Quotes About Empathy

There's something missing in how we inform the youngsters coming along about what matters in the world. We teach them the letters and numbers, but we fail to inform them about the importance of our connection with the living world

One of the ways we build intimate relationships with other people is by sharing our fears with them, telling them the things that still frighten us. ... "When we begin to appreciate the ways in which people have been frightened in their lives, we can be compassionate toward them, rather than angry [p. 97].

He did not confuse compassion with passivity.

My dear grandmother (who was a psychic in her own right and very well known in Kansas City, Missouri) used to say if you find someone who doesn't like animals, children, or music . . . run.

The world would be a very sad place if readers could only love one story.

I didn't know why I was going to cry, but I knew that if anybody spoke to me or looked at me too closely the tears would fly out of my eyes and the sobs would fly out of the throat and I'd cry for a week.

Can you understand? Someone, somewhere, can you understand me a little, love me a little? For all my despair, for all my ideals, for all that - I love life. But it is hard, and I have so much - so very much to learn.

There is nothing like puking with somebody to make you into old friends.

In his view, the ancient Japanese way, where men would meet and "bow to each other for as much as half an hour speaking words of greeting, gradually moving closer together, understanding the necessity of entering another's consciousness carefully,"1 was a good one.

The victim's response to the trauma of a sexual assault shall not be used in any way to measure credibility." —

Galbraith had her own rule when it came to rape cases: listen and verify. "A lot of times people say, 'Believe your victim, believe your victim,' " Galbraith says. "But I don't think that that's the right standpoint. I think it's listen to your victim. And then corroborate or refute based on how things go.

The Chinese philosopher Mencius believed that man is innately good. He argued that anyone who saw a child falling into a well would immediately feel shock and alarm, and that this impulse, this universal capacity for commiseration, was proof positive that man is inherently good.

We lived among people whose poverty could be seen in the length of their faces, in their tired speech and in the heaviness of their eyes.

But Ruby understands now, this inclination. This desire to slip away. To seclude herself. She understands how it feels to be an island, separate from everyone else, surrounded by nothing but water. Even when she is with people (at school, at Izzy's house, at the pool), she is aware of how alone she is. Nobody can reach her, not really. She and her mother are more similar than different, but she doesn't know how to tell her mom this. What words might explain she understands.

you can't be ruined by things that others do to you but only by what you do to others.

The most difficult thing in the world is to know how to do a thing and to watch somebody else do it wrong without comment.

The strongest bonds are of the heart.

We think that forgiveness is weakness, but it's absolutely not it takes a very strong person to forgive.

I think it is important that we rebuild an atmosphere of forgiveness and civility in every aspect of our lives.

I like to see myself as a bridge builder, that is me building bridges between people, between races, between cultures, between politics, trying to find common ground.

If someone must be hurt, if it ever becomes necessary to bear pains, weather strong winds, or withstand trials or opposition, let it be adults and not children.

first things that a hurting person needs to do is break the habit of using other people as a narcotic to numb the dull aching of an inner void.

If you have been betrayed or wounded by someone you brought too close, please forgive them. They really were a blessing. You will only be better when you cease to be bitter!

He wants you to offer hope to those being crushed and struggling to understand.