Quotes About Empathy

There was a lesson my mother had instilled in me at an early age, which had been reinforced by my experiences in Vietnam and by my twenty-four years as sheriff of Absaroka County. She said that I should protect and cherish the young, the old, and the infirm, because at some point I would be all of these things before my own journey ended.

Comforting to know that we're the species that feels the most pain.

There is a common humanity in all of us, and if you need something from somebody, you'd better understand that—it makes the job easier. Clarence might be guilty and we need to be aware because we are in the suspicion business, but he's also a man who just lost someone who was very close to him.

That's the problem with guilt, it's a two-way street; our children have to live with the things we do, and sometimes we have to live with their actions.

If you achieve a voice that will be heard, you should use it to speak up for the voiceless and oppressed. If you possess any power or authority, you must strive to use it to help and empower the powerless.

everyone, including the city officials, seemed to be taking direction from Bakhtiyor. Who needs breakdown insurance when you have human rights activists? I was whisked through to the restaurant, where we had a very good meal indeed, with French wine and real whisky. I was amazed. Dima was still considerably shaken and a bit tearful.

No one is exempt and everyone's pain has a different smell. At night, when all the colours die, they hide in pairs and read about themselves— in colour, with their eyelids shut.

Sorry is a question that begs forgiveness, because the metronome of a good heart won't settle until things are set right and true.

Every instance in my life, I've felt like the exact opposite of Superman. Except this time, this moment right now. I don't care. I don't feel like a weak, insipid sissy. Because right now I know I would save the girl. I know that I would rather risk the planet than let harm befall Eliza Wishart. I would save her in a second. Because I can imagine her and me huddled safe together while the earth falls under evil designs, but I can't imagine the world without her in it.

I mean, I know people have always bin afraid of me. Kids specially, but old people too. Wary. They reckon I'm just half an animal with half a vote. That I'm no good. And I always used to think, why? They don't even know me. Nobody does. It never made sense. But then I realized, that's exactly why. That's all it is. It's so stupid, Charlie. But it means I don't hate them anymore.

I think most of the time when I'm yelling at my husband, I'm just yelling at myself.

That's what you do, right? When you're readin. You're seeing what it's like for other people.

I looked at the road below. It was a long way down. I focused on the spot where I would probably land, between the white line and the brown gravel. I wondered if it would hurt or if I would die straight away. Then I wondered who would find me. Maybe it would be a truck driver or a shift worker. I felt bad for them.

You know how you meet someone and you feel like you've known them all your life? That's how it was.

To stop expecting other people to behave like we do is actually a two-step process: first we have to realize that we have this expectation, and second we have to start expecting the local people to simply be themselves. The first step, realizing we expect others to be like us, is in many ways the most difficult, for it requires that we somehow become aware of behavior that is completely subconscious.

people who have the least contact with the locals are often the most critical of them.

When there's that forgiveness present and compassion, it just helps you live so much easier.

The super power that I would choose would be compassion. Because that's what I think it takes to make it through life-an understanding, a give and take. It saves an awful lot of resentment.

If you are not sharing with each other, talking with each other, what do you have?

Shame is always easier to handle if you have someone to share it with.

Sometimes it is only a True Friend who knows what we mean when we try to speak. Somebody who has spent a lot of time with us, and listens carefully to what we are trying to say, and tries to understand.

Actually, Dan," I answer, "you're asking me to be a mind reader, and no, teachers don't get paid for that. Think about it. If you don't even know when you are stuck, how am I supposed to know?

When my father died in my arms it had such a profound affect on me that at that very moment when my dad passed I realized that I needed to face my own fears.

To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength.