Quotes About Empathy

Catherine Ryan Hyde

You're not using your head, dear," she says. "No, of course I'm not," he says. "I'm using my heart.

I was a mean old woman. I'd never meant to be, but it was unquestionable that I was. Up until that moment, I'd half known, but I hadn't cared what other people thought of me. I guess I cared what Vern thought, but somehow I'd considered him grandfathered in. I guess I'd thought he had to put up with me regardless. I cared what Denny and Bobby thought of me,

As long as I live, I'm never going to do what they're doing. I made myself a promise. And now I'm making the promise to you. I'm never going to judge somebody I don't know. And if somebody is accused of something in the newspaper or on TV, I'm going to remember that maybe he did it or maybe he didn't. I wasn't there, so I don't know.

I have trouble with people like that. Like that woman who was just here. They come up to you in a time of grief, and they can't seem to accept that it's grief. They can't just be in that moment of grief with you. They can't just say, 'Yeah, this is some pretty awful stuff.' They have to try to fix it. They have to solve it for you in a couple of sentences, which is ridiculous,

if you meet someone you don't like, or who doesn't treat you right, try to reserve judgment, because you don't know what that person's going through, and it's probably not so much about you at all.

But they suggest something to get you out of what you're feeling, or they find some reason why it's all for the best. I don't understand why people can't just join you in your grief for a moment.

I'm sorry you are having trouble being happy right now, Raymond. We all take turns, I think.

Try not to be so sorry, my young friend. Most of what you regret in this world is not of your own making.

It flitted through her mind without actual words that skin is an odd thing for the world to make a fuss about, especially when, with your eyes closed, it all feels more or less the same. "Over

Also, I should note that in my opinion, we're all wounded humans. The rest is just a matter of degree.

World is full of people so troubled they don't even understand themselves. You could offer them a thousand dollars to explain their motivations, but they can't tell you what they don't know. And most of those miserable creatures find their

He's not like the other cops. What does it mean, that I thought that? That I hated him so much?" "That you're human?" "Isn't that really bad, though? I mean, what does that say about me?" I sighed. "Considering you just saw yourself doing it . . . made that observation all on your own, at age thirteen . . . I'd say that puts you quite a bit ahead of most of the adults I know.

We can be angels to each other. We are angels to each other, all the time.

Catherine Ryan Hyde

People with really good self-worth think they're the same size as everybody else, and they never make anybody else feel small. Any time somebody tries to act like they're more than you are, deep down they're afraid they're less. Otherwise they'd have nothing to prove.

I'm just advising you to let go of the hate in yourself, because you're the one swallowing that poison every day, not him.

Here's what I learned from Lenny in my sophomore year of high school: the down-and-out character is just as human as everybody else. You may not want to know him in real life, but in fiction, you just might dare. And in knowing him, you get a lesson in humanity: we're more the same than we might imagine. And that even the class outcast has talents. Someone just needs to tell her what they are.

A human life is a very different place when you can tell people what you need.

People make mistakes all the time. That's more or less the definition of a person: we're a bunch of walking, talking mistake-holders. When I make a mistake, if I was doing my best, I let myself off the hook.

Middle children become great listeners. They understand the value of acknowledging others' positions and feelings, and use this information as ammunition to help them get what they want.

To communicate effectively with children we must learn how they think.

I may hurt you, I will not harm you...

The use of torture is contrary to sound judgment and common sense. Humanity itself cries out against it, and demands it to be utterly abolished.