Quotes About Compassion

We should not be too surprised by the kindness of strangers, as it is always there.

acknowledge the unexpected exchange of fellow feeling between

It defeated him that anybody could ever bring such a result about if they knew, or could imagine, the heartbreak of the victim's family. Of course the people who did these things were usually deficient in moral imagination—they could not see what it would be like because they simply lacked the capacity to do so.

you want to be charitable, then I think you should start at home—right under your nose—and give Charlie more money, rather than help this distant cousin—so distant that we'd need binoculars to see him, Mma.

you did not look for a winner who would take everything; you found a way of allowing people to save face; you found a way of healing rather than imposing.

You might disagree with others for what they said or for what they did—that was one thing—but to take against them simply for what they were was to blame them for something over which they had no control, and was cruel, and profoundly wrong.

The human heart, you see, Mma Ramotswe, is pretty much the same wherever one goes.

We should love one another, she thought, not only because it was the right thing to do, but also because it was far easier than hating one another. People who hated often had to work quite hard at keeping their hatred warm.

She had brought all of this on herself, and so she had, in a sense, got what she deserved. But, even so, she had a soul like everyone else, and one should not crow over the defeat even of those who richly deserve to be defeated. That was dangerous, because then you yourself might get what you deserve for reveling in the misfortunes of another.

Never be put off by rudeness, Mma," she whispered. "It is the rude person who is rude, not you.

Alexander McCall Smith

How do you calibrate pain?" asked Jamie. "By cutting out the background pain of the world," answered Isabel. "By cutting all that out, not registering it, and responding only to those painful things that we can do something about. Because otherwise Ã¢â'¬Â¦

Remember that, she said to herself; remember that in your dealings with others—they may be dying.

She had brought all of this on herself, and so she had, in a sense, got what she deserved. But, even so, Mma Ramotswe reminded herself, she had a soul like everyone else, and one should not crow over the defeat even of those who richly deserve to be defeated. That was dangerous, because then you yourself might get what you deserve for reveling in the misfortunes of another.

Animals, like people, did not ask to be who or what they were, and to make life difficult for others simply for being what they were seemed to her to be fundamentally unkind.

that we must love one another, whatever our condition in life, canine or otherwise, and that this love is a matter of joy, a privilege, that we might think about, weep over, when the moment is right.

A kind word, a word of encouragement or admiration, could shift the heaviest, most recalcitrant baggage.

You never know whom you're going to marry. But what you really want is to marry somebody who's kind. That's the most important thing, you know. They don't have to be good looking or rich or anything like that - but they have to be kind.

Hampus looked up again. Ulf saw that tears had appeared in his eyes. He wanted to reach forward and wipe them away, but that was not for a detective to do.

People who looked after animals were by and large kind people; they simply practised kindness, unlike those who made much of it. Thus, thought Isabel, are virtues best cultivated—in discretion and silence, away from the gaze of others, known only to those who act virtuously and to those who benefit from what is done.

people who don't show friendliness towards others can hardly complain about others not showing friendliness to them.

Most of us go through life so absorbed in the cocoon of ourselves that we rarely stop to consider the other. Of course we think that we do; indeed we may pride ourselves on our capacity for empathy; we may be considerate and thoughtful in our dealings with others, but how often do we stand before them, so to speak, and experience what it is to be them?

She knew as well as anyone that the world could be a place of trial and sorrow, that there was injustice and suffering and heartlessness - there was enough of all that to fill the great Kalahari twice over, but what good did it do to ponder that and that alone? None, she thought.

The ordinary people of Africa tended not to have room in their hearts for hatred. They were sometimes foolish, like people anywhere, but they did not bear grudges, as Mr Mandela had shown the world.