# Gentleness

Gentleness is an aspect of kindness, the characteristic of being tender and amiable, and having a considerate or kindly disposition.

## Quotes

* ternura, la palabra pequeña, familiar/que cabía en mi boca.
** tenderness, the small familiar word/that fits exactly in my mouth.
** The selected poems of Rosario Castellanos (1989)
* Gentleness, as opposed to an irascible temper, greatly contributes to the tranquility and happiness of life, by preserving the mind from perturbation, and arming it against the assaults of calumny and malice.
** Epicurus, as quoted in Ancient and Modern Celebrated Freethinkers (Half-Hours with the Freethinkers) by Charles Bradlaugh, A. Collins, and J. Watts (1877)

### Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations

    Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 311.
* Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re.
** Gentle in manner, firm in reality.
** Claudio Acquaviva, Industriæ ad Curandos Animæ Morbos.
* He is gentil that doth gentil dedis.
** Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, The Wyf of Bathes Tale, line 6,695.
* Peragit tranquilla potestas Quod violenta nequit; mandataque fortius urget Imperiosa quies.
** Power can do by gentleness that which violence fails to accomplish; and calmness best enforces the imperial mandate.
** Claudianus, De Consulatu Mallii Theodori Panegyris, CCXXXIX.
* La violence est juste où la douceur est vaine.
** Severity is allowable where gentleness has no effect.
** Pierre Corneille, Héraclius, I, 1.
* The mildest manners and the gentlest heart.
** Homer, The Iliad, Book XVII, line 756. Pope's translation.
* Plus fait douceur que violence.
** Gentleness succeeds better than violence.
** Jean de La Fontaine, Fables, VI, 3.
* At caret insidiis hominum, quia mitis, hirundo.
** The swallow is not ensnared by men because of its gentle nature.
** Ovid, Ars Amatoria, II. 149.
* Gentle to others, to himself severe.
** Samuel Rogers, Voyage of Columbus, Canto VI.
* What would you have? your gentleness shall force More than your force move us to gentleness.
** William Shakespeare, As You Like It (c.1599-1600), Act II, scene 7, line 102.
* Let gentleness my strong enforcement be.
** William Shakespeare, As You Like It (c.1599-1600), Act II, scene 7, line 113.
* They are as gentle As zephyrs blowing below the violet.
** William Shakespeare, Cymbeline (1611), Act IV, scene 2, line 171.
* Those that do teach young babes Do it with gentle means and easy tasks:
** William Shakespeare, Othello (c. 1603), Act IV, scene 2, line 111.

## External links

Virtues Altruism • Asceticism • Beneficence • Benevolence • Bravery • Carefulness • Charity • Cheerfulness • Cleanliness • Common sense • Compassion • Constancy • Courage • Dignity • Diligence • Discretion • Earnestness • Faith • Fidelity • Forethought • Forgiveness • Friendship • Frugality • Gentleness • Goodness • Grace • Gratitude • Holiness • Honesty • Honor • Hope • Hospitality • Humanity • Humility • Integrity • Intelligence • Justice • Kindness • Love • Loyalty • Mercy • Moderation • Modesty • Optimism • Patience • Philanthropy • Piety • Prudence • Punctuality • Poverty • Purity • Self-control • Simplicity • Sincerity • Sobriety • Sympathy • Temperance • Tolerance
Vices Aggression • Anger • Apathy • Arrogance • Bigotry • Contempt • Cowardice • Cruelty • Dishonesty • Drunkenness • Egotism • Envy • Evil speaking • Gluttony • Greed • Hatred • Hypocrisy • Idleness • Ignorance • Impatience • Impenitence • Ingratitude • Inhumanity • Intemperance • Jealousy • Laziness • Lust • Malice • Neglect • Obstinacy • Philistinism • Prejudice • Pretension • Pride • Recklessness • Self-righteousness • Selfishness • Superficiality • Tryphé • Unkindness • Usury • Vanity • Worldliness