Quotes About Compassion

the realest thing in the world is suffering.

Morality doesn't mean "following divine commands." It means "reducing suffering." Therefore in order to act morally, you don't need to believe in any myth or story.

We are living in a global world, and whether we like it or not our lives are intertwined with the lives of people on the other side of the planet. They grow our food, they manufacture our clothes, they might die in a war fought for our oil prices, and they might be the victims of our lax environmental laws. We should not ignore our ethical responsibilities to people just because they live far away.

we should be careful not to make real people suffer for the sake of a fiction.

Humans of all creeds would do well to take humility more seriously.

Secular ethics relies not on obeying the edicts of this or that god, but rather on a deep appreciation of suffering.

The twin commitments to truth and compassion result also in a commitment to equality.

Instead of praying for miracles, we need to ask what we can do to help.

Adam and Eve never existed, but Chartres Cathedral is still beautiful. Much of the Bible may be fictional, but it can still bring joy to billions and can still encourage humans to be compassionate, courageous, and creative—just like other great works of fiction, such as Don Quixote, War and Peace, and the Harry Potter books.

We can already see this process at work in geriatric hospital wards. Due to an uncompromising humanist belief in the sanctity of human life, we keep people alive till they reach such a pitiful state that we are forced to ask, 'What exactly is so sacred here?

patient. Therefore we will probably have an AI family doctor on our smartphone decades before we have a reliable nurse robot.9 The human care industry—which takes care of the sick, the young, and the elderly—is likely to remain a human bastion for a long time.

No hay contradicción entre esta globalización y el patriotismo. Porque el patriotismo no tiene que ver con odiar a los extranjeros. El patriotismo tiene que ver con cuidar bien a nuestros compatriotas. Y en el siglo XXI, con el fin de cuidar bien a nuestros compatriotas, hemos de cooperar con extranjeros. De modo que los buenos nacionalistas tienen que ser ahora globalistas.

secular education does not mean a negative indoctrination that teaches kids not to believe in God and not to take part in any religious ceremonies. Rather, secular education teaches children to distinguish truth from belief, to develop compassion for all suffering beings, to appreciate the wisdom and experiences of all the earth's denizens, to think freely without fearing the unknown, and to take responsibility for their actions and for the world as a whole.

El sistema económico me presiona para que expanda y diversifique mi cartera de valores, pero me da cero incentivos para expandir y diversificar mi compasión.

Egoism is altruism.

De repente damos muestra de un interés sin precedentes por la suerte de las llamadas formas de vida inferiores, quizá porque estamos a punto de convertirnos en una de ellas.

Açl?k çeken çocuklar?n özgürlü?ünden söz edilemez

good hunters, and apparently took care of their sick and infirm. (Archaeologists have discovered the bones of Neanderthals who lived for many years with severe physical handicaps, evidence that they were cared for by their relatives.)

Humanist psychologists have pointed out that people in distress often don't want a quick fix – they want somebody to listen to them and sympathise with their fears and misgivings.

Sousa Mendes, armed with little more than a rubber stamp, was responsible for the largest rescue operation by a single individual during the Holocaust.

The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me' (Mark 14:7).

the world is full of misery, it is our duty to find solutions.

A wise man was asked what he learned about the meaning of life. 'Well,' he answered, 'I have learned that I am here on earth in order to help other people. What I still haven't figured out is why the other people are here.

La moral no significa «seguir los mandatos divinos». Significa «reducir el sufrimiento».