kindness
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kind·ness
(kīnd′nĭs)kindness
(ˈkaɪndnɪs)kind•ness
(ˈkaɪnd nɪs)n.
Kindness
See Also: GENTLENESS, SWEETNESS
- (You’re) as good as an umbrella on a wet day —H. E. Bates
- As kind as Santa Claus —Oscar Hammerstein II, from lyric for South Pacific
- As much compassion as a toreador moving in for the final thrust —Marilyn Sharp
- As occupied with worthy projects as Eleanor Roosevelt —Lisa Harris
- Doing a favor for a bad man is quite as dangerous as doing an injury to a good one —Plautus
- Exuding good will like a mortician’s convention in a plague year —Daniel Berrigan
- Gifts are as the gold which adorns the temple; grace is like the temple that sanctifies the gold —William Burkitt
- Gifts are like fish hooks —Epigram, c. 65 b.c.
- Gifts are like hooks —Martial
- As good as gold —Charles Dickens
A simile that’s become a common expression. In A Christmas Carol, its most frequently quoted source, it’s a response to the question “And how was Tiny Tim today?” In The Gondoliers, W. S. Gilbert gave it a nice twist with “In the wonder-working days of old, when hearts were twice as good as gold’. In Joseph Heller’s novel Good As Gold it serves as a play on the hero’s name (Bruce Gold).
- (He’ll be) good as pie —Ring Lardner
- A good heart … a heart like a house —Irwin Shaw
- The good is, like nature, an immense landscape in which man advances through centuries of exploration —José Ortega Gassett
- Good to the core like bananas —Marge Piercy
- Good will … is like gentle sunshine in early spring. It invigorates and awakens all buds —Berthold Auerbach
- Great minds, like heaven, are pleased in doing good, though the ungrateful subjects of their favors are barren in return —Nicholas Rowe
- A hand as liberal as the light of day —William Cowper
- A heart as big as a bird cage —James B. Hall
- A heart as big as a mountain —Anon
- Heart … as great as the world —Ralph Waldo Emerson
In Emerson’s essay, Greatness, the simile continues with “But there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong.”
- A heart as warm as a desert storm —Ogden Nash
- A heart like duck soup —Jean Garrigue
In his short story, The Snowfall, Garrigue elaborates on the duck soup comparison as follows: “She’s the kind to want to stop a car if she hears some animal crying in the woods.”
- A heart like warm putty —Mary Stewart
- Heart … soft as any melon —Franklin Pierce
- He gives up a buck as quickly as he would a tattoo —Anon
- A helping word to one in trouble is often like a switch on a railroad track … an inch between wreck and smooth-rolling prosperity —Henry Ward Beecher
- He was like Florence Nightingale —Tennessee Williams, Playboy, April, 1973
Williams used the Florence Nightingale simile to descibe his agent’s devotion when he was ill.
- (My mother is) soft as a grape —Rita Mae Brown
- Kindness as large as a prairie wind —Stephen Vincent Benet
- Kindness is like a baby; it grows fast —Anon
- Kindness is like snow; it beautifies everything it covers —Anon caller on night-time radio talk show
- Kindness, like grain, increases by sowing —H. G. Bohn’s Handbook of Proverbs
- A kind word is like a Spring day —Russian proverb
- Made the Good Samaritan look like a cheap criminal —George Ade
- Mercy among the virtues is like the moon among the stars, not so sparkling and vivid as many, but dispensing a calm radiance that hallows the whole —E. H. Chapin
- (My mother was as) mild as any saint —Alfred, Lord Tennyson
- My bounty is as boundless as the sea —William Shakespeare
- Our bounty, like a drop of water, disappears when diffused too widely —Oliver Goldsmith
- The place of charity, like that of God, is everywhere —Jaques Benigne Bossuet
- (She was unsparing of herself, she) poured herself out like cream (into the cups of these dull people) —Sumner Locke Elliott
- The record of a generous life runs like a vine around the memory of our dead —Robert G. Ingersoll
- Shone [with kindness] like the best of good deeds —Frank Swinnerton
- Solicitious as St. Peter —Norman Mailer, about David Susskind
- A sympathetic heart is like a spring of pure water bursting forth from the mountain side —Anon
- To do a kindness to a bad man is like sowing our seed in the sea —Phocylides
- Unselfish as the wind —Ken Kesey
- We are never like angels till our passion dies —Thomas Dekker
‘Never’ is modernized from ‘ne’er.’
Noun | 1. | kindness - the quality of being warmhearted and considerate and humane and sympathetic generosity, generousness - the trait of being willing to give your money or time benevolence - an inclination to do kind or charitable acts loving-kindness - tender kindness motivated by a feeling of affection considerateness, thoughtfulness, consideration - kind and considerate regard for others; "he showed no consideration for her feelings" unkindness - lack of sympathy |
2. | kindness - tendency to be kind and forgiving mercifulness, mercy - a disposition to be kind and forgiving; "in those days a wife had to depend on the mercifulness of her husband" | |
3. | kindness - a kind act action - something done (usually as opposed to something said); "there were stories of murders and other unnatural actions" benefaction, benevolence - an act intending or showing kindness and good will cupboard love - a show of affection motivated by selfishness pardon, forgiveness - the act of excusing a mistake or offense endearment - the act of showing affection thoughtfulness, consideration - a considerate and thoughtful act |
kindness
goodwill cruelty, malice, animosity, inhumanity, ill will, callousness, viciousness, malevolence, misanthropy, heartlessness, hard-heartedness, cold-heartedness
"Kindness effects more than severity" [Aesop Fables: The Wind and the Sun]
"True kindness presupposes the faculty of imagining as one's own the suffering and joys of others" [André Gide Portraits and Aphorisms]
"That best portion of a good man's life,"
"His little, nameless, unremembered acts"
"Of kindness and of love" [William Wordsworth Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey]
"Yet I do fear thy nature;"
"It is too full o' the milk of human kindness"
"To catch the nearest way" [William Shakespeare Macbeth]
kindness
nounkindness
[ˈkaɪndnɪs] Nhe was kindness itself → era la bondad personificada
they treated him with every kindness → lo trataron con todo género de atenciones
out of the kindness of her heart → por pura amabilidad
we were touched by her kindness to or towards us → su amabilidad para con nosotros nos enterneció or nos emocionó
it would be a kindness to tell him → decírselo sería un favor
to do sb a kindness → hacer un favor a algn
kindness
[ˈkaɪndnəs] n → bonté f, gentillesse fI appreciate your kindness → Votre gentillesse me touche.
She thanked them both many times for all their kindnesses → Elle les remercia tous deux de nombreuses fois pour toutes leurs gentillesses.
kindness
kindness
[ˈkaɪndnɪs] n (towards sb) → gentilezza, bontà; (act) → gentilezzaout of the kindness of her heart → per bontà d'animo
to do sb a kindness → fare una cortesia or una gentilezza a qn