Quotes About Empathy

You can be just a regular, real person and still be the magic somebody else needs in her life. We do it for each other all the time. It's that everyday sort of magic. We're all capable of it, I do believe, but still you don't always see people living up to that potential.

Dear, dear Ruthie," he said, and grasped one of my hands in both of his. And although it was an oversimplification of the man, it struck me that this was his single greatest quality: he made everybody feel dear. And the sad truth of this world is that not many people feel that way, and not much of the time.

Maybe because if we cared that much about everything, all the time, all at the same time like that, we'd die of exhaustion. We'd have no time or energy left to run our own lives.

She glanced over her shoulder at the dog, who was still leaning nervously against the door. She shot him a look that said he was entirely to blame for all of this. He returned a look that said he accepted all that guilt and more.

I think very often in life we do something important for someone else for no better reason than that they need us to. And really, when you think about it . . . what more reason is needed?

You can't change anybody's mind. No matter what you say to them. The sooner you figure that out, the happier your life will be.

World is full of people so troubled they don't even understand themselves.

I'm never going to be a hunter, I know that now. I don't know why it should be so different. Like Will said, I eat meat. But if I had to look into its big, wet-looking dark eye and then shoot it first, I'd live the rest of my life on peanut butter, pasta, and fish.

People need help with perspective sometimes. If they're all alone in their own head, they can lose perspective. Sometimes you need to use somebody else like a mirror. Let them reflect back to you the way the world really is.

Why do I do that?" "Do what?" "Try to take responsibility for everything and fix everybody.

I didn't sleep well that night. I lost most of the night thinking about it. What does it mean when someone loses the use of most of his brain, and it makes him more kind?

The people with the least to give always give the most.

We couldn't do as much harm if people could feel what they were doing.

You're still here," he said. He was squinting down at her. He didn't seem particularly happy, but he wasn't yelling. Nothing even close to it.

Paying It Forward is about spontaneously offering favors, not needing to say yes when someone asks too much of you. And also, it's about kindness rather than niceness. There's a difference. Kindness is spontaneous and real. Niceness just mostly wants to be liked.

All the way down to my gut I got something I'd never gotten before. I got that when a person is rude and abusive to me, it's not about me at all. They can say something terrible to me or about me, but they're revealing themselves, not me. It has nothing to do with me. They're just showing me the landscape on the inside of themselves as they project it out onto somebody else. Does that make sense? It's the first time I've tried to put it into words.

Tears sprang to her eyes, and she didn't know if they were for Lloyd or for Aaron. Or for herself. Or maybe tears don't have anybody's name on them. Maybe they're just tears. "That's

We can be angels to each other. We are angels to each other, all the time. And we should be. No divine intervention required. Just a sense of staying together and looking out for each other. You know. Safety in numbers.

he'd be proud of me for crying, and I cry harder. How do you stop crying, Simon?

we weren't put here on earth to take care of each other. And that it's silly to get mad at someone for letting you down when they're just being who they are. She said it's like getting mad at your dog for not being a cat." Then

feel that the truth is simply the truth. And that to shield someone from it is only a manner of treating that person with a lack of respect. I'm sure she didn't mean it that way, though. I'm sure she was doing what she thought best.

Lots of people use helping somebody to make their life feel like more.

My father taught me not to look down on nobody, not to think bad about nobody. Except assholes. He said it's OK to be prejudiced against assholes, because nobody has to be an asshole. It's voluntary.

In the realm of wounded humans, you're never going to have it all. Also, I should note that in my opinion, we're all wounded humans. The rest is just a matter of degree.