"When you are kind to someone in trouble, you hope they'll remember and be kind to someone else. And it'll become like a wildfire"
About this Quote
Her choice of metaphor does the heavy lifting. "Wildfire" is urgent, uncontrolled, and fast. It dodges the sentimental language of "pay it forward" and instead imagines kindness as a contagious force that can outrun cynicism. There's also a sly edge: wildfire can be dangerous. Goldberg isn't selling politeness; she's hinting that generosity, multiplied, can become disruptive - it changes the social temperature. It challenges the quiet norm that people in trouble should handle it privately, or that help must be earned through moral perfection.
As an actress and talk-show figure who has spent decades in public crossfire, Goldberg speaks from a culture where empathy is constantly tested, commodified, and publicly judged. This isn’t charity-as-brand. It’s street-level ethics: help one person because you can, not because you control the outcome. The subtext is pragmatic optimism: you can’t fix the system alone, but you can spark a chain reaction that makes survival less solitary.
Quote Details
| Topic | Kindness |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Goldberg, Whoopi. (2026, January 16). When you are kind to someone in trouble, you hope they'll remember and be kind to someone else. And it'll become like a wildfire. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-you-are-kind-to-someone-in-trouble-you-hope-95897/
Chicago Style
Goldberg, Whoopi. "When you are kind to someone in trouble, you hope they'll remember and be kind to someone else. And it'll become like a wildfire." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-you-are-kind-to-someone-in-trouble-you-hope-95897/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"When you are kind to someone in trouble, you hope they'll remember and be kind to someone else. And it'll become like a wildfire." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-you-are-kind-to-someone-in-trouble-you-hope-95897/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.













