Quotes About Empathy

Love knows no virtue, no profit; it loves and forgives and suffers everything, because it must.

If you're married to an entrenched non-apologizer, it won't help to doggedly demand one. Some folks lack the self-esteem required to take responsibility for their less than honorable behaviors, feel remorse, and offer a heartfelt apology. And many people are so hard on themselves for the mistakes they make, they don't have the emotional room to admit vulnerability and apologize to a partner.

Many marriages would be saved if we would only listen with the same passion that we feel about wanting to be heard.

Nothing you say can ensure that the other person will get it, or respond the way you want. You may never exceed his threshold of deafness.

When you can't see yourself objectively, you won't see anyone else objectively, either.

Sometimes the most helpful thing you can do is to stop trying to be helpful.

Whole-hearted listening is the greatest spiritual gift you can give to the other person.

Request an apology when you believe you deserve one, but don't get in a tug of war about it. Instead, be a role model and tender a genuine apology yourself when an apology is due. Your willingness to apologize can be contagious and models maturity for your partner. Also, your non-apologizing partner may use a nonverbal way to reconnect after a fight, defuse the tension, or show you he's in a new place and wants to repair a disconnection. Accept the olive branch however it's offered.

It's a cliché, but also a deep truth (as cliché's tend to be), that you can't love another person very well if you don't love yourself.

People marry with a deep longing that their partner will tend to their wounds, not throw salt in them. Honor your partner's vulnerability.

The miracle is that your children will love you with all your imperfections if you can do the same for them.

Through words we come to know the other person--and to be known. This knowing is at the heart of our deepest longings for intimacy and connection with others. How relationships unfold with the most important people in our lives depends on courage and clarity in finding voice.

Your children are not little mirrors reflecting back the good or bad job you've done.

Today I will let go of the need to judge others. I no longer need others to be wrong just to build my own self-worth. I will loosen my rigid perceptions of people, knowing that they have the right to be who they are. Like me, they are doing the best they can.

He had not healed Bobby because there was nothing wrong with him.

There are times when silence has the loudest voice.

Love yourself unconditionally, just as you love those closest to you despite their faults

Are you a good listener? Do you ask questions that help the other person become a better communicator? Do people feel comfortable around you, or do you dominate conversations?

Empathy requires us to step outside of our own agendas long enough to develop an understanding of the other person's perspective. It can be rightly stated that no relationship will be whole without ongoing displays of empathy.

Each difference in a relationship represents an opportunity for the participants to grow and stretch.

People pleasers, however, tend to overlook the reality that others are responsible

The first duty of love is to listen. Paul Tillich

The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said. Peter F. Drucker

When we empty ourselves of our self-centered desires, when we surrender our desire to get our way, we are filled with grace. Each act of kindness improves our relationships. Each act of self-giving love expands our life.