Not too long ago, we asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to share the nicest compliment they've ever received. Here are the responses that have me sitting in a pool of happy tears:
1. "I once had to send out a bunch of invitations at work. I couldn't figure out the computer system to print the addresses onto labels, so I ended up handwriting them. A few weeks later, one of the attendees to the event said how much he liked the handwritten invitation and that I had the most beautiful handwriting he'd ever seen."
2. "I had a patient once gush about their sister who was a nurse and how wonderful and kind and compassionate she was; then told me I reminded her a lot of her sister and that I have a great bedside manner and am a really good nurse. I’ve had a few patients like that, and they are the best compliments because you know they’re genuine when they come from a stranger."
"Some people are so cruel in the hospital, but hearing that makes you forget all the bad for a short while and remember why you love what you do."
3. "I suffer from body dysmorphia and a binge-eating disorder which takes over my life on a daily basis. I was discussing with a colleague at work about getting chatted up when we’re out, and I said I would be lucky to get hit on anymore. She responded by saying, 'I can’t believe that you have an issue with being hit on with a personality like yours.'"
"It hit me so hard because it had nothing to do with my looks, size or anything physical. She was just 100% complimenting my personality, making me feel so good about myself. And she said it so flippantly as if it was obvious… I remind myself about that pretty regularly."
4. "A colleague had a little crappy boyfriend-related breakdown at work and I was the only other person in at the time. I made her a cuppa and sat with her for a while so she could have a cry and eventually she felt better. Before we went to get ready for the work day she said, 'you know, I'm really glad it was you that came in first. I can’t think of a better person to have a nervous breakdown with,' which was maybe the strangest compliment I've had but was very sweet anyway!"
5. "So I'm a disabled person who tries to live as independently as I can. It's not easy and I used to feel a lot of shame about the days I couldn't function 'well' enough to do most tasks. On one occasion I started apologising profusely after my new girlfriend had to help me. She looked me dead in the eye and said 'I see how hard you try, the least anyone can do is meet you halfway.' I literally burst into tears at that, I felt so seen and started to question all my misplaced guilt over my disability status."
"P.S. The girl in question is now my wife. She was a keeper."
6. "My best friend said she and her husband wanted to name me as an official guardian for their daughters if anything happened to them. I feel like I have failed a lot in life, so the fact they thought I would be the right person to look after their children was a huge compliment. Thankfully I haven’t needed to step in though."
7. "When I left a job with the NHS, a practice manager told me that she'd met very few genuine people in her time but that I was definitely one of them. It's been seven years since that and I can still remember it word for word."
8. “I was told, 'Your eyeliner looks like you take nobody’s shit,' five years ago and I still think about it every time I do my makeup."
9. "I was joking around with my husband one night and told him that he should call me 'princess', and he said, 'Why would I call you princess when you are a queen?'"
10. "I took a psych class in college, and at the end of the semester when I had been the last one in the classroom, my professor asked me if I planned to major in psychology and I said I didn’t know. He then told me to deeply consider it, that I was incredibly intelligent and we needed good psychologists out there. After a couple more psych classes, I followed his advice and plan to be a therapist."
11. "I was talking to a friend a few years ago, and randomly she said, 'you are the funniest person I know.' I have no idea what made her say that at that moment, but it’s something that’s stuck with me and always makes me smile!"
12. "I'm a teacher, and the best compliment I can and have ever received is, 'I learned so much with you.'"
13. "Someone once told me that I 'looked like a rare bird'. It’s a bit odd but I always thought it was a very unique and personal compliment. Still makes me squawk, I mean smile."
14. "In 2020, I volunteered on a farm while I was living by myself for the first time in a new state, and the owner and her daughter both pulled me aside separately to tell me that I had 'a glow about me' that they could easily see. They both said they had to tell me. I was just coming out of the deepest depression I had ever been in and to hear that made me want to share that glow with others as long as I can!"
15. "When I was in eighth grade a guy in my class wrote in my yearbook, 'You remind me of Miss America because you're so kind and pretty.' I never forgot that."
16. "As someone at school who was one of the 'smart kids', to have the student who I thought was much smarter say that they thought actually that *I* was the most intelligent student stuck with me."
17. "My ex-boyfriend once told me I was ‘a quid in a pocket full of coppers.' It is still the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me and this was 12 years ago."
18. "When I was one month pregnant, I was with my friend that didn’t know I was pregnant yet, and she out of the blue said that I 'would make a great mother one day' and that really made me smile."
19. "Not really a compliment with words, but with actions. I was 15 or 16 years old and doing a singing gig in a covered tent stage area at a fair. These people were walking by just as I was introducing myself, they stopped to see what I was about to do and as soon as I started to sing they came in and sat down. I think I will always remember that."
20. "Getting told, 'you're a great mom and doing a great job', while battling postpartum was the ultimate compliment that I didn't know I needed to hear."
21. "A dear friend of mine said, 'I wish there were more people like you in the world.' It meant so much."
22. "When I first got married I asked my husband why he wanted to marry me and he said he liked talking to me more than anyone else in the world. I still think of that as the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me."
23. "When I finished cancer treatment, I had to take time off school to focus on my health. For a while, I became depressed and near-suicidal because I felt that because I took extra time to graduate college, it made my achievement less significant. One thing I had to learn the hard way was that it doesn't matter how long you took to achieve something, it doesn't diminish the accomplishment you made. When I was finally brave enough to share my story, people were telling me what a brave, strong, beautiful person I was."
"They reinforced what my parents and loved ones tried to tell me all along; that I should be proud of myself for accomplishing my goals and not giving up."
24. "I was having an absolutely shitty day at school once and was almost on the verge of tears when I went to pick my niece up from her preschool. A kid there who walked past me came back with her mom to let me know that she thought I was really pretty. Her words made me happy for the rest of the day."
25. "One particular weekend I thought I looked like an absolute mess. One day, I got dressed and did my hair, and my three-year-old gave me a thumbs up and said, 'mom, your hair, good job!' When I say I have never felt more validated in my life, it's not an understatement."
26. "This older lady who lived in my apartment complex always talked to me and told me how pretty I was. One day, my mom was up helping me with something and after she left, the lady came out and asked if that was my mom that just left. When I said yes, she then said, 'you'll be beautiful your whole life.' It was just so pure and nice — a double compliment for my mother and me."
27. "This is heavy, but I was diagnosed with breast cancer while six months pregnant. I’ve had to not only grieve my pre-pregnant/cancer body but also my pre-cancer/pregnant life. All while reckoning with my own mortality. This has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Since I’ve lost all my hair, some days I go out into the world bald and some days I choose a wig. However, every single time I go out bald, I get a compliment about how great I look. I wish I could hug every single person who’s said this to me. It genuinely means the absolute world to hear something so nice when internally my confidence has never been lower."
"If you’re ever debating on whether to compliment someone or not, I vote yes! You never know what someone is going through and how positively it may impact their day/week/year."
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.