"Take care, be kind, be considerate of other people and other species, and be loving"
About this Quote
The subtext sits in the ordering. “Take care” reads as self-preservation and basic responsibility, not self-help gloss. Then “be kind” and “be considerate” move outward into the social world, a reminder that decency isn’t just a feeling but a practice with friction: you notice, you adjust, you yield. “Other people and other species” is the quiet pivot. Lithgow widens the circle of moral concern beyond the human bubble, nudging the listener toward ecological consciousness without scolding, signaling that compassion isn’t fully credible if it stops at our own kind.
“Be loving” arrives last, not as a Hallmark flourish but as the deep engine underneath the smaller acts. It suggests love as a verb, a repeated choice, something sturdy enough to survive disagreement and difference. The context matters: celebrities are often asked to distill wisdom into soundbites, and the risk is vapidity. Lithgow sidesteps that by treating gentleness as serious work, a low-drama antidote to the culture’s loud incentives: dunking, branding, and moral exhibitionism.
Quote Details
| Topic | Kindness |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Lithgow, John. (2026, January 15). Take care, be kind, be considerate of other people and other species, and be loving. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/take-care-be-kind-be-considerate-of-other-people-73178/
Chicago Style
Lithgow, John. "Take care, be kind, be considerate of other people and other species, and be loving." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/take-care-be-kind-be-considerate-of-other-people-73178/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Take care, be kind, be considerate of other people and other species, and be loving." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/take-care-be-kind-be-considerate-of-other-people-73178/. Accessed 6 Feb. 2026.









