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Quotes About Compassion

I am treasonable enough not to believe in the liberty of a man or a group to exploit, torment, or slaughter other men or groups. I believe in the despotism of human life and happiness against the liberty of money and possessions
~ John Steinbeck
Humans are caught—in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too—in a net of good and evil.
~ John Steinbeck
But some men are friends with the whole world in their hearts, and there are others that hate themselves and spread their hatred around like butter on hot bread.
~ John Steinbeck
In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layer of frailty men want to be good and want be loved. Indeed most of their vices are attempted short cuts to love.
~ John Steinbeck
I'll be ever'where–wherever you look. Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever they's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there..An' when our folks eat the stuff they raise an' live in the houses the build–why I'll be there.
~ John Steinbeck
Sometimes a sad man can talk the sadness right out through his mouth. Sometimes a killin' man can talk the murder right out of his mouth an' not do no murder. You done right. Don't you kill nobody if you can help it.
~ John Steinbeck
Well, we all got to make a livin'. Yeah, Tom said. On'y I wisht they was some way to make her 'thout takin' her away from somebody else.
~ John Steinbeck
A man's right to kill himself is inviolable, but sometimes a friend can make it unnecessary.
~ John Steinbeck
A WAR COMES ALWAYS to someone else.
~ John Steinbeck
so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world.
~ John Steinbeck
How can you frighten a man whose hunger is not only in his own cramped stomach but in the wretched bellies of his children? You can't scare him—he has known a fear beyond every other.
~ John Steinbeck
You can't hate men if you know them.
~ John Steinbeck
The hell with it! There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do. It's all part of the same thing. And some of the things folks do is nice, and some ain't nice, but that's as far as any man got a right to say.
~ John Steinbeck
in him kindness and conscience are so large that they are almost faults.
~ John Steinbeck
In every bit of honest writing in the world," he noted in a 1938 journal entry," . . . there is a base theme. Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love. There are shorter means, many of them. There is writing promoting social change, writing punishing injustice, writing in celebration of heroism, but always that base theme. Try to understand each other.
~ John Steinbeck
A knight without mercy is without honor.
~ John Steinbeck
Thy life is not thine own to govern, Danny, for it controls other lives. See how thy friends suffer! Spring to life, Danny, that thy friends may live again!
~ John Steinbeck
Humans are caught - in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too - in a net of good and evil. I think this is the only story we have.
~ John Steinbeck
There was a man, who perhaps made many errors in performance but whose effective life was devoted to making men brave and dignified and good in a time when they were poor and frightened and when ugly forces were loose in the world to utilize their fears. This man was hated by the few. When he died the people burst into tears in the streets and their minds wailed, "What can we do now? How can we go on without him?
~ John Steinbeck
Sto imparando una cosa importante, disse. La sto imparando ogni momento, tutt'i giorni. Quando stai male o magari hai bisogno o sei nei guai... va' dalla povera gente. Soltanto loro ti danno una mano... soltanto loro.
~ John Steinbeck
To a man born without conscience, a soul-stricken man must seem ridiculous.
~ John Steinbeck
If I'm a little late, don't go before I get there, will you? Would you like to carry my books home? Yes, said Cal. She looked at him long, full in the eyes, until he wanted to drop his gaze, and then she walked away toward her class.
~ John Steinbeck
I wondered why it is that some people are less affected and torn by the verities of life and death than others.
~ John Steinbeck
Onu bir kenara koyarken, anlad???m? söyledim yaln?zca. Ne kötüdür bilirim ama elimden bir ÅŸey gelmez. BaÅŸkas? da sana yard?m edemez. Yaln?zca geçecek diyebilirim ama sen buna inanamazs?n. Yolun aç?k olsun. Bu dönemde birbirimize tahammül edemesek de, sevgim seninle olsun.
~ John Steinbeck