Quotes About Empathy

il [Conrad] était de ces gens scrupuleux et délicats que le mépris atteint au cÅ"ur, et qui doutent de leurs prédilections les plus chères, dès qu'ils les voient tourner en ridicule par une maîtresse ou un ami. (p. 144)

Remember, we can judge better by the conduct of people towards others than by their manner towards ourselves.

When people are warm, they cannot stand picking terms.

Surely it is much more generous to forgive and remember, than to forgive and forget.

But don't you know that girls never think of what they are talking about, or rather never talk of what they are thinking about? And they have always ten times more to say to the man they don't care for, than to him they do.

The things we dislike most in others are the characteristics we like least in ourselves.

The ability to talk to other people seemed to be leaking out of me like air out of an old balloon.

That's the thing with relationships, I understood: it doesn't mean we don't hurt one another; how can we help it sometimes, we're only human. But if you love someone, you get hurt and you manage to forgive. And be forgiven.

My friend Kathy is the only person who'll be halfway honest with me. 'Did you ever see a cowboy film, where someone has been caught by the Indians and tied between two wild stallions, each pulling in opposite directions?' she asked. I nodded mutely. 'That's a bit what giving birth is like.

But that's the point, Amy. It's easy to love someone when they're on their best behaviour — you can do that in your sleep. The real test is when they're — to use Neeve's expression — a pain in the hole. That's what love actually means.

Human touch is as important as water and food and air and laughter and new shoes.

I was in so much pain that I couldn't imagine not feeling it

having to be nice to people, which, as everyone knows, is the toughest job in the world

They were very, very kind to each other and, in my discombobulated state, this was soothing.

I can cope with anything except being lied to. "Protected from the truth" is the worst thing you could do to me. Even if you know you're going to hurt me, I'd prefer the facts.' 'Okay. But –

Isn't it strange that sometimes the memory of an act of kindness can cause more pain than the cruel stuff?

She liked to pretend that she liked everyone, in the hope that it might help her jump the line into Heaven.

Wasn't this the man who had made hot-water bottles for me every month when I got my period

Being considerate of others will take your children further in life than any college degree.

So much of America's tragic and costly failure to care for all its children stems from our tendency to distinguish between our own children and other people's children--as if justice were divisible.

It's time for greatness -- not for greed. It's a time for idealism -- not ideology. It is a time not just for compassionate words, but compassionate action.

I won't show weakness here, but, damn it, tears don't mean I'm frail and pathetic, only that I'm unhappy.

The hands are the heart's messengers.

The heart that gives, gathers.