GENTLENESS
Our greatest strength lies in the gentleness and tenderness of our heart.
Gentleness is expressed (or not) in the actions we take and the words we choose to speak.
Submit your personal story or favorite illustration, quote, Bible verse, etc. that illustrates a specific virtue to [email protected], then click on the virtue of your choice on the Virtues page to see your story or the stories and illustrations of others.
June 27, 2021
“Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength.” –Eric Hoffer
July 14, 2021
I admire gentleness. I admire gentle people. I like to be treated gently, and so I must treat others gently, treat all of creation gently. I went to a very small school in Grapeview Washington from first clear through seventh grade. It was about as close to “Little House on the Prarie” as you could get. I didn’t realize what a gentle existence I lived in at Grapeview school until in eighth grade I moved into the big city of Shelton (population 5,280) and it’s junior high school. One of the things that shocked me the most was the decidedly un-gentle language! For the first time in my life I was hearing four letter words (most of which I didn’t even know what they meant) thrown around freely. Now in my 60’s (OK, late 60’s!), I have a renewed appreciation for the gentle language of my Grapeview school years. Rude and crude and even semi-violent four letter words sound harsh and unpleasant to me. I prefer gentleness…and gentle words. —Art Nicklaus
God does not shout, scream, or push. The Spirit of God is soft and gentle like a small voice or a light breeze. It is the Spirit of Love. –Henri Nouwen
“The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others, rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.”
—John Walter Wayland
June 11, 2021
1 Corinthians 4:13a
“When we are slandered incessantly, we always answer gently, ready to reconcile.”