Quotes About Empathy

I think the best way to become a character is by osmosis as opposed to thinking directly about stuff.

I'm a happy person. Sometimes, I have to make a conscious effort to stay happy. See, my predispositions are - as opposed to what you see - I'm actually quite a sensitive person, very empathetic, very emotional... Very impulsive.

Art makes you see people as individual, unique human beings. Art, in that way, allows us to see each other in particulate, as opposed to in aggregate.

We are used to the whistles of the opposing fans, but when we are booed by our own fans, it's hard to live with.

The opposite of anger is not calmness, its empathy.

I figure out who I'm playing opposite, and I really do study them.

Making those around you feel invisible is the opposite of leadership.

If you're working opposite an actor who can act, then all you have to do is listen and respond.

If you fall in love with someone gay and you're the opposite gender, it's not going to work.

In my experience it's not essential to get on with the person that you're acting opposite.

I've had moments of deep self-involvement that didn't come from a place of loving myself but quite the opposite.

I would consider myself one of the least misogynistic men in the country - if anything, just the opposite.

It is very important to have deep friendships of the opposite sex to learn so much about yourself and what you need as a human.

The cry of the oppressed has entered not only into my ears, but into my soul, so that while I live, I cannot hold my peace.

I want to be the voice of the people; black, white, everyday, oppressed people. A person trying to make it and to do it right.

Oppression is not limited to people of color, but if you feel guilty that's something you should confront.

I'm concerned about - the oppression of the poor.

The more that I learn about what's going on, it's really hard to ignore the oppression that people are actually going through.

If we're saying there are incidents of oppression in this country, systematically or individually in this country, I don't think saying, 'Well, in country X, Y or Z it's 10 times worse' is making things any better. I think that may be true, but why can't we improve?

Through my school years, I learned more about slavery, anti-black racism, and oppression in the U.S., and my blackness could no longer be an afterthought. I started wearing it proudly, and as my consciousness deepened, so did my love for black folks.

Because I have seen oppression, I know what it looks like.

I look for the humanity in people, however big the politics or oppressive the situation may be, whether it's subsumed within a human being or between two human beings. I want to help us hold a mirror to ourselves.

If you're on the side of the oppressor, or you're defending the oppressor, or you're actually trying to humanize the oppressor, then that's a problem.

You could be a woman in Alabama who's a conservative Christian, or you could be a total crunchy-granola woman in Seattle and 20 years old, and both of you would watch Oprah.