When times and situations get tough, it’s often difficult to empathise with others. But here’s the truth: empathy is the need of the hour. Whether it’s helping a calamity-struck region or simply providing the needy with basic necessities—a little help goes a long way. Not only does it improve someone’s life, but your actions also set the precedent for others to be kind and compassionate.
Setting such benchmarks of solicitude, some of the world’s coveted personalities are also best known for their contribution towards humanity. From Princess Diana’s philanthropic visits to Audrey Hepburn’s work for UNICEF, here’s a peek into benign minds to draw inspiration.
1. Oprah Winfrey
“Use your life to serve the world, and you will find that it also serves you.”
2. Angelina Jolie
“Nothing would mean anything if I didn’t live a life of use to others.”
3. Princess Diana
“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.”
4. Martin Luther King Jr.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
5. Mother Terea
“If you can’t feed a hundred people, feed just one.”
6. Malala Yousafzai
“Kindness can only be repaid with kindness. It can’t be repaid with expressions like ‘thank you’.”
7. Nelson Mandela
“Compassion binds us to one another—not in pity or patronisingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.”
8. Audrey Hepburn
“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands. One for your helping yourself, the other for helping others.”
9. Betty Williams
“To say that on a daily basis you can make a difference, well, you can. One act of kindness a day can do it.”
10. Bill Gates
“I hope you will judge yourselves not on your professional accomplishments alone but on how well you treated people a world away who have nothing in common with you but their humanity.”
Photographs: Getty Images, Instagram
