Quotes About Empathy

It was wonderful to see, wonderful to be in the middle of: we mud frogs awakening all around. We were awash in tiny attentions. Small gestures, words, empathies thought to be extinct came to life...It was a rebellion she led, a rebellion for rather than against. For ourselves. For the dormant mud frogs we had been for so long.

What she saw, she felt. Her eyes went straight to her heart. The old man on the bench, for example, made her cry. The lumberjack ants made her laugh. The door of many colours put her in such a snit of curiosity that i had to drag her away;she felt she could not proceed with her life until she knocked on such a door.

History sits on our shoulders, while reading opens our hearts.

OK, so you're not perfect. Who is?

And there was more to her seeing than that. What she saw, she felt. Her eyes went straight to her heart.

For years the strangers among us had passed sullenly in the hallways; now we looked, we nodded, we smiled.

You remember everything people say to you?' I locked into his eyes. 'Everything /some/ people say to me.

We fell silent. We just looked at each other, sitting cross-legged on the picnic table. As in my meditations, I had no awareness of time passing, only a sense of the air between us electrified with eyes.

On the contrary, she is one of us. Most decidedly. She is us more than we are us. She is, I think, who we really are. Or were.

He loved to see them playing with his birthday present. Each thud of a foot said: We're kicking your soccer ball. We like you. You're one of us.

On the contrary, she is one of us. Most decidedly. She is more than we are us. She is, I think, who we really are. Or were...she's an earthling if there ever was one.' 'So it's not just an act?' said Kevin. 'An act? No. If anybody is acting, it's us.

Don't hate him either. You shouldn't hate anybody ... If you start by hating one or two people, you won't be able to stop. Pretty soon you'll hate a hundred people ... A little hatred goes a long, long way. It grows and grows. And it's hungry. ... You keep feeding it more and more people, and the more it gets, the more it wants. It's never satisfied. And pretty soon it squeezes all the love out of your heart ... and all you'll have left is a hateful heart.

And whenever she saw Palmer with them at school, she acted as if she did not know him. Palmer sensed that she was doing this for his sake.

War became less about machine-gun chatter and spectacular explosions and more about people.

She protected herself by making herself believe no-one else could ever really understand her.

We did our best to understand the murder: the murderer was a part of our lives; not so the victim.

I deserve no punishment at all for being who I am.

One time we attended a child with a rotting leg, covered with wrinkled brown skin, from which a bloody yellow pus oozed. The stench from the leg was so strong that even Olga had to open the door every few moments and let in a draft of fresh air. All day long I stared at the gangrenous leg while the child alternately sobbed and fell asleep.

It's only possible to provide help when it's asked for. The rest of the time, all you can give is love.

Well, here's something you should know: heroes are willing to pause their own lives to help you.

Didn't say," Mr. Sullivan said, pretending the deep-fryer knobs needed fiddling with. "I'm really sorry about what happened to your friends.

we all just do the best we can. And that's enough.

Don't ever say that after sex, do you understand? If you feel the urge to say it, go see the girl first thing in the morning, with her night breath and no makeup...watch her on the toilet...listen to her with her friends...go meet her hairy mother and her shrill friends...and if you still feel the need to say such a stupid thing, then God help you.

You don't really want my side of the story. You don't want to understand me, know me, to crawl inside of my head. You don't want to feel the things I've felt. You just want to know that one thing: why. Fine. Here's why: Her. I did it all for her.