Quotes About Empathy

I am more sensitive than other people. Things that other people would not notice awaken a distinct echo in me, and in such moments of lucidity, when I look at myself, I see that I am alone, all alone, all alone.

However spontaneous it seems, laughter always implies a kind of secret freemasonry, or even complicity, with other laughers, real or imaginary.

For me photography is to place head and heart and eye along the same line of sight. It's a way of life.

If there is one point, it's humanity, it's life, the richness of life. The thing is simply to be sensitive.

Chim picked up his camera the way a doctor takes his stethoscope out of his bag, applying his diagnosis to the condition of the heart. His own was vulnerable.

the art of life, mostly, the art of avoiding pain

Man becomes man only by his intelligence, but he is man only by his heart.

There is no respect for others without humility in one's self.

Sympathy is the first condition of criticism.

Life is short and we never have enough time for gladdening the hearts of those who travel the way with us. Oh, be swift to love! Make haste to be kind.

Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark journey with us. Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind.

Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family.

Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.

Let us not underestimate how hard it is to be compassionate. Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely, and broken. But this is not our spontaneous response to suffering. What we desire most is to do away with suffering by fleeing from it or finding a quick cure for it.

We need to be angels for each other, to give each other strength and consolation. Because only when we fully realize that the cup of life is not only a cup of sorrow but also a cup of joy will we be able to drink it.

When people show you their boundaries ("I can't do this for you") you feel rejected...part of your struggle is to set boundaries to your own love. Only when you are able to set your own boundaries will you be able to acknowledge, respect and even be grateful for the boundaries of others.

On a rigolé à la face de la lune […], et nos rires c'étaient des poings levés contre toute la misère […], pour lui dire qu'on n'avait même pas mal.

You desire to know the art of living, my friend? It is contained in one phrase: make use of suffering.

The immense majority of our species are candidates for humanity, and nothing more.

Life is short and we never have enough time for the hearts of those who travel the way with us. O, be swift to love!

The germs of all things are in every heart, and the greatest criminals as well as the greatest heroes are but different modes of ourselves.

Whatever impatience we may feel towards our neighbor, and whatever indignation our race may rouse in us, we are chained one to another, and, companions in labour and misfortune, have everything to lose by mutual recrimination and reproach. Let us be silent as to each other's weakness, helpful, tolerant, many, tender towards each other! Or, if we cannot feel tenderness, may we at least feel pity!

I sought for love on the highway, For love unselfish and pure, And found it in good deeds blooming, Tho' often in haunts obscure.

The best date movies give you something to talk about. A movie that's a downer is a great way to find out about someone.