Quotes About Empathy

It is the function of justice not to do wrong to one's fellow-men; of considerateness , not to wound their feelings; and in this the essence of propriety is best seen.

What is sweeter than to have someone with whom you may dare discuss anything as if you were communing with yourself? How could your enjoyment in times of prosperity be so great if you did not have someone whose joy in them would be equal to your own?

Die Menschen kommen durch nichts den Göttern näher, als wenn sie Menschen glücklich machen.

Optime autem societas hominum conjunctioque servabitur, si, ut quisque erit conjunctissimus, ita in eum benignitatis plurimum conferetur. (...) Homo, qui erranti comiter monstrat viam, Quasi lumen de suo lumine accendat, facit Nihilo minus ipsi lucet, cum illi accenderit.

All the same, she cries on the front porch, and I wish I could go over there and hold her. I wish I could rescue her and hold her in my arms. How do people live like this? How do they survive? And maybe that's why I'm here. What if they can't anymore?

What is it about the sound of clapping hands? It's only skin against slapping skin, so why can it make a tide turn in you? Why can it break on top of you and lift you up at the same time? Maybe it's because it's one of the most noble things humans do with their hands. I mean, think about it. Humans make fists with their hands. They use them to fight, to steal things, to hurt each other. When people clap, it's one of the few times they stand together and applaud other people.

It's like I've been chosen. But chosen for what? I ask. The answer is quite simple: To care.

An old homeless man confronts me quietly with his beard, his missing teeth, and his poverty.

In the sex-war thoughtlessness is the weapon of the male, vindictiveness of the female. —CYRIL CONNOLLY

Knowing too much about other people puts you in their power, they have a claim on you, you are forced to understand their reasons for doing things and then you are weakened.

And she finds it difficult to believe—that a person would love her even when she isn't trying. Trying to figure out what other people need, trying to be worthy.

But some people can't tell where it hurts. They can't calm down. They can't ever stop howling.

Forgiving men is so much easier than forgiving women.

This is how the girl who couldn't speak and the man who couldn't see fell in love.

What is it the I'll want from you? Not love: that would be too much to ask. Not forgiveness, which isn't yours to bestow. Only a listener, perhaps; only someone who will see me. Don't prettify me though, whatever else you do: I have no wish to be a decorated skull. But I leave myself in your hands. What choice do I have? By the time you read this last page, that- if anywhere- is the only place I will be.

And yet it disturbs me to learn I have hurt someone unintentionally. I want all my hurts to be intentional.

What we share may be a lot like a traffic accident but we get one another. We are survivors of each other. We have been shark to one another, but also lifeboat. That counts for something.

We are survivors, of each other. We have been shark to one another, but also lifeboat. That counts for something.

He doesn't understand yet that guilt comes to you not from the things you've done, but from the things that others have done to you.

This has been her problem all her life: picturing other people's responses. She's too good at it. She can picture the response of anyone--other people's reactions, their emotions, their criticisms, their demands--but somehow they don't reciprocate. Maybe they can't. Maybe they lack the gift, if it is one.

Tell me where it hurts, she'd say. Stop howling. Just calm down and show me where. But some people can't tell where it hurts. They can't calm down. They can't ever stop howling.

At moments like this I envy those who have found a safe haven in which to bestow their hearts; or perhaps I envy them for having a heart to bestow. I often feel that I myself am without one, and possess in its stead merely a heart shaped stone.

Nobody is any authority on the fucks other people give

Now we come to forgiveness. Don't worry about forgiving me right now. There are more important things. For instance: keep the others safe, if they are safe. Don't let them suffer too much. If they have to die, let it be fast. You might even provide a Heaven for them. We need You for that. Hell we can make for ourselves.