...knowing that pain allows people to be kind. Pain allows people to grow… and how you grow is up to you.
But compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use, and the regular exercise of choosing kindness over cruelty would change us.
Did anything matter except goodness—goodness of heart? What else was there that was real?
It is a curious characteristic of the non-defensive disposition that it is like a honey-jar to flies. Nothing is brought to it and much is taken away. Around a soft, yielding, unselfish disposition men swarm naturally. They sense this generosity, this non-protective attitude from afar.
Unbridled altruism is a huge vice of mine. I simply have to do good. I am a sensible dwarf, however, and know that I’m unable to do everyone good. Were I to attempt to be good to everyone, to the entire world and to all the creatures living in it, it would be a drop of fresh water in the salt sea. In other words, a wasted effort. Thus, I decided to do specific good; good which would not go to waste. I’m good to myself and my immediate circle.
It is very easy to be kind; the difficulty lies in being just.