Poems, Quotes, and Proverbs About Mindfulness and Compassion
published 2/11/20; last updated 10/8/25
image by Thought Catalog from Pixabay
by Catharine Hannay, founder of MindfulTeachers.org
Here's a selection of poems, quotes, and proverbs for mindfulness teachers, compassionate educators, and anyone who’s trying to live with more presence and compassion.
Quotations
Over the past few years, I've put together several lists of quotations, with questions that can be used for class discussion or reflective writing assignments.
quotations focusing on Mindfulness, Awareness, and Insight:
Education, Knowledge, and Wisdom: quotations about developing our inner wisdom and learning from each other.
Gratitude and Appreciation: quotations about focusing on our blessings without minimizing our challenges.
Mindfulness and Anger: quotations about accepting our feelings of anger and choosing how to respond.
Mindfulness and Happiness: quotations about appreciating the present moment, letting go of attachments, embracing moderation, and finding meaning.
Mindfulness and Meditation: quotations about the benefits and challenges of formal and informal mindfulness practice.
Mindfulness and the Passing of Time: quotations about speed and stillness, aging and wisdom, and how we experience time.
Present Moment Awareness: quotations about mindfulness, stillness, and the passing of time.
Time, Presence, and Awareness: quotations about the passing of time and the challenges of staying present.
What is Mindfulness? quotations about mindfulness meditation, informal mindfulness practice, and nonjudgmental awareness.
quotations focusing on Compassion and Understanding:
Compassion and Service: quotations how we benefit from serving others, and how we can serve most effectively.
The Complexities of Identity: quotations about discovering and embracing our multiple selves.
Communicating Across Difference: quotations about miscommunication, recognizing differences, and learning from each other
Diversity, Discrimination, and Allyship: quotations about privilege, discrimination, allyship, and connecting across difference.
Grief, Trauma, Compassion, and Resilience: quotations about how we can effectively support each other through crises and devastating loss.
Identity, Diversity, and Understanding: quotations about how we view ourselves and others, and how to effectively support members of other groups.
Mindful Listening and Mindful Speech: quotations about speaking and listening with awareness and compassion.
Mindful Listening, Speech, and Silence: quotations about intentional listening, thoughtful speech, and the power of silence.
The Power of Empathy: quotations about making an effort to understand others (even if we don’t see things the same way)
The Power of Forgiveness: quotations about the meaning of forgiveness, forgiving others, and forgiving ourselves.
Self-Awareness and Self-Acceptance: quotations about self-knowledge, self-acceptance, learning from mistakes, and mindful nonconformity.
Sustainability and Stewardship of the Earth: excess and moderation, our connection to animals, and appreciation of nature.
Tales of Generosity: stories of giving and receiving from a variety of sources, including a Hasidic tale, a Sufi parable, and a couple of popular passages from the Gospels.
Proverbs
Here are some of my favorite proverbs and adages, which could also be good topics for class discussion and reflective writing:
“It’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”
“What you see in yourself is what you see in the world.”
“Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
“Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you.”
“Think before acting; and whilst acting, still think.”
“Love me when I least deserve it, because that is when I need it most.”
Poetry
If you'd like your students to write poetry or other forms of creative expression:
You could start with one of the Activities for Exploring the Five Senses, then have the students write about what they experienced;
The Center for Nonviolent Communication has a Feelings Inventory and Needs Inventory with lists of adjectives by category. These could be quite useful as a resource for personal/reflective writing.
If you're looking for poems to share with your class:
PoetryFoundation.org has collections of poems by topic, including:
poems divided by grade level from the Common Core State Standards for Reading.
One of my favorite poets is Mary Oliver, a keen observer of the natural world.
And here are a few poems that have led to thoughtful discussions in my classes:
One Art, by Elizabeth Bishop ("The art of losing isn't hard to master.")
What Is Success?, by Ralph Waldo Emerson ("To laugh often and much...")
Hook, by James Arlington Wright, about an unexpected moment of kindness. (There's one potentially-offensive phrase in the first stanza.)
Incident, by Countee Cullen, about an unexpected moment of unkindness. (This contains the very offensive 'N-word' in the second stanza, but that's the point of the poem. As always, use your own best judgment about what's appropriate for your particular context.)
The song ‘Who’s So Scared’ by Disappear Fear was inspired by the poem ‘Incident.’ (I’ve included ‘Who’s So Scared’ in the song playlist on identity, diversity, and empathy.)
Related Posts
There are many more resources on practicing and teaching mindfulness and compassion here at MindfulTeachers.org, including the following posts: