53 Tolerance Quotes To Inspire

In a world where differences in culture, beliefs, and perspectives abound, the virtue of tolerance becomes ever more essential. It bridges divides, fosters understanding, and creates an environment where diverse ideas can flourish and be appreciated. In this spirit, we have curated a collection of the top 53 tolerance quotes to inspire and remind us of the beauty of embracing diversity and living harmoniously. These insightful quotes come from a variety of voices—philosophers, leaders, and everyday individuals alike—each contributing a unique perspective on the profound impact of tolerance. Let these words serve as a powerful reminder of the strength we find in our ability to accept and respect one another.

1. “Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the wrong. Sometime in life you will have been all of these.” - George Washington Carver

2. “I have good idea, for if you meet some person from different religion and he want to make argument about God. My idea is, you listen to everything this man say about God. Never argue about God with him. Best thing to say is, 'I agree with you.' Then you go home, pray what you want. This is my idea for people to have peace about religion.” - Elizabeth Gilbert

3. “Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population.” - Albert Einstein

4. “As you walk, hop, hobble, or wheelMeeting people of different kinds, Remember that being handicappedIs only a state of mind” - Stephen Cosgrove

5. “As you walk through forestsor the meadows of your mind,Stop and talk to those you fearGood friendships you may find” - Stephen Cosgrove

6. “When Don Quixote went out into the world, that world turned into a mystery before his eyes. That is the legacy of the first European novel to the entire subsequent history of the novel. The novel teaches us to comprehend the world as a question. There is wisdom and tolerance in that attitude.” - Milan Kundera

7. “I am a lover of truth, a worshiper of freedom, a celebrant at the altar of language and purity and tolerance.” - Stephen Fry

8. “The efficiency of the cleaning solution in liquefying wizards suggested the operation of an antithetical principal,which-" "Did you have to get him started?" Cimorene asked reproachfully.” - Patricia C. Wrede

9. “Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too.” - Voltaire

10. “Religion is like a pair of shoes.....Find one that fits for you, but don't make me wear your shoes.” - George Carlin

11. “If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.[Commencement Address at American University, June 10 1963]” - John F. Kennedy

12. “You are my brother and I love you. I love you worshipping in your church, kneeling in your temple, and praying in your mosque. You and I and all are children of one religion, for the varied paths of religion are but the fingers of the loving hand of the Supreme Being, extended to all, offering completeness of spirit to all, anxious to receive all.” - Kahlil Gibran

13. “I do not believe, from what I have been told about this people, that there is anything barbarous or savage about them, except that we all call barbarous anything that is contrary to our own habits.” - Michel de Montaigne

14. “As fallible humans, we usually slip too far over one edge or the other - all wrath and judgment or all grace and love.” - Eric Wilson

15. “The most unpresentable persons are generally the most interesting.” - Teresa De LA Parra

16. “In this world, unity is achievable only by learning to unite in spite of differences, rather than insisting on unity without differences. For their total eradication is an impossibility. The secret of attaining peace in life is tolerance of disturbance of the peace. (p. 99)” - Wahiduddin Khan

17. “But that's always a certain way to recognise a facist: when he's more powerful he kills everything that's different from him, he uses only brute force while law breaks like glass under his boots. And then, when he loses and when he's weak, he invokes the law and tolerance of differences. All of a sudden, he knows by heart every single human rights convention he broke so many times before.” - Andrej Nikolaidis

18. “In order to have faith in his own path, he does not need to prove that someone else's path is wrong.” - Paulo Coelho

19. “Tolerance only for those who agree with you is no tolerance at all.” - Ray A. Davis

20. “I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land--every color, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike--all snored in the same language.” - Malcolm X

21. “True openness is the accompaniment of the desire to know, hence of the awareness of ignorance. To deny the possibility of knowing good and bad is to suppress true openness.” - Allan Bloom

22. “Error is indeed our enemy, but it alone points to the truth and therefore deserves our respectful treatment.” - Allan Bloom

23. “These days, it feels to me like you make a devil's pact when you walk into this country. You hand over your passport at the check-in, you get stamped, you want to make a little money, get yourself started... but you mean to go back! Who would want to stay? Cold, wet, miserable; terrible food, dreadful newspapers - who would want to stay? In a place where you are never welcomed, only tolerated. Just tolerated. Like you are an animal finally house-trained.” - zadie smith

24. “You just sit there and tolerate it, the same way everything in this country is tolerated. Every deception, every lie, every bullet in the brains. Just as you are already tolerating bullets in the brains that will be implemented only after the bullet is put in your brains.” - Imre Kertesz

