Quotes About Empathy

His resiliency was not the resiliency of the dumb but of a lamb who can remember hurt but cannot sustain the anger or the bitterness that brittles the heart.

He continued to stroke its back and scratch its ears, but after a minute or two he realized he was seeking something from the dog that it could not provide: meaning, purpose, relief from despair.

When you're trying to figure out who…you've got to keep in mind the roots of violence.

she sees through you and knows your truest heart, but loves you anyway, [...]

I was learning how people were with one another, how they acted and reacted and interacted, what they said and how they said it, what they wanted, what they hoped for—more than I could learn from books alone.

the most identifying trait of humanity is our ability to be inhumane to one another. I

Annamaria had me verzekerd dat ik in werkelijkheid maar één keer zou sterven, en dat die dood er op geen enkele manier toe zou doen. Iedereen kent echter dagen waarin we een beetje doodgaan, wanneer we verdriet of een nederlaag te verwerken hebben, of bang zijn, of anderen zien lijden die we enkel medelijden kunnen bieden, geen hulp, mensen die buiten de grenzen van onze genade vallen.

Dogs in general, not just good Dixie, sometimes regarded their humans with an expression of loving concern colored with tender pity, as if they knew not merely people's most private fears and hopes, but also the very truth of life and the fate of all things, as though they wished that they could speak in order to give comfort by sharing what they knew.

She is a girl who feels things strongly, and though cynics might mock her for that, I never will, as it is perhaps the best of graces: the feel deeply, to care profoundly.

Someone who once said, It's not about the money, it's the kindness, the way it makes the recipient feel special. Life is hard and lonely for many people. If all of us would just make one another feel special now and then—not just with money, but however we can—wouldn't that be lovely?

Listen, did any of those girls feel less pain because Salsbury's evil isn't entirely his own doing? I'm an old-style liberal when it comes to most things. But this liberal line about compassion for the criminal—that's ninety percent horseshit. You

One of the greatest sorrows of human existence is that some people aren't happy merely to be alive but find their happiness only in the misery of others.

In the company of other people, Amy had little tolerance for quiet. Enduring mutual silences, she sometimes felt as though the other person might ask a terrible question, the answer to which, if she spoke it, would shatter her as surely as a hard-thrown stone will destroy a pane of glass.

All knowledge, the totality of all questions and all answers, is contained in the dog.

Everyone is damaged, but the heart can be repaired.

Only now does he realize that the worst of all miseries to afflict the human heart is loneliness.

telepathy," had been part of that fund of knowledge called "instinct.

The price I paid for that lesson has left my heart an almost empty purse, with just two coins or three clinking at the bottom.

Even bad guys," Roy said patiently, "deserve compassion. This man has suffered. You can see that. I need to get my hands on him, yes, and be sure that society's safe from him—but he still deserves to be treated with compassion, with as much mercy as possible.

Plain, homely women like you and me will never lead a glamorous life, never go to exotic places. So books have a special value to us. We can experience most everything vicariously, through books. This isn't bad. Living through books is even better than having friends and knowing... men.

The directness of his stare suggests her every word matters to him, and she feels that she has his sincere sympathy rather than unwanted pity.

What good is genius without humility? What value does it have if it isn't married undivorceable to kindness and empathy?

the worst of all miseries to afflict the human heart is loneliness.

Stories were the greatest blessing of intelligence. They were food for the soul. They were medicine. You could live a thousand lives through stories—and learn to shape your own life into a story of the best kind. She