Quotes About Empathy

I'm an underdog person, so I align myself with those who seem to be not considered valuable in polite society.

An eye for an eye ... the whole world goes blind" , spoken by Nathan

Acceptance and tolerance and forgiveness, those are life-altering lessons.

Livingston: I know it was your sixth company, but was there anything that you found you were better at? Greenspun: I think I was probably mostly worse at things than I thought. The VCs had a point when they said people remember how you made them feel more than what you said.

What is the value of sticking a microphone in a man's face right after he has learned of his wife's death?

You are not alone, she thought. Don't be afraid. You are beloved.

Benita set the letter down. Connie - her dear Connie, whom she had never even said good-bye to. Whom she had hated - really hated- for so long. But he had always been strong. He had lived his life on a plane of grand ideals and all-encompassing rights and wrongs. His view had been much longer than the trappings of his own life. And she had been the little mouse who could see no farther than her own nose, stumbling over roots and stones, oblivious to the oncoming storm.

I respect knowledge of the psyche. I would be a therapist if I weren't an entertainer.

The people I want to focus on are Lesa, who was kind to me and went on to become a successful therapist, and you. If you are being bullied, whether it's because you're gay or someone decides they don't like something about you, let me be the Lesa who says, "I see you." You are perfectly made.

She gave me a huge smile, and I took it so I could manage to give it back to her.

We need to own our weakness, our hurt, our pain, and say it out loud so that we can name what is coming up and why. You deserve it. You deserve to feel the heartbreak and the pain so that once and for all you stop holding yourself back from feeling whatever it is you've tried to mask. No, it's not easy but you are worth the work.

When I asked my father whether he thought that it was possible that his mother was raped behind that closed door, he said, "She had washer-woman knees. No one could possibly think of her as a sexual object. Besides," he explained, "she would have told my sisters, and they would have told me." I am not so sure. Maybe someone needed to ask her. Someone needed to want to know, to be able to hear the answer.

there is a distinction between understanding and sympathizing.

When are we going to realize that hating other women - no matter how much money they have or how far they've fallen - is just as bad for ourselves as it is for anyone else?

You can not make someone love you. You can not be thin enough or white enough or famous enough. The choice is entirely the other person's. Then again, you might try hypnosis.

We read because we are essentially alone.

Beware of those who have never been bored, depressed, or angry. There is something seriously wrong with them.

In relationships it is best to assume nothing.

I find it tiresome when people parade their agonies for public viewing; the last thing I want to evoke is pity. We are all the walking wounded, your pain is no worse than everyone else's.

Being good does make a difference. You will not receive praise or payment for it, and other people will mistake your goodness for weakness, but it resonates among people you won't even meet.

The book identifies you as part of the tribe. On the opposite extreme, there are people who will walk up to you when you're reading a book because they think you're lonely.

The one thing that worries me is that with my mother gone, the voice in my head that tells me to be nice to others has been silenced forever. I fear for other people.

Cold, dispassionate logic is admirable, but when people are starving and desperate, it's just cruel.

Never look down on somebody unless you're helping them up.