Quotes About Empathy

Falling in love with someone doesn't mean you know any better how they feel. It only means you know how to feel.

You know one me. Just like I know one you. But you can't know every me, Evan. And I can't know every you.

She is so lost in her sadness that she has no idea how visible it is. I think I understand her—for a moment, I presume to understand her—but then, from within this sadness, she surprises me with a brief flash of determination. Bravery, even.

She's being kind. Which is much more a sign of character than mere niceness. Kindness connects to who you are, while niceness connects to how you want to be seen.

But there's something about her—the cities on her shoes, the flash of bravery, the unnecessary sadness—that makes me want to know what the word will be when it stops being a sound. I have spent years meeting people without ever knowing them, and on this morning, in this place, with this girl, I feel the faintest pull of wanting to know. And in a moment of either weakness or bravery on my own part, I decide to follow it. I decide to find out more.

You are not alone.

bolster , v . I am very careful whenever I know you're on the phone with your father. I know you'll come to me eventually, and we'll talk you through it. But I have to wait — you need your time. In the meantime, I'm careful what songs I play. I try to speak to you with my selections.

I sing louder and he looks right at me, finally getting it, because what I am saying with the rise of my voice is that I know he understands what music is about, he has seen the Lord in it, even if it's not my Lord.

Even if you're the victor, you've hurt the other person, and there has to be some loss associated with that.

The desire to be heard is as deeply seeded as the desire to be loved. For some people, it doesn't matter who's on the other end.

This is the problem with having a barrier between you and everyone else —you see it, but they don't. They talk to you, but you can't talk back to them.

He plants himself right there in front of Craig's mother and says, "You need to love him. I don't care who you thought he was, or who you want him to be, you need to love him exactly as he is because your son is a remarkable human being. You have to understand that." And Craig's mother whispers back, "I know. I know.

Being a comfort is itself comforting. Having someone find a place on your shoulder and be able to rest.

f you stare at the center of the universe, there is a coldness there. A blankness. Ultimately, the universe doesn't care about us. Time doesn't care about us. That's why we have to care about each other

I can't stand being mean. People playing games. I want to guard myself against it, but I make a shitty guard for my own heart. I would rather lose the game than play it. I would rather be hurt than be mean. Because I can live with myself if I'm hurt. I don't think I could live with myself if I were mean.

And Avery looks up at just that moment and sees the blue-haired boy glancing his way. Some of us applaud. Others look away, because it hurts too much.

We never figured out whether I need to be more reassuring or if he just needs reassurance too much. We both try to readjust our settings to make it okay

If act one in life is about finding yourself, then act two is about finding everyone else.

But there are people you know, and there are people you have a connection with. ... Wasn't that what make us feel responsible-not for what happened, but responsible for you? We always felt responsible for you. That's the nature of connection-not just the attachment, but the responsibility.

If I woke up in a different body every day--if you never knew what I was going to look like tomorrow--would you still love me?

And being best friends is always about the benefit of the doubt.

How could this happen? some of our parents asked us near the end. We knew what they were really asking, and some of us found the grace to say, It was nothing you did.

Along the way, they didn't say much, but their relationship has reached that stage where silence is comfortable, not threatening. Silence only harms when there are things that aren't being said, or when there's the fear that the well is empty and there's nothing left to say. Neither is the case here. They still have plenty to say to each other, just not anything right now.

Reading is not life. Reading is creating LIFE in your head. And that can only help you so much in a storm...