25. “I have always known that the best of the Saracens could out-Christian many of us Christians.” - Ellis Peters

26. “One's enemy is often the best teacher of tolerance.” - Colleen Houck

27. “You can argue that it's a different world now than the one when Matthew Shepard was killed, but there is a subtle difference between tolerance and acceptance. It's the distance between moving into the cul-de-sac and having your next door neighbor trust you to keep an eye on her preschool daughter for a few minutes while she runs out to the post office. It's the chasm between being invited to a colleague's wedding with your same-sex partner and being able to slow-dance without the other guests whispering.” - Jodi Picoult

28. “A man must have a good deal of vanity who believes, and a good deal of boldness who affirms, that all the doctrines he holds are true, and all he rejects are false.” - Benjamin Franklin

29. “Accepting all the good and bad about someone. It's a great thing to aspire to. The hard part is actually doing it.” - Sarah Dessen

30. “Righteous, I like that. Kinda fitting when you think about it. If we danced and shared music, we'd be too busy en-joy-in' life to start a war.” - E.A. Bucchianeri

31. “You have to look at people now that were members of the Klu Klux Klan or whatever else and now are trying to rewrite their personal histories to tell that they've always been tolerant. It's not peculiar to want to sanitize what you did.” - Ruth Hanna Sachs

32. “Cela pose un problème que...?""Que tu ne sois pas juif? Pas le moins du tout, dit maman en riant. Ni mon mari ni moi n'accordons d'importance à la différence de l'autre. Bien au contraire, nous avons toujours pensé que'elle était passionnante et source de multiples bonheurs. Le plus important, quand on veut vivre à deux toute une vie, est d'etre sur que l'on ne s'ennuiera pas ensemble. L'ennui dans un couple, c'est lui qui tue l'amour. Tant que tu feras rire Alice, tant que tu lui donneras l'envie de te retrouver, alors que tu viens à peine de la quitter pour aller travailler, tant que tu seras celui dont elle partage les confidences et à qui elle aime aussi se confier, tant que tu vivras tes reves avec elle, meme ceux que tu ne pourras pas réaliser, alors je suis certaine que quelles que soient tes origines, la seule chose qui sera étrangère à votre couple sera le monde et ses jaloux.” - Marc Levy

33. “I think that everything should be made available to everybody, and I mean LSD, cocaine, codeine, grass, opium, the works. Nothing on earth available to any man should be confiscated and made unlawful by other men in more seemingly powerful and advantageous positions.” - Charles Bukowski

34. “The Potter books in general are a prolonged argument for tolerance, a prolonged plea for an end to bigotry. And I think it's one of the reasons that some people don't like the books, but I think that's it's a very healthy message to pass on to younger people that you should question authority and you should not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all of the truth.” - J.K. Rowling

35. “Love is wise; hatred is foolish. In this world, which is getting more and more closely interconnected, we have to learn to tolerate each other, we have to learn to put up with the fact that some people say things that we don't like. We can only live together in that way. But if we are to live together, and not die together, we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance, which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet.” - Bertrand Russell

36. “Tolerância universal é indiferença. Quem tolera tudo, é porque não se importa com nada'.” - Rubem Alves

37. “One day, the old wise Socrates walks down the streets, when all of the sudden a man runs up to him "Socrates I have to tell you something about your friend who...""Hold up" Socrates interrupts him "About the story you're about to tell me, did you put it trough the three sieves?""Three sieves?" The man asks "What three sieves?""Let's try it" Socrates says."The first sieve is the one of truth, did you examine what you were about to tell me if it is true?" Socrates asks."Well no, I just overheard it" The man says."Ah, well then you have used the second sieve, the sieve of good?" Socrates asks "Is it something good what you're about to tell me?""Ehm no, on the contrary" the man answers."Hmmm" The wise man says "Let's use the third sieve then, is it necessary to tell me what you're so exited about?""No not necessary" the man says."Well" Socrates says with a smile "If the story you're about to tell me isn't true, good or necessary, just forget it and don't bother me with it.” - Socrates

38. “Tolerance, which is one form of love of neighbor, must manifest itself not only in our personal relations, but also in the arena of society as well. In the world of opinion and politics, tolerance is that virtue by which liberated minds conquer the evils of bigotry and hatred. Tolerance implies more than forbearance or the passive enduring of ideas different from our own. Properly conceived, tolerance is the positive and cordial effort to understand another’s beliefs, practices, and habits without necessarily sharing or accepting them. Tolerance quickens our appreciation and increases our respect for our neighbor’s point of view. It goes even further; it assumes a militant aspect when the rights of an opponent are assailed. Voltaire’s dictum, “I do not agree with a word that you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,” is for all ages and places the perfect utterance of the tolerant ideal.” - Joshua Loth Liebman

