Quotes About Empathy

Alva embodied a curious contradiction in that she felt she cared deeply for women as a class while nursing venomous contempt for the women she actually knew.

I'd keep it [Kevlar vest] with me in my vehicle, but I wouldn't bring it into people's homes. Surrounded by Bosnians who didn't have protection, I felt that it was inappropriate for me to stay sealed off. I wanted them to tell me their stories, risk exposing themselves to me. I couldn't ask that of someone if I wasn't willing to expose myself as well.

I recently came across a saying by the Scottish writer Ian Maclaren. "Be kind," he wrote, "for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle." You may not be able to see the battle others are fighting, and you may believe they are confident and have never known sadness or fear, but believe me, they have, so be kind.

I've often thought of loss as a kind of language. Once learned, it's never forgotten. I learned the language of loss when I was ten, and still know it to this day. There have been times when I wished I had a scar or a mark, a visible sign of the pain I still feel over Daddy's death and Carter's. It would be easier, in a way, if people knew without my having to say anything that I am not whole, that part of me died long ago.

You may not be able to see the battle others are fighting, and you may believe they are confident and have never known sadness or fear, but believe me, they have, so be kind.

I've at last come to know that forgiveness is much simpler than I could ever have imagined: whatever problem you have with someone, project yourself into the other person and see it from their point of view.

When we're young we all waste so much time being reserved or embarrassed with our parents, resenting them or wishing they and we were entirely different people. This

Wisdom comes not from reason but from love.

One must allow other people to be right, he used to say when he was insulted, It consoles them for not being anything else.

Each one of a pair of lovers fashions himself to meet the other's requirements—endeavors by a continual effort to resemble that idol of himself which he beholds in the other's heart.... Whoever really loves abandons all sincerity.

To read a writer is for me not merely to get an idea of what he says, but to go off with him, and travel in his company.

You have to let other people be right' was his answer to their insults. 'It consoles them for not being anything else.

Loving yourself isn't vanity. It's sanity.

So as long as we live among men, let us cherish humanity.

Amas lo inhumano.

Whether they will or no, a link is created between two creatures who experience a common emotion.

One must allow other people to be right,' he used to say when he was insulted, 'it consoles them for not being anything else.' (The Immoralist - pp 91)

Ces scènes où l'un offre plus de son cÅ"ur qu'on ne lui demande, sont toujours pénibles

Take upon oneself as much humanity as possible. There is the correct formula.

Van de duizend vormen van het leven kan ieder er maar één kennen. Het geluk van een ander benijden is dwaasheid; men zou er toch niets mee weten te doen. Het geluk wil geen confectiegoed zijn, maar een pak op maat.

Bisogna lasciare la ragione agli altri perché questo li consola di non aver altro.

Remember this. Hold on to this. This is the only perfection there is, the perfection of helping others. This is the only thing we can do that has any lasting meaning. This is why we're here. To make each other feel safe.

There are many ways of getting strong, sometimes talking is the best way.

This is why we're here. To fight through the pain and, when possible, to relieve the pain of others. So simple. So hard to see.