Quotes About Empathy

One by one the men made their positions known, some speaking, some giving the blanket sign of covering their shoulders when their feelings had been well expressed by another.

When you give of yourself something new comes in to being... the world expands, a bit of goodness is brought forth and a small miracle occurs. You must never underestimate this miracle. Too many good people think they have to become Mother Teresa or Albert Schweitzer, or even Santa Claus, and perform great acts if they are to be givers. They don't see the simple openings of the heart that can be practiced anywhere with almost anyone.

And it came to pass that Enoch looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept. And he beheld, and lo, the heavens wept also and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains.

Whatever different words you use to express [your scriptures].../ The mantras chanted may differ, but are not souls in want of salvation all the same?/ To divide and oppress people because of those differences is folly.

The thing about hatred… It's the place where people who can't look sorrow in the eye without waverin' run.

You may laugh at a friend's roof don't laugh at his sleeping accomodation.

You want to know about anybody? See what books they read, and how they've been read...

Love doesn't please itself by seeking revenge. Love sacrifices itself for the good of others.

He remains kind, but a feeling nags at me, staying with me long after I leave. And it's this: It doesn't matter what I did to him. He can choose to remain detached, untouched by me. Something I can't do back.

A sort of intimacy is forged when someone reads your book and both you and your reader wind up less alone in the world.

When someone tells you the story of their suffering, they are probably still suffering in some way. No one else gets to decide what that suffering means, or if it has any meaning at all. And we sure as hell don't get to tell someone that God never gives anybody more than they can handle or that God has a plan. We do not get to cut off someone's suffering at the pass by telling them it has some greater purpose.

We shower so much love on babies and children,"she said. "But as we grow up, it stops. No one showers love on grown-ups. But I think we need more love as we get older, not less. Life gets harder, not easier, but we stop loving each other so much, just when we need love most.

You have to live in the grey, or you have no kindness in your heart.

When your ability to determine what is real is taken away by a drug, it's terrifying. But it's far worse when it's denied to you by other people.

But maybe, in seeing that other people have done it, you'll find your own way to let your life be kind to you.

Perhaps the death knell of love is not anger or even indifference; it's losing the desire to know more about your partner.

We shower so much love on babies and children," she said. "But as we grow up, it stops. No one showers love on grown-ups. But I think we need more love as we get older, not less. Life gets harder, not easier, but we stop loving each other so much, just when we need love most. I—" Her voice caught in her throat, but she took a big breath and kept going. "I need more love now that I'm so old. I need love.

If you think it'd not work to stay steady, to remain present, to not pull back in the face of terrible suffering, then you have never been in the face of terrible suffering. It's something I've failed at. I try not to flinch, I try not to be overwhelmed, I try not to run away. But I have.

Kindness is not the same as niceness or putting our heads in the sand, or avoiding conflict. It is acknowledging that no life is as it seems on the surface. It is understanding that we never know all the layers in a life and choosing to speak and act from that difficult gray place in all of us.

Kindness is not the same as niceness, or putting our heads in the sand, or avoiding conflict. It is acknowledging that no life is as it seems on the surface. It is understanding that we never know all the layers in a life, and choosing to speak and act from that difficult gray place in all of us." ? Kerry Egan, On Living

For a long time, I thought my own life experiences marked me as strange and cursed. But after hearing so many stories, I came to realize that I was like everyone else, and that while my experiences might be unique to me, the pain was quite ordinary, and I was not alone in it. That was more healing than anything else.

I've learned over the years that these heavy, painful, anguish-filled moments...these moments when I so badly want to say something to break the tension, are exactly the moments I need to stay silent. They are the moments I need to hold still, and hold that sacred space open. Because when I can hold still and hold on in that place, no matter how hard it is for both of us, something can happen.

most of life, you can be weak inside and get through by putting on a tough outer shell. But if you work in hospice, you have to stay soft on the outside. So in order to stand up straight, you have to have a spine of steel. Two ways to go through the world, two ways to deal with the loss that is an inevitable experience in life—with a hard shell or with a rock-solid backbone.

Whatever bad things have happened to you in your life, whatever hard things you've gone through, you have to do three things: You have to accept it. You have to be kind to it...And listen to me. You have to let it be kind to you.