Quotes About Compassion

Wish for the other what you wish for yourself. This is the key to harmonious human relations.

Fill your mind with the concepts of harmony, health, peace, and goodwill, and wonders will happen in your life.

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. MATTHEW 7:1–2.

He that is greatest among you, let him become your servant. There is a great contrast in this attitude of mind in comparison to that of the man who only wants to make a living or just get by. Getting by is not true success. Man's motive must be greater, nobler, and more altruistic. He must serve others, thereby casting his bread upon the waters

All you owe any person in the world is love, and love is wishing for everyone what you wish for yourself—health, happiness, and all the blessings of life.

Without an accepting and kind attitude toward ourselves, it's difficult to be caring and compassionate for others.

It's not hard to be me, thought Pooh. Just be Here and Now, and be Kind.

The two great commandments of Christ are that we love the Lord our God and that we love our neighbor. They are commandments that must be obeyed even if—especially if—the love is not accompanied by any positive feelings.

Then when G-d asks [Cain], 'Where is your brother Abel?' he arrogantly responds, 'I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?' In essence, the entire Bible is written as an affirmative response to this question.

Whoever cannot survive without taking charity, such as an old, sick, or greatly suffering individual, but who stubbornly refuses to accept aid, is guilty of murdering himself…yet one who needs charity but postpones taking it and lives in deprivation so as to not trouble the community, shall live to provide for others. —Rabbi Joseph Karo (1488–1575), Shulkhan Arukh (The Code of Jewish Law), Yoreh Deah 255:2

On the Rebbe's willingness to offer opinions and advice on a large range of issues, including theology, business, family affairs, and even medical questions: "[First] I am not afraid to answer that I don't know. If I know, then I have no right not to answer. When someone comes to you for help and you can help him to the best of your knowledge, and you refuse him this help, you become a cause of his suffering.

The question of bread for myself is a material question, but the question of bread for my neighbor is a spiritual question.

Rabbi Hiyya advised his wife, "When a poor man comes to the door, be quick to give him food so that the same may be done to your children." She exclaimed, "You are cursing our children [with the suggestion that they may become beggars]." But Rabbi Hiyya replied, "There is a wheel which revolves in this world." —Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 151b

Ameikh ami, ve'Elo-hai-ikh Elo-hai—Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.

As the former British chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks has expressed it: "If the Nazis searched out every Jew in hate, the Rebbe wished to search out every Jew in love.

We all understand in theory that we should be able to love and respect those with whom we disagree, but few of us can do so. Often, people end up concluding that there is something deficient either in the intelligence or character of those with whom they disagree. Quite characteristically, this is what liberals and conservatives commonly think of each other, that their opponent has something wrong either with his head or his heart.

sinat chinam, causeless hatred

No matter who we are, no matter what our circumstances, our feelings and emotions are universal.

Gay men know that the way to a woman's heart is through her son.

Do not underestimate the role you may play in clearing the obstacles in someone's spiritual journey.

The ones who fight each other because of their own beliefs are like specks of dirt fighting each other about the nature of their world, refusing to see that they are all in the same mud puddle on the side of the road.

Because it's no longer enough to be a decent person. It's no longer enough to shake our heads and make concerned grimaces at the news. True enlightened activism is the only thing that can save humanity from itself.

You know what? I was wrong. You are an idiot. My life happens to, on occasion, suck beyond the telling of it. Sometimes more than I can handle. And it's not just mine. Every single person down there is ignoring your pain because they're too busy with their own. The beautiful ones. The popular ones. The guys that pick on you. Everyone. If you could hear what they were feeling. The loneliness. The confusion. It looks quiet down there. It's not. It's deafening.

To forgive is an act of compassion... It's not done because people deserve it. It's done because they need it.