Quotes About Compassion

If we had more justice there would be less need of charity.

It is easy to give; it is harder to make giving unnecessary.

The charitable system that does not aim to make itself unnecessary is not performing service.

I can't understand why people can't go on just being ordinary to each other even if they are in love.

A great deal of what passes for current Christianity consists in denouncing other people's vices and faults.

People talk about the conscience, but it seems to me one must just bring it up to a certain point and leave it there. You can let your conscience alone if you're nice to the second housemaid.

And remember this, that if you've been hated, you've also been loved.

Never say you know the last word about any human heart.

Patience, earnestness, tenderness, sympathy--these are sometimes the gifts which are sent by the messenger Sorrow.

But unlike Machiavelli, Confucius was concerned more with the cultivation of social harmony than with the machinations of power. His themes were the principles of compassionate rule, the performance of correct rituals, and the inculcation of filial piety.

I was human, very human, and if in the days misspent I have injured man or woman, it was done without intent. If at times I blundered blindly — bitter heart and aching brow — If I wrote a line unkindly — I am sorry for it now.

A large part of altruism, even when it is perfectly honest, is grounded upon the fact that it is uncomfortable to have unhappy people about one

Every surgeon carries within himself a small cemetery, where from time to time he goes to pray – a place of bitterness and regret, where he must look for an explanation for his failures.' René Leriche, La philosophie de la chirurgie, 1951

We lauhed together for a long time. When we had first met, her eyes were dull with pain-killing drugs and if she tried to talk, her face would controt with agonizing pain. I thought how radiantly beautiful she now looked. She stood up to leave and went to the door but then came back and kissed me. `I hope I never see you again,' she said. `I quite understand,' I replied.

You might expect that seeing so much pain and suffering might help you keep your own difficulties in perspective but, alas, it does not.

Anxious and angry relatives are a burden all doctors must bear, but having been one myself was an important part of my medical education.

We laughed together for a long time. When we had first met, her eyes were dull with pain-killing drugs and if she tried to talk, her face would contort with agonizing pain. I thought how radiantly beautiful she now looked. She stood up to leave and went to the door but then came back and kissed me. `I hope I never see you again,' she said. `I quite understand,' I replied.

Just as it is irresistible to save a life, it is also very difficult to tell somebody that I cannot save them

We lauhed together for a long time. When we had first met, her eyes were dull with pain-killing drugs and if she tried to talk, her face would contort with agonizing pain. I thought how radiantly beautiful she now looked. She stood up to leave and went to the door but then came back and kissed me. `I hope I never see you again,' she said. `I quite understand,' I replied.

First, do no harm . . .' Commonly attributed to Hippokrates of Kos, c. 460 BC 'Every surgeon carries within himself a small cemetery, where from time to time he goes to pray – a place of bitterness and regret, where he must look for an explanation for his failures.' René Leriche, La philosophie de la chirurgie, 1951

Patients become objects of fear as well as of sympathy. It is much easier to feel compassion for other people if you are not responsible for what happens to them

No estábamos angustiados, pues los tres sabíamos que iba a morir, pero supongo que lo que sentíamos era sencillamente un amor intenso, un amor sin segundas intenciones, sin la vanidad y el interés de los que tan a menudo es expresión ese sentimiento.

The only thing we never get enough of is love and the only thing we never give enough of is love.

To live without killing is a thought which could electrify the world, if men were only capable of staying awake long enough to let the idea soak in.