asks an old author. 'It is easy,' he replies, 'to those who do it.' I have included two Graces under the word Charity. But God can give a third. He can awake in man, towards Himself, a supernatural Appreciative love. This is of all gifts the most to be desired. Here, not in our natural loves, nor even in ethics, lies the true centre of all human and angelic life. With this all things are possible.
He did not consider if or how or why he loved them. They were just love: they were the first evidence he ever had of love, and they would be the last confirmation of love when everything else fell away.
Jesus wanted to show us his heart as the heart that loved so deeply. For this reason we have this commemoration today, especially of God's love. God loved us, he loved us with such great love. I am thinking of what St Ignatius told us.... He pointed out two criteria on love. The first: love is expressed more clearly in actions than in words. The second: there is greater love in giving than in receiving.
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