Quotes About Compassion

Tibetan Buddhists talk a lot about rebirth, both the rebirth of normal unenlightened people and that of enlightened beings such as the Dalai Lama, who is thought to be a reincarnation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion. By contrast, Zen Buddhists rarely talk in detail or in literal terms about rebirth or reincarnation.

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." According to Dante, these lines are written over the gates of Hell. Zen masters, by contrast, have high hopes for going to Hell. For them, out of bottomless compassion, we should want to go to Hell. When asked by a college student in America if he thought people go to Heaven after they die, the modern Rinzai Zen master Fukushima Keid? replied: "Only the ego wants to go to Heaven!

You are not the only one," he said to himself. "At this moment, in Europe, you are not the only man forcing himself to walk round a cell. Not by a long chalk. So drop all your self-pity. You are lucky compared to some.

People like me who have never suffered—I mean in the way the people of Korytów and all the other millions of Poles are suffering—can afford to be broad-minded. You and the people who have really suffered must think people like me are not only smug, but callous." "Only if you tell us that it is wrong to hate

If you should find yourself in a place that is indifferent to you and there is someone there that your spirit stretches to, then that person is kin.

people are more than the worst thing they have ever done in their lives

Patrick had asked why people wanted to kill Mr. Sonnier. Because they say he killed people, Bill had answered. But, Dad, Patrick had asked, then who is going to kill them for killing him? (p. 60)

It would take me a long time to understand how systems inflict pain and hardship in people's lives and to learn that being kind in an unjust system is not enough.

The prospect that a person will be killed according to the policy he promulgates prompts the [priest] to urge clemency, an incomprehensible position logically.

It is easy to forgive the innocent. It is the guilty who test our morality. People are more than the worst thing they have ever done.

Als temperamenten verschillen, zei Papa, helpt liefde geen zier!

The unselfish effort to bring cheer to others will be the beginning of a happier life for ourselves.

It is always some consolation in sorrow to feel that it is shared, and any burden laid on several is carried more lightly or removed.

Whether you come in first or last, you're still my horse!

He was like one of those elderly gentlemen in Central Park who go around feeding birds and squirrels. Their pockets are filled with everything these small creatures may like to eat. The birds and the squirrels sense this and they perch on the shoulders of their benefactors and climb all over them in quest of what they consider their legitimate belongings.

G)aiety and kindness and tolerance and understanding were the gifts he bestowed upon the world. Wherever he went, he squandered these rare possessions in a most magnificent and bountiful manner, for he knew (what all wise people have realized since the beginning of time) that the only treasures which are truly ours are those we lay up in the hearts of our friends.

Wherever battles are waged there are casualties, and death is a common occurrence. But what is closest to our hearts is the best interest of the people and the suffering of the vast majority, and when we die for the people, it is an honorable death. Nevertheless we should do our best to avoid unnecessary casualties. Mao Zedong, 1944

A dead black man—nothing to bother about.

Si se diera el caso de un dolor insoportable que no se pudiera paliar, podría pedir que me sedaran. Así abandonaría durmiendo esta vida y este mundo. Prefiero eso que tener que suicidarme. Es algo que no quiero hacer, por mis seres queridos. Si estuviera solo en la vida, podría ser una opción, pero hoy por hoy no lo es.

Even a short-lived visit to the bottom level of society means that one is faced with one of the most important decisions one has to make in life: what type of society do you want to help to create? This is the question that has come to dominate my whole life.

The people in the refugee camp, so varied in their language, dress, and terrible experiences -- imparted through a look or sometimes words -- had only this in common: nothing to look forward to.

La barbarie ha sempre dei connotati umani, pensò. È questo che rende la barbarie così disumana. L'aveva letto da qualche parte.

Jos ihmisellä ei ole aikaa olla toisen kanssa, jollei hän pysty istumaan hiljaa toisen seurassa, hän hylkää, torjuu ja pilkkaa.

Once we deeply trust that we ourselves are precious in God's eyes, we are able to recognize the preciousness of others and their unique places in God's heart.