Quotes About Compassion

When speaking to a Bear of Very Little Brain, remember that long words may bother him.

Look, I could go on and on and on telling you why I hate myself, but it's so self-centered…and I'm not like that. I'm a giver. So I'd rather branch out and start giving it to everyone else.

We are such idiots, We think everyone else has it all figured out. But we're all stumbling around in dark rooms bumping into furniture and stifling our cries so no one will know.

As I realize more and more deeply, the greatest gift we can offer to ourselves and the world is to be awake and rooted in love.

Kindness must be the highest virtue--don't let me forget that ever. Were I to strive for one thing only 'twould be to be kind to others, as you are, Catherine.

Friendships begin because, even without words, we understand how someone feels.

We can all be angels to one another. We can choose to obey the still small stirring within, the little whisper that says, 'Go. Ask. Reach out. Be an answer to someone's plea. You have a part to play. Have faith.' We can decide to risk that He is indeed there, watching, caring, cherishing us as we love and accept love. The world will be a better place for it. And wherever they are, the angels will dance.

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. —Hebrews 13:2

I will never forget your kindness.

My lady,' said the servant girl, 'are those who sit at the table great if they are enslaved to their own selfish needs and wishes? Are those who serve the table less if they are free to love? The giver of love receives. The one who understands is understood. The one who consoles receives consolation...' That day the servant was set free for saying strong things gently and gentle things strongly.

A willingness to lose one's self in a story was the first step to learning compassion, to appreciating other cultures, to realizing what possibilities the world held for people who kept at life despite the odds.

A sated man cannot understand a starving one

The hushed winds wail with feeble moan Like infant charity.

Let's play our 'benefit of the doubt' game, shall we?" This was a game that I invented when she was little. The goal was to remind ourselves not to take things personally, to extend grace to others by recognizing that we don't know what's happening in their lives. What started as a way to teach empathy wound up being a wonderful tool for me.

Whenever people were nasty, mean or downright rude, I returned to our "benefit of the doubt" game and imagined all the extenuating circumstances in their lives that might excuse their behavior.

none of us make it through life without committing a faux pas that requires a serious, heartfelt, breast-beating apology. By

A person who hates a Jew, will hate a black, will hate a Moslem, will hate a Mexican, will hate an Asian, will hate a….whatever. People who hate, hate. It's not about the object of the hatred. It's about justifying an unjustifiable attitude.

The rabbi says God gave man dominion over animals, but animals have dominion over our hearts. So, it all evens

The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe.

The obvious choice, then, is to extend our notions of self-interest. For example, it would not occur to me to plead with you, "Don't saw off your leg. That would be an act of violence." It wouldn't occur to me (or to you) because your leg is part of your body. Well, so are the trees in the Amazon rain basin. They are our external lungs. We are beginning to realize that the world is our body. The

The truth that many people never understand until it is too late is that the more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer. — Thomas Merton

Here is a version that I have adapted for use in the West. Close

By strengthening our compassion, we give fuel to our courage and determination.

To die on a dying Earth - I'd live, if only to weep.