40 Kindness Quotes for Kids, Each With One Thing to Do Today

The best kindness quotes for kids are short, true, and attached to something a kid can actually do. A quote on the wall is decoration. A quote plus “so today, sit with someone new at lunch” is a lesson. Below are 40 kindness quotes for kids and students: one-liners for the youngest, quotes from children’s books, quotes for the classroom, quotes about being kind to yourself, and quotes from scripture. Every one comes with a single thing to do today, followed by 20 original kindness slogans for a poster and a short guide to using them.

This is for parents, teachers, and anyone with a bulletin board. Attributions are conservative. Where a quote circulates under a famous name but nobody can find the source, it says “Unknown,” and a few famous misattributions are flagged, because kids repeat what we hand them.

Short kindness quotes for kids

For the youngest children: one line, easy to say back.

1. “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” The Dalai Lama. Do today: Say hello by name to someone you usually walk past.

2. “One kind word can warm three winter months.” Japanese proverb. Do today: Tell someone one specific thing they did well, out loud.

3. “Kindness is a language the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” Unknown; often credited to Mark Twain, but no one has found it in his writing. Do today: Do one kind thing without saying a word, like holding a door or making room on the bench.

4. “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.” Unknown. Do today: Smile at three people who look like they need it.

5. “Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.” Seneca. Do today: Do one small kind thing for one person before lunch.

6. “Kind hearts are the gardens, kind thoughts are the roots, kind words are the flowers, kind deeds are the fruits.” Traditional rhyme, often misattributed to Longfellow. Do today: Draw the garden and write one kind deed you did on a piece of fruit.

7. “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” Ian Maclaren, 1897. This one is usually credited to Plato online; it is not his. Do today: Be extra patient with whoever is grumpy today, because you do not know why.

8. “A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.” Amelia Earhart. Do today: Do one kind thing, then watch to see if it gets passed on.

9. “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” Maya Angelou, from Letter to My Daughter. Do today: Sit for five minutes with someone having a bad day.

10. “Throw kindness around like confetti.” Unknown. Do today: Give five compliments before the end of the day, each to a different person.

11. “Kindness is free. Sprinkle it everywhere.” Unknown. Do today: Leave a kind note where a family member will find it.

12. “Kindness, like a boomerang, always returns.” Unknown. Do today: Help with a chore without being asked, and do not mention it.

Kindness quotes from stories and children’s books

Kids remember a quote better when they remember who said it. Each book is named so you can read the page together.

13. “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Aesop, the moral of The Lion and the Mouse. This is the wording used in many English editions, not a line Aesop wrote down himself. Do today: Do the smallest kind thing you can think of, like pushing in a chair. It counts.

14. “A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference.” Eeyore, in A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh. Do today: Do one thing for someone who gets forgotten, like a quiet classmate.

15. “You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing.” Charlotte, in E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. Do today: Tell a friend one reason you are glad they are yours.

16. “If Nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart.” Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess. Do today: Give away one thing you do not need to someone who could use it.

17. “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” Dr. Seuss, The Lorax. Do today: Pick up ten pieces of litter at school, with gloves or a grabber.

18. “When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind.” From R. J. Palacio’s Wonder, where Mr. Browne credits it to Wayne Dyer. Do today: Let one argument go, even if you are right.

The post on how to teach kids kindness has more on using stories this way.

Kindness quotes for students and the classroom

A step up in age and vocabulary, for grades three through eight.

19. “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. Do today: Write “be kind” on a sticky note and check it three times before the day ends.

20. “Nothing can make our life, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than perpetual kindness.” Leo Tolstoy. Do today: Do the same small kindness twice, morning and afternoon.

21. “Kindness is invincible, provided it is sincere.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. Do today: Give one compliment you actually mean.

22. “How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.” William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. Do today: Do one good deed in a place nobody expects it, like the bus line.

23. “There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.” Jane Austen, Emma. Do today: Ask the person next to you how they are, and listen to the whole answer.

24. “No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for any one else.” Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend. Do today: Carry something for someone, like a stack of books or a lunch tray.

25. “His little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.” William Wordsworth, “Tintern Abbey”, describing the best part of a good life. Do today: Do one kind thing that nobody will ever find out about.

26. “Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself.” Confucius, the Analects; the wording varies by translation. Do today: Before you say something about a classmate, ask if you would want it said about you.

27. “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” Theodore Roosevelt, who said he got it from a friend named Squire Bill Widener. Do today: Find one thing in the room you can tidy in two minutes, and do it.

28. “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” Anne Frank. Do today: Do one thing on this list before the next bell, not after school.

For a whole class, the classroom kindness hub has acts sized for thirty kids, and the plan for kindness week at school uses a quote a day as its spine.

Kindness quotes about being kind to yourself

Kids are often harder on themselves than on anyone else.

29. “You’ve made this day a special day, by just your being you.” Fred Rogers, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Do today: Write down one thing you like about yourself and keep the paper.

