Quotes About Empathy

Maybe all he was really saying was: I am not responsible for your pain; share your happiness with me but not your unhappiness.

Adults do not talk to us—they give us directions. They issue orders without providing information. When we trip and fall down they glance at us; if we cut or bruise ourselves, they ask us are we crazy. When we catch colds, they shake their heads in disgust at our lack of consideration.

I've broken an arm before, but no one wanted to shoot me!' Suzie says. 'I mean, when you go to the emergency room I hope to God the doctors don't decide it might cost too much to care for.' -Suzie Schwab co-owner of East Maui Animal Refuge

If I had to answer the question, What is the most important ability for the actor? . . . the answer would emphatically be listening. Lest there be some misunderstanding, let me define what I mean by listening. I am talking about listening with all the senses.

If I asked her in what ways you have adjusted your plans and schedule in the past month because you saw that she had a burden or a need you could help meet, would she be able to recall such times?

She is a mirror reflecting to you the impact and influence that you, or other males, have had on her.

A man once told me, "Tony, my wife is killing me." I replied, "Well, you said you wanted to be more like Jesus, didn't you?

All evil begins with this belief: that another's existence is less precious than mine.

The only way to know God, the only way to know the other, is to listen. Listening is reaching out into that unknown other self, surmounting your walls and theirs; listening is the beginning of understanding, the first exercise of love. None of us listen enough, do we, dear? We only listen to a fraction of what people say. It's a wonderfully useful thing to do. You almost always hear something you didn't expect.

People buy pathetic substitutes for community—sound waves in a speaker, particles bombarding a screen—all pretending to be friends or the folks next door. The vacuum they leave when the screen goes dark, when the recording ends, is filled with a loneliness worse than ever before." "What's the answer?" "Flesh and blood touching flesh and blood. Life touching life. Yours, mine, everybody's.

And I am too knowledgeable now to hurt people imprecisely

and I am grateful for my heart, that turned out to be good, after all

We can't condone what the Spanish did; it seems barbaric to us," Larry said. "But I admire their tenacity, giving up everything familiar to come here. It would have been like traveling to the moon today." Tim agreed. "Unless you reenact Mother Teresa, you're going to run into problems if you judge people by today's moral standards.

O amor é aquele estado em que somos nós próprios com mais satisfação. O amor consiste em deixar aos amados espaço para que sejam eles próprios ao mesmo tempo que se lhes dá a segurança no seio da qual esse eu possa florescer.

Focus equals feeling.

If only they were in a different time, a different place. Far away from war, from hate. She would not be in torment, and he would not be a bystander to her pain.

Colpo ch'ad un sol noccia unqua non scende, Ma indiviso è il dolor d'ogni ferita. E spesso è l'un ferito, e l'altro langue: E versa l'alma quel, se questa il sangue.

I don't believe in love, but I believe in you.

But John Chapman told us he didnt eat meat cause he couldnt stand for somethin livin to be killed jest to keep him alive.

Ma è questo che ci si aspetta da noi donne, no? Dobbiamo dare, dare, e aiutare gli altri, qualunque sia il nostro stato d'animo. È stancante e ingrato, a volte".

The beauty of this girl standing behind him was not just physical, though. It seemed to O that she was lit from within by something most kids either did not have or hid deep inside: soul. He thought no one could ever hate her, and that was rare in this world. She was there to make things better.

That is what we women are trained for, to give to others, to make others comfortable whatever we feel for ourselves. It can be tiring, thankless to be so generous all of the time. I would like to be a bell ringer. Just to go up in the tower and for an hour concentrate on nothing but the sound of the bells and my place in them. That to me would be heaven. – Chapter 22

She'd had a terrible time with his brothers' wives : seeing her with them was like watching someone pet a cat against its fur.

We are not all called to be great. But we are all called to reach out our hands to our brothers and sisters, and to care for the earth in the time we are given.