“The single most valuable human trait, the one quality every schoolchild and adult should be taught to nurture, is, quite simply, kindness. Kindness. If you prefer, compassion. Even benevolence. It is the quality that makes people lovely. If that sounds rather anaemic, it’s because it is the opposite of setting goals and learning how to persuade and close deals; the antithesis of self-reliance and get-what-you-want thinking which form the backbone of modern self-improvement. Its simplicity and obviousness mean that we forget it constantly when we try to impress people, yet it is the most impressive trait we can ever show. It has nothing to do with intelligence or witty banter. We make the mistake of thinking we have to be funny and clever among the ranks of the funny and clever, or match the more obvious qualities of people we would like to like us, when in fact few of us seek out in others those outward aspects of personality we ourselves emanate.”
Quote by Derren Brown
Work
Confessions of a Conjuror
Browse quotes and source details for this work. more
Author
You May Also Like
Source: On Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
Source: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
“My son must live. There is no must to the life of a mortal, except death.”
Source: Circe
“Not every smiling face is truly happy; some are just introverts in disguise.”
Source: The Complete Robot
Source: The Measure of Gold
Source: Good Scientist: When Science and Service Combine
Source: Parables and Paradoxes
