Are you scouring the internet for the ultimate collection of empathy quotes for kids?
Look no further, because you’ve just hit the jackpot.
With three kids of my own and two decades under my belt as a teacher and camp counselor, I’ve had plenty of ‘teachable moments.’
But here’s a little quirk about me: I’ve been keeping quote books since I was in middle school! So believe me when I say, I know a good quote when I see one.
That’s why I’ve compiled this epic list of insightful, heartwarming quotes from legendary figures—quotes that won’t just speak to you but will resonate with the little ones, too.
Trust me, you won’t find a more comprehensive or impactful collection anywhere else.
Ready to dive into a treasure trove of wisdom? Let’s get started!
Empathy Quotes
Empathy is not just about being able to understand a person’s point of view. It’s about having empathy for their own pain, which is the cornerstone of emotional intelligence.
Here are some quotes to help you understand what empathy is and why it’s so important:
- “Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another.” – Alfred Adler
- “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.” – Harper Lee
- “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” – Harper Lee, “To Kill a Mockingbird”
- “The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.” – Meryl Streep
- “Empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking action. It’s the impetus for creating change.” – Max Carver
- “The opposite of anger is not calmness, it’s empathy.” – Mehmet Oz
- “Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.” – Mohsin Hamid
- “Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It’s the capacity to understand that every war is both won and lost. And that someone else’s pain is as meaningful as your own.” – Barbara Kingsolver
- “Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?” – Marcus Aurelius
- “Empathy is the most mysterious transaction that the human soul can have, and it’s accessible to all of us, but we have to give ourselves the opportunity to identify, to plunge ourselves in a story where we see the world from the bottom up or through another’s eyes or heart.” – Sue Monk Kidd
- “The highest form of knowledge is empathy.” – Bill Bullard
- “The only way to change someone’s mind is to connect with them from the heart.” – Rasheed Ogunlaru
- “When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That’s when you can get more creative in solving problems.” – Stephen Covey
- “Empathy is a hand outstretched in the darkness, saying, ‘You’re not alone.'” – Padraig O Tuama
- “Empathy isn’t just listening, it’s asking the questions whose answers need to be listened to.” – Leslie Jamison
- “Empathy is a choice, and it’s a vulnerable choice. Because in order to connect with you, I have to connect with something in myself that knows that feeling.” – Brené Brown
- “Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world.” – Barack Obama
- “You can only understand people if you feel them in yourself.” – John Steinbeck
- “Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.” – A.A. Milne
- “To the world, you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.” – Dr. Seuss
- “When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you.” – Susan Sarandon
- “I’ve talked to nearly 30,000 people on this show, and all 30,000 had one thing in common: They all wanted validation… They want to know: ‘Do you hear me? Do you see me? Does what I say mean anything to you?'” – Oprah Winfrey
- “To love our neighbor as ourselves is such a truth for regulating human society, that by that alone one might determine all the cases in social morality.” – John Locke
The Importance of a Listening Ear
Listening is the very nature of kindness. Offering a listening ear is a great way to practice compassion, even if you can’t solve the person’s problems.
Famous Quotes:
- “The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.” – Ralph G. Nichols
- “To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation.” – François de La Rochefoucauld
- “Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking.” – Bernard Baruch
- “When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.” – Dalai Lama
- “The art of conversation lies in listening.” – Malcom Forbes
- “Listening is an attitude of the heart, a genuine desire to be with another which both attracts and heals.” – J. Isham
- “You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.” – M. Scott Peck
- “The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply.” – Stephen R. Covey
- “One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.” – Bryant H. McGill
- “Listening is about being present, not just about being quiet.” – Krista Tippett
- “Friends are those rare people who ask how we are and then wait to hear the answer.” – Ed Cunningham
- “Listening is not merely not talking, though even that is beyond most of our powers; it means taking a vigorous, human interest in what is being told us.” – Alice Duer Miller
- “Sometimes all a person wants is an empathetic ear; all he or she needs is to talk it out. Just offering a listening ear and an understanding heart for his or her suffering can be a big comfort.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “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.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti
- “The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when someone asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” – Ernest Hemingway
The Power of Kind Words
You’ve heard it said that a single act of kindness can change a person’s life. Well, kind words are just as potent. A small act of kindness like an honest compliment or a warm smile can have a positive impact, turning someone’s bad day around. Words have the power to heal; they are the starting point of all kind deeds. Here are some kindness quotes you’ll love:
Famous Quotes:
- Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” – Mark Twain
- “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – A.A. Milne
- “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” – Mother Teresa
- “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” – Dalai Lama
- “Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.” – Lao Tzu
- “The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.” – Mark Twain
- “Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.” – Blaise Pascal
- “Kindness is more than deeds. It is an attitude, an expression, a look, a touch. It is anything that lifts another person.” – Plato
- “The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.” – Oscar Wilde
- “Treat everyone with politeness and kindness, not because they are nice, but because you are.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” – Princess Diana
- “A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.” – William Arthur Ward
- “Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.” – Gautama Buddha
- “To belittle, you have to be little.” – Kahlil Gibran
- “Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.” – Henry James
- “The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.” – Mark Twain
- “Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life.” – Jackie Chan
- “A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.” – Amelia Earhart
- “Kindness covers all of my political beliefs.” – Roger Ebert
- “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop
- “The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.” – Mahatma Gandhi
The Purpose of Human Life
Many great thinkers, including Albert Schweitzer and Anne Frank, believed the purpose of human life is to serve and show compassion and the will to help others. That starts with a little kindness.