30. “I am larger, better than I thought; I did not know I held so much goodness.” Walt Whitman, “Song of the Open Road”. Do today: Name one kind thing you did this week, and say it out loud to someone.

31. “The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.” Mark Twain, from his notebook. Do today: When you feel low, tell one person something nice, then notice how you feel.

32. “Talk to yourself the way you would talk to a friend.” Unknown. Do today: Catch one mean thought about yourself and say it again the way you would to a friend.

33. “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” Unknown. Do today: Drink a glass of water, go outside for ten minutes, and sleep on time.

More for the grown-ups in the room is in acts of kindness for yourself.

Kindness quotes from scripture

For families, Sunday school, and faith-based schools. Wording varies by translation.

34. “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6:31, the Golden Rule. Do today: Ask what you would want if you were the new kid, then do that for someone.

35. “Be kind and compassionate to one another.” Ephesians 4:32. Do today: Forgive one small thing without bringing it up again.

36. “Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8. Do today: Stick up for someone who is being left out, quietly.

37. “Those who are kind benefit themselves.” Proverbs 11:17. Do today: Do one kind thing and write down how you felt after.

38. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23. Do today: Pick one of the nine and practice it on a sibling.

39. “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:37, the end of the Good Samaritan. Do today: Help someone who is not in your friend group.

40. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35. Do today: Give away a snack, a turn, or your seat.

20 kindness slogans for a classroom poster

Quotes need attribution. Slogans do not. These are original to this post, so you can put them on a poster without checking who said them.

• Kind is free. Spend it.
• Be the reason someone’s day got better.
• Small hands, big kindness.
• Nobody sits alone here.
• Say the nice thing out loud.
• Notice, then help.
• Leave people better than you found them.
• Hold the door. Hold your tongue. Hold a hand.
• Pick up what you didn’t drop.
• Include one more.
• Share the crayons. Share the credit.
• You don’t have to be big to be kind.
• Catch someone doing good.
• Ask “are you okay?” and wait for the answer.
• Kind today, kind tomorrow, kind on purpose.
• Brave enough to be kind.
• Kind words keep. Mean words stick.
• Be the helper.
• Everyone is new somewhere.
• Kindness starts with the kid in the mirror.

How to use these quotes

• Quote of the day. Read one at morning meeting, ask what it means in kid words, and do the act before dismissal.
• A quote jar. Cut the quotes into strips and let a kid draw one each Monday and read it aloud.
• One quote, one act, on the board. Write both in a corner of the whiteboard on Monday. Ask on Friday who did it.
• Pair with kindness bingo. Use the acts from these quotes as squares on a kindness bingo card.
• Journal starter. Copy one quote at the top of a page and ask for three sentences about a time it was true. More starters are in kindness journal prompts.
• Lunch box note. Copy one quote onto a sticky note and tuck it in with lunch. There are 100 more lines in lunch box notes for kids.
• World Kindness Day. On November 13, each class picks one quote and one act. The World Kindness Day page has a whole-school plan.

What to skip

• Fake attributions. Plato did not say “everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” Kids cite whatever is on the wall, so check, or write “Unknown.”
• Quotes that shame. Anything that boils down to “if you weren’t kind you are bad” shuts kids down. Pick quotes that point forward.
• Quotes too abstract for the age. “Perpetual kindness” means nothing to a six-year-old. Match the section to the grade.
• Laminating 50 posters. After the third week nobody sees them. One quote, changed weekly, gets read.
• Quote without an act. The act is the lesson. The quote is the reminder.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good kindness quote for kids?

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted,” the moral of Aesop’s The Lion and the Mouse, is the best all-round choice. It is short, it comes with a story kids know, and it says that small counts. For the youngest, the Dalai Lama’s “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible” is easy to repeat.

What are short kindness quotes for students?

The first twelve on this list are one line each. Students repeat the Japanese proverb “One kind word can warm three winter months” and Maya Angelou’s “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud” most. For older students, Henry James’s three-things line and Marcus Aurelius’s “Kindness is invincible” give you more to discuss.

What is a kindness slogan?

A kindness slogan is a short original phrase, usually under eight words, made for a poster or a chant, with no author to credit. “Kind is free. Spend it.” is a slogan. A quote is someone’s recorded words and should name the person.

Who said “no act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted”?

It is credited to Aesop as the moral of The Lion and the Mouse, where a mouse the lion spared later chews through the net that traps him. The English wording comes from later editions, not a surviving text by Aesop, but Aesop is the right name to put under it.

Where to go from here

Pick one quote, write it on the board tomorrow, and do its act with your kids before the day ends. If you want the choosing done for you, the free daily kindness challenge gives everyone the same small act each day, with a streak, and reads well aloud at morning meeting. The kindness for kids hub has acts sorted by age, and when you need more than 40, there are 333 random acts of kindness ideas to pull from.

Get one small act a day

Reading a guide is easy; changing your habits is hard. The free daily kindness challengesends one small act at a time so kindness becomes a practice, not a bookmark.

Start the daily challenge