39. “An outrageous instinct to love and be loved blinded your arms to lines of propriety––Women and Men, Christians and Jews, Muslims and Buddhists, white, black, red, brown. An outrageous instinct to love and be loved executed your brain every hour on the hour.” - Aberjhani

40. “Insularity is the foundation of ethnocentrism and intolerance; when you only know of those like yourself, it is easy to imagine that you are alone in the world or alone in being good and right in the world. Exposure to diversity, on the contrary, is the basis for relativism and tolerance; when you are forced to face and accept the Other as real, unavoidable, and ultimately valuable, you cannot help but see yourself and your 'truths' in a new - and trouble - way.” - David Eller

41. “Tolerance is the price we pay for living in a free, pluralistic society.” - Robert Casey

42. “Don't fret, boy. I'm not so foolish as to ridicule the myths and legends of other people. For countless generations, people, no matter where they're from, have been trying to understand this world of ours.” - Nahoko Uehashi

43. “Be nice. And if you can't do that, just don't be mean.” - Richelle E. Goodrich

44. “People fail each other all the time, Mo, and they forgive each other, and start again. It's a question of knowing the other person's limitations. Knowing what's fair to expect of them. Knowing what's fair for them to expect of you.” - Erica O'Rourke

45. “The test of faith is whether I can make space for difference. Can I recognize God's image in someone who is not in my image, who language, faith, ideal, are different from mine? If I cannot, then I have made God in my image instead of allowing him to remake me in his.” - Jonathan Sacks

46. “Tolerance isn't about not having beliefs. It's about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you.” - Timothy Keller

47. “In some cases, I am able to respect what so many call bigots. Such people have a more solid foundation for drawing their lines when it comes to the security of their ways and quite possibly the security of mankind. They rely on something that has worked to get man this far without placing ideals blindly driven by emotion first; they have a sure line and they say, 'No.' That, in a sense, is something I find to be highly respectable.” - Criss Jami

48. “Tolerance is an attitude of reasoned patience toward evil … a forbearance that restrains us from showing anger or inflicting punishment. Tolerance applies only to persons … never to truth. Tolerance applies to the erring, intolerance to the error … Architects are as intolerant about sand as foundations for skyscrapers as doctors are intolerant about germs in the laboratory. Tolerance does not apply to truth or principles. About these things we must be intolerant, and for this kind of intolerance, so much needed to rouse us from sentimental gush, I make a plea. Intolerance of this kind is the foundation of all stability.” - Fulton J. Sheen

49. “When we look back, it becomes clear that the acts and accomplishments of human beings are the signatures of history. Human signatures have created an enormous chasm between the joyeous light of the age of the Renaissance to the dark shadow of September 11, 2001. Those of us living on that fateful day experienced the lower depths of mankind. As an author, avid reader, world traveler, and person of enormous curiosity, my life experiences have taught me that discord often erupts from a lack of knowledge and education. To discourage future dark moments, I believe we must nourish the minds of our young with learning that creates understanding between ethnic and religious groups. Perhaps understanding will lead to a marvelous day when we take a last fleeting look at violence so harmful to so many. I sincerely believe that nothing will further the cause of peace more than the education of our young. I would like for readers to know that a percentage of the profits from the sale of this book will be devoted to the cause of education.May all roads lead to peace.” - Jean Sasson

50. “Tolerance! The virtue that makes one bite his tongue so that he can tear out his hair.” - Criss Jami

51. “Can you hold a red-hot iron rod in your hand merely because some one wants you to do so? Then, will it be right on your part to ask others to do the same thing just to satisfy your desires? If you cannot tolerate infliction of pain on your body or mind by others' words and actions, what right have you to do the same to others through your words and deeds?Do unto others as you would like to be done by. Injury or violence done by you to any life in any form, animal or human, is as harmful as it would e if caused to your own self.” - Lord Mahāvīra

52. “Ty swung around. He was obviously fed up with Ben's negative attitude.” - Lauren Brooke

53. “If our goal is to be tolerant of people who are different than we are, Chase, then we really are aiming quite low. Traffic jams are to be tolerated. People are to be celebrated.” - Glennon Melton