Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom. –Theodore Rubin, psychiatrist and writer (b. 11 Apr 1923)

I’ll have to take slight exception to this.  The beginning of wisdom is respect of God.  From this stem both compassion and kindness hand in hand and without with we humans cannot even begin to comprehend wisdom.  Being kind costs nothing but enriches the soul of everyone involved.