Quotes About Empathy

Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni sighed. "People are always falling ill, Mma. That is the way we are." He paused. "I'm sorry, of course. It is not very pleasant being unwell, but it is always happening

It is better to tell people good things, Mma—if you can.

Like so many women, her life seemed to be all about the needs of others. Auden had said something about that, she reminded herself—something witty. We are here on this earth to help others, but he had no idea why the others were here.

It occurred to Mma Ramotswe that such behaviour was no more than ignorance; an inability to understand the hopes and aspirations of others. That understanding, thought Mma Ramotswe, was the beginning of all morality. If you knew how a person was feeling, if you could imagine yourself in her position, then surely it would be impossible to inflict further pain. Inflicting pain in such circumstances would be like hurting oneself.

Charity begins at home. Was that a narrow, selfish adage or was it simply an inescapable, bedrock fact of life in human society? Does the one in need on your doorstep have a greater claim than the one in need in a distant country--if the level of need in each case is exactly the same?

Why, she asked herself, why keep a wound open when forgiveness can close it?

And it was not surprising, perhaps, that he should feel it—this little boy who felt things so deeply; for we all feel that about our friends; we all feel that about those around whom we might put an arm. We all feel that about the darkness into which we go with others and about the very understandable fears that can be so easily dispelled, put to flight, by a simple gesture

Contemplating this vast human suffering, you might be tempted to shrug your shoulders, but you could not.

That was the problem with human failings – they were often more visible to others than to those whom they afflicted.

Alexander McCall Smith

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 revelling in the misfortunes of another.

That's the way things are, don't you think? It's human nature. We do things for people we know. Everybody does that.

That at least was a consolation: separation and loss were something that we all experienced; the pain was shared, and was perhaps easier for that.

Saying sorry does not make you look small—it makes you look big." "I think so too," said Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. "But some people are small inside, and if you're small inside, you can't be big outside. It just won't come to you.

I am a fortunate man, and if you are fortunate in this life, you should take pleasure in the good fortune of others. Because we must love one another – for all our faults. We must love one another whatever our station in life, and we must try to make the lives of others more bearable, if we are in a position to do so.

Attacks on political correctness, in her view, were often made by those who had never suffered insult or known what it was like to be at the bottom of the heap.

Goodnight, my boy," said the Cardinal. "And God bless." It was a kind thing to say to a dog, and a good thing. Because the least of us, the very least, has the same claim as any other to that love, divine or human, which makes our world, in all its turmoil and pain, easier to comprehend, easier to bear.

Ulf sighed. Why could people not live together in harmony? Why did people think that berating and assaulting others should do anything but make everything worse for everybody?

In the past we've been so casual about hurting people, about allowing people to be disparaged because they're different in some way. If you disparage people for what they are, then you're saying something about their nature, about who they are. You're saying You don't count as much as others because of what you are." He paused. "And that's pretty devastating, isn't it?

Listen, my little peasant

Medicine asked something extraordinary of nurses: to forge intimate connections with another person for hours, weeks, or months, to care thoroughly and holistically—and then to let that individual suddenly go, often never to be heard from again.

As a Minnesota agency nurse said, "We are not just bed-making, drink-serving, poop-wiping, medication-passing assistants. We are much more.

A St. Louis oncology nurse quoted Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl to States News Service in 2012: " 'What is to give light must endure burning.' I think people who care for others understand. Caregiving is painful.

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