A random act of kindness is a nonpremeditated, inconsistent action designed to offer kindness towards the outside world. [1] The phrase "random kindness and senseless acts of beauty" was written by Anne Herbert on a placemat in Sausalito, California in 1982. It was based on the phrase "random acts of violence and senseless acts of cruelty". [2] Herbert's book Random Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty was self-published in February 1993 speaking about true stories of acts of kindness. The Editors of Conari Press in Berkeley CA, had seen the phrase as graffiti on a freeway overpass and invited attendance at their new office party to come and tell their stories of Random Acts of Kindness. The result of that evening was the book "Random Acts of Kindness" published in 1993 and dedicated to Anne Herbert, which became a paperback best seller, and was the subject of over 200 radio and television interviews including being highlighted on the Opra Winfrey show on February 15, 1994. The book also lead to the creation of the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation (currently based in Denver Colorado) and the founder of the Foundation (Will Glennon) two years later helped found the World Kindness Movement.
The phrase is commonly expressed as the suggestion to "Practice random acts of kindness." There are groups around the world who are sharing acts of spontaneous kindness.