Quotes About Empathy

dear old friends, dear old lovers, do you realize that when you voted for Trump, you voted against me—against the memory of the person I used to be in your lives?

And anger is never added to anger. It multiplies.

She's the Sandwhich Lady. Excuse me? She delivers sandwiches to the homeless. Really. I can't imagine her in such a role. What do you mean? Well, she always seems so impulsive, so emotional. What's the word I'm searching for? So individualistic. Not tribal at all...

books can be both mirrors and windows—mirrors in which readers can see themselves on the pages of literature and thereby know their existence in the world is valid and true, and windows into worlds they might never have imagined.

What do you say to people when they ask you how it feels to lose everything? When every planet in your solar system has exploded?

I mean, why are you trying so hard to impress me? I'm really sorry your mother died, but it doesn't mean much to me...

We continue Lovingly Despite The crimes Committed Against any And all Of us.

But my grandmother wanted us to forgive her murderer.

I am always amused by those couples, lovers and spouses who perform and ask others to perform musical chairs whenever they, by random seat selection, are separated from each other. 'Can you switch seats with me, a woman asks me, 'so I can sit with my husband?' 'How dare you? How dare you ask me to change my life for you? How imperial. How colonial.' But, ah, here is the strange truth. Whenever I'm asked to trade seats for somebody else's love, I do. I always do.

And, sometimes, when I'm being the best version of myself, I will remember that bullies are created--that bullies seek to torture because they've been tortured.

If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing. —

What are you laughing at?" Mrs. Jeremy asked me. "I used to think the world was broken down by tribes," I said. "By black and white. By Indian and white. But I know that isn't true. The world is only broken into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not." I walked out of the classroom and felt like dancing

I didn't know what to do or say, so I just sat as quietly as he did. The silence got so big and real that it felt like three people sat on the porch.

He may not have loved me perfectly, but he loved me as well as he could.

Man, I've always cried too easily. I cry when I'm happy or sad. I cry when I'm angry. I cry because I'm crying. It's weak. It's the opposite of warrior.

When anybody, no matter how old they are, loses a parent, I think it hurts the same as if you were only five years old, you know?

But he wasn't ugly, just misplaced and marked by loneliness.

The abused can become abusers. It's a tragic progression.

Inside their small house, Grace listened as Roman stood from the couch and walked into the bathroom. He sat down to piss. She thought that Roman's sit-down pisses were one of the most romantic and caring things that any man had ever done for any woman. After

We spend our lives with the person who has the same scars in the same places.

My white friends were visibly distressed by that loud singer and drummer. One of my friends, whom I shall call Tara, leaned forward and whispered, "I hate Indians." My four other white friends gasped, but it took Tara a few moments to remember that she was sitting beside me, her Indian friend. She burst into tears and spent the rest of the night apologizing. "It's okay," I kept saying. But it wasn't. I was hurt, ashamed, and angry.

But whenever I started in on my crazy theories, Norma would put her finger to my lips really gently. Junior, she would say with gentleness and patience. Shut the fuck up. Norma always was a genius with words.

Today, a friend's 3 year old said to me, I know you almost every time I see you.

I believe one of the most sacrificial acts of love adoptive parents can do is to give up their preconceptions and agendas about what their child's views should be and be open to hear the conflicting emotions and thoughts their child often experiences.