Welcome to the Daily Quote – I’m Andrew McGivern.
Today’s quote comes from Princess Diana, who was known worldwide for her compassion and humanitarian work.
She said:
“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day, someone might do the same for you.”
Random. No expectation. Might.
Three words that define how this works.
Random means it’s not calculated. Not strategic. Not because someone deserves it or earned it. Just because you can.
No expectation means you don’t do it for thanks. For recognition. For payback. You do it and walk away.
Might means there’s no guarantee. Someone might help you one day. Or they might not. That’s not the point.
Diana lived this. She held hands with AIDS patients when people were terrified to touch them. She walked through minefields to draw attention to their danger. She comforted the dying and the forgotten.
Not for reward. Not for recognition – though she got it anyway. Because she believed in creating a chain of kindness that ripples outward.
Here’s the beautiful thing about random acts of kindness: they’re contagious.
When someone experiences unexpected kindness, they’re more likely to pass it on. Not to you necessarily. To someone else. Who passes it to someone else. Who passes it to someone else.
You start a chain reaction. You’ll never see most of it. You’ll never know how far it goes. But it goes.
And here’s Diana’s faith: if enough people do this, if enough chains of kindness are moving through the world, eventually one will reach you when you need it.
Not because you earned it. Not because someone owes you. But because someone, somewhere, continued a chain that you might have started years ago without knowing.
So here’s the question: What random act of kindness could you do today? Not for reward. Not for recognition. Just to start a chain.
Because one day, someone might do the same for you. Or they might not. But the chain keeps moving either way.
Start one today.
That’s it for today. I’m Andrew McGivern – I’ll see you in the next one with another Daily Quote.