Here are some inspirational quotes about the purpose of human life:
- The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.” – Albert Schweitzer
- “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank
- “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'” – Martin Luther King Jr.
- “The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.” – Albert Schweitzer
- “We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill
- “To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank
- “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” – John Bunyan
- “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” – Nelson Mandela
- “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop
- “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” – Desmond Tutu
- “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” – Albert Einstein
- “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” – Muhammad Ali
- “Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” – David Viscott
- “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
- “Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping them up.” – Jesse Jackson
- “To do more for the world than the world does for you – that is success.” – Henry Ford
- “If you see someone without a smile, give ’em yours.” – Dolly Parton
- “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” – Desmond Tutu
- “We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity; more than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness.” – Charlie Chaplin
- “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
15 Fun Random Acts of Kindness for You and Your Kids
- Leave a Kind Note: Slip a kind or encouraging note into a library book.
- Sidewalk Chalk Messages: Write uplifting messages or draw happy faces on the sidewalk.
- Plant a Tree: Make the world a greener place, one sapling at a time.
- Bake Cookies for Neighbors: Because who doesn’t love cookies?
- Feed the Birds: Spread some birdseed in a local park.
- Pet-Sit for Free: Offer to take care of a neighbor’s pet while they’re away.
- Compliment the First Three People You Talk To: Brighten their day with kind words.
- Recycle: Spend an afternoon picking up trash and recycling it.
- Lawn Care: Mow an elderly neighbor’s lawn or help with their gardening.
- Donation Station: Collect unused toys and clothes and donate them.
- Hold the Door: It’s simple but always appreciated!
- Tip Generously: Make someone’s day with an extra-large tip.
- Free Lemonade Stand: Because kindness is refreshing.
- Return Shopping Carts: Help out at your local grocery store.
- Say Thank You: Write a heartfelt thank-you note to someone who’s made a difference in your life.
10 Community Service Ideas for Families
Doing community service with kids is a great way to foster empathy. Here are some good ideas for where to start:
- Local Food Bank: Spend a day volunteering at a local food bank, sorting or distributing food.
- Animal Shelter: Offer to walk dogs or play with cats at your local animal shelter.
- Senior Center Visits: Spend time chatting or playing games with seniors who might not have regular visitors.
- Beach/River Cleanup: Make a day of it and head to your nearest beach or river for a cleanup project.
- Community Garden: Lend a hand at a community garden, planting flowers or vegetables.
- Read to Kids: Volunteer at libraries or schools to read books to younger children.
- Charity Runs/Walks: Participate as a family in a charity run or walk to raise money for a good cause.
- Care Packages: Create care packages for the homeless or troops overseas.
- Tutoring: Offer your skills as a family to help tutor kids who are struggling in school.
- Crafting for a Cause: Make simple crafts like friendship bracelets or knit scarves to donate to hospitals, shelters, or nursing homes.
These activities can instill a sense of social responsibility in your kids while offering valuable family bonding time. Plus, they’re great for building a lifetime habit of empathy and community involvement.
Teaching empathy to kids is essential, but so is setting a great example through action. In our exclusive interview with Mariah Antetokounmpo, she shares how her family is giving back to the community and instilling kindness in their children through their support of the Milwaukee Diaper Mission. Read the full interview here.
After all, each small act of kindness, each moment of understanding, brings us one step closer to making the world a better place—for us, for our kiddos, and for generations to come.
Let’s take these golden nuggets of empathy and kindness and sprinkle them in our daily lives.
Because making the world a better place starts with you and me.
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100 Must-Read Baby Boy Quotes for Every Parent
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Calie Herbst, Editor-in-Chief of Milwaukee With Kids, has spent over a decade combining her experiences as a parent of three to create a hub for Milwaukee’s family adventures.
Her decade-long teaching career in Milwaukee Public Schools and academic background, including a Master’s in Teaching from Marquette University and dual B.A.s in Sociology and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, fuel her passion for inclusive and engaging family content.
Calie is also a recognized voice in local media, contributing to WISN Channel 12 News, WTMJ Wisconsin Morning News, Fox 6’s Real Milwaukee, and B93.3.
Discover more about Calie’s journey and editorial approach on her About Page and Editorial Policy Page.
