There's nothing in business that pays so well as kindness. A man may spend his money, and in proportion as he spends it he reduces his principal. With kindness the matter is different, for in proportion as you spend kindness your principal increases.
Lincoln said "You can catch more flies with a drop of honey than with a gallon of vinegar."
Kindness is beautiful. It brings round you many persons who are ready to say kind words to you. This subtle, potent influence of having lots of friends to help you by their actions and showing their hearts is a great blessing. It is surprising that people know so little of the value of kindness.
The word "gentleman" is really a compound word, meaning gentle-man, and these words together in their simplicity are the true definition of the word gentleman.
Kindness means gentleness. No man is a gentleman who is not kind.
People are glad to recognize goodness and kindness in an individual. No one can act the part if he is not sincere. We must cultivate kindness, if there is little of it in our makeup. We must take an inventory of our qualities, and if the weeds of mean impulses are crowding out the delicate flowers of kindness, we should pull out those weeds and give the flowers a chance to grow.
Lincoln was a kind man, kindness was his chief delight, and his examples of kindness have been of untold benefit to millions of people. You remember he said, "When they lay me away let it be said of me that as I traveled along life's road I have always endeavored to pull up a thistle and plant a rose in its stead."
Life at best is short, and the only things we really get out of life are happiness, health and love. Money cannot buy these things.
The trouble with many business men is that they imagine good examples and kindness have no place in business. They think the time to be kind is after they have attained success financially. They think the time to show kindness is outside of business hours.
The real way to be happy is to do the thing now, live each day for itself. Get kindness in each day.