George Saunders Quotes

We can be kind to others and kind to ourselves - and what anyone else decides to do is up to them. We can just be responsible to ourselves.

" ... It is not my desire to wound the feelings of any person with whom I am connected in family bonds. I may be a hypocrite," said Mr. Pecksniff, cuttingly, "but I am not a brute."

How much more courage it took to be kind than to be cruel.

No one needs to teach you to be mean; we need to be taught to be kind.

It's always better to be kind. I'm glad I know why." -Wanda

Unless a man has pity he is not truly a man. If a man has not wept at the worlds pain he is only half a man, and there will always be pain in the world, knowing this does not mean that a man shall dispair. A good man will seek to take pain out of things. A foolish man will not even notice it, except in himself, and the poor unfortunate evil man will drive pain deeper into things and spread it about wherever he goes.

Operate from a place of love, be kind, and be yourself.

I'm not cruel, sir, I won't shoot you in the guts, but I will make you realize how much you took your toes for granted.

I hope that's what I've taught my girls - to be fair, to recognize their own position and their own good fortune, to use their voices to make things better. Beyond that, I'd tell them just to be kind.

Alas,we who wanted kindness, could not be kind ourselves.

When we talk about compassion we talk in terms of being kind. But compassion is not so much being kind; it is being creative [enough] to wake a person up

The Tin Woodman knew very well he had no heart, and therefore he took great care never to be cruel or unkind to anything.

Along time ago I asked myself do I want to be right or do I want to be kind; I opted for kind.

I cannot tell and I shall never know how many words of mine might have given birth to cruelty in place of love and kindness and charity.

I've learned... . That being kind is more important than being right.

There is nothing to be gained by being unnecessarily nasty. Violence begets violence.

So how can I hold Tobias’s desperation against him, like I’m better than him, like I’ve never let my own brokenness blind me?

Let me be patient, let me be kind, make me unselfish, without being blind.

Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy-they're given after all. Choices can be hard.

I have learned that neither kindness or cruelty by themselves, or independent of each other, create any effect beyond themselves.

Be compassionate to everyone. Don't just search for whatever it is that annoys and frightens you-see beyond those things to the basic human being. Especially see the child in the man or woman. Even if they are destroying you, allow a moment to see how lost in their own delusion and suffering they are.

We must quit thinking we know everything, and quit placing "knowledge" over kindness and compassion.

When you have a choice whether to be be right or to be kind, choose to be kind.

... humility + humor = humanity.

Be loving, and you will never want for love; be humble, and you will never want for guiding.