Quotes About Compassion

Her forehead was a maze of anxious little grooves, from a lifetime of wondering about whether everyone within range was OK.

If she had hurt me, I could have forgiven her without even having to think about it; but I couldn't forgive her for being hurt.

We had no one else to learn this from- none of our parents were shining examples of relationship success- so we learned this from each other: when someone you love needs you to, you can get a hold of your five-alarm temper, get a hold of the shapeless things that scare you senseless, act like an adult instead of the Cro-Magnon teenager you are, you can do a million things you never saw coming.

Secretly, I still get proud of the ways Rosie and I loved each other. We had no one else to learn from - none of our parents were shining examples of relationship success - so we learned this from each other: when someone you love needs you to, you can get a hold of your five-alarm temper, get a hold of the shapeless things that scare you senseless, act like an adult instead of the Cro-Magnon teenager you are, you can do a million things you never saw coming.

Don't fool yourself: we all have a cruel streak. We keep it under lock and key either because we're afraid of getting punished or because we believe this will somehow make a difference, make the world a better place.

Privately, I consider religion to be a load of bollocks, but when you have a sobbing five year old wanting to know what happened to her hamster, you develop an instant belief in anything that dissolves some of the heartbreak off her face.

If someone rescues you, they own you. Not because you owe them—you can sort that, with enough good favors or bottles of booze dressed up in ribbons. They own you because you're not the lead in your story any more. You're the poor struggling loser/helpless damsel/plucky sidekick who was saved from danger/dishonor/humiliation by the brilliant brave compassionate hero/heroine, and they get to decide which, because you're not the one running this story, not any more.

I don't think there are any rules for how you're supposed to act when someone you care about dies, sweetheart. I think you just have to figure it out as you go along. Sometimes you'll feel like crying, sometimes you won't, sometimes you'll be raging at him for dying on you. You just have to remember that all of those are OK. So is whatever else your head comes up with.

The lines of her face, turned up to the sky, would have broken your heart.

People hurt each other. That's how it works. At least you were trying to do something good. Not everyone can say that much.

Eating a creature shouldn't be a light thing.

So far, you've only seen what bad luck can do to people. You're about to take your first good look at what people can do to each other. Believe me: not the same thing.

It's massively unfair, love. I wish there was something I could say to make it better, but there isn't. Sometimes things are just really, really bad, and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

you take someone down a peg, always give him a way to climb back up.

In Cal's view, morals involve something more than terminology. Ben damn near lost his mind over the importance of using the proper terms for people in wheelchairs, and he clearly felt pretty proud of himself for doing that, but he didn't mention ever doing anything useful for one single person in one single wheelchair

It comes to us all. The moment when you realise that nothing but love will do.

It wasn't good for the soul, she reminded herself, to dwell in anger. Too oft it only hurt the bearer, because the receiver was scarce aware, or didn't care anyway.

What do they do for a village idiot when you're here?

You always think the best of me,' I said, squeezing water from my hair. 'Even when you shouldn't.' 'That's what love is,' he said, and he got up and walked inside.

When we are free of self-concern or self-pity, free of inner preoccupations, compassion emerges as a spontaneous expression of our awareness

compassion is a great tranquilizer.

In the Dalai Lama's words, "One of the deepest human desires is to be known and understood.

As another general antidote for distress, the Dalai Lama recommends caring for others despite our own problems. "The space of awareness is small, so our personal distress looms large," as he puts it. "But the moment you think of helping others, the mind expands, and our own problems seem smaller.

Nurturing others can be very healing and nurturing for you, too—if you're not feeling deprived.