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Gentleness

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Gentleness means recognizing that the world around us is fragile, especially other people. It is recognizing our own capacity to do harm and choosing instead to be tender, soft-spoken, soft-hearted, and careful. When we are gentle we touch the world in ways that protect and preserve it.


Being gentle doesn't mean being weak; gentleness can be firm, even powerful. To behave in a gentle manner requires that we stay centered in our own values and strength -- that we are active rather than reactive. Coming from this center, a gentle word or touch can channel our energy into healing or making peace.

Gentleness

Photo: Anna Cervova

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Gentleness - Peacemaking
"The last word" is the most dangerous of infernal machines; and husband and wife should no more fight to get it than they would struggle for the possession of a lighted bomb-shell.

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No source entered for Contribution #3211


Acceptance - Courtesy - Fairness - Gentleness - Tact - Optimism
If you have nothing nice to say about a person . . . don't say it.

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My mother always said this to us as we grew up.
Contribution #3109


Gentleness - Unity
Hate and force cannot be in just a part of the world without having an effect on the rest of it.

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No source entered for Contribution #2747


Discernment - Gentleness - Insight
The colossal misunderstanding of our time is the assumption that insight will work with people who are unmotivated to change. Communication does not depend on syntax, or eloquence, or rhetoric, or articulation but on the emotional context in which the message is being heard. People can only hear you when they are moving toward you, and they are not likely to when your words are pursuing them. Even the choicest words lose their power when they are used to overpower. Attitudes are the real figures of speech.

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No source entered for Contribution #2473


Gentleness
When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and true maxim that 'a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall.' So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say what he will, is the great highroad to his reason, and which, once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing him of the justice of your cause, if indeed that cause is really a good one.

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No source entered for Contribution #2439


Gentleness
Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.

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No source entered for Contribution #2432


Gentleness - Kindness

When your little child tells a lie, do not rush at him as though the world were about to go into bankruptcy. Be honest with him. A tyrant father will have liars for his children; do you know that? A lie is born of tyranny upon the one hand and weakness upon the other, and when you rush at a poor little boy with a club in your hand, of course he lies.


I thank thee, Mother Nature, that thou hast put ingenuity enough in the brain of a child, when attacked by a brutal parent, to throw up a little breastwork in the shape of a lie.

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Source type: Book
What's God Got to Do With It?
by Tim Page
Page 53 ("The Liberty of Man, Woman, and Child" 1877)
Published by Steerforth Press , Hanover, NH , 2005
http://www.amazon.com/Whats-God-Got-Ingersoll-Separation/dp/1586420968/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224970457&sr=8-1
Contribution #2260


Courtesy - Gentleness - Tact
Use a sweet tongue, courtesy, and gentleness, and thou mayest manage to guide an elephant by a hair.

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Virtues Reflection Cards
http://www.virtuesproject.com
Contribution #2234


Gentleness - Peacemaking
The spiritual warrior's discipline is gentleness. Asserting gentleness in all spheres of life, non-violence and peace are achieved.

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Virtues Reflection Cards
http://www.virtuesproject.com
Contribution #2199


Gentleness - Grace - Kindness
Softness overcomes hardness.

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Source type: Book
The Little Book of Chinese Proverbs
by Jonathan Clements
Page 208
Published by Barnes & Noble Books , New York , 2003
http://
Contribution #1614


Gentleness - Universal Ethics
Our problems are not solved
    by physical force,
    by hatred,
    by war
Our problems are solved
    by loving kindness
    by gentleness,
    by joy

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Source type: Book
Heart of a Buddha
Published by Amitabha Publications , Temple City, CA , 2003
http://
Contribution #1456


Fairness - Gentleness - Kindness
The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good--and how he treats people who can't fight back.

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Source type: Book
Brilliance: Uncommon Voices from Uncommon Women
by Susan Scott Dan Zadra
Page 60
Published by Compendium Publishing , Lynnwood, WA, USA , 2005
http://
Contribution #1407


Generosity - Gentleness - Sacrifice
Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity are the exclusive possesions of no one race or religion.

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Source type: Website
Mohandas Gandhi
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/mohandasga160794.html
Viewed on April 22, 2008
Contribution #1007


Gentleness
Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

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Source type: Sacred Text
Bible
Matthew 5:5
Version or Translation NASV
Published by Foundation Press
Published in LaHabra, USA
http://
Contribution #850


Assertiveness - Compassion - Forbearance - Gentleness - Kindness - Tact
The basic difference between being assertive and being aggressive is how our words and behavior affect the rights and well being of others.

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No source entered for Contribution #419


Gentleness
In a gentle way, you can shake the world.

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Source type: Website
Gandhi Mahatma
Viewed on April 9, 2008
Contribution #319


Gentleness
Feelings are everywhere -- be gentle.

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Source type: Website
J. Masai
Viewed on April 9, 2008
Contribution #318


Gentleness
Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.

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Source type: Sacred Text
Bible
Philippians 4:5
http://
Contribution #316