Quotes About Empathy

When I wrote a gay character, I spent six months asking questions I've never asked a gay friend, the questions you don't ask just because you don't have the right to do it.

I had to prove that I could understand other aspects of human beings and not just little fat girls.

I want people to see themselves in a person. I never want someone to aspire to be someone else.

Our friends are barometers of our own lives: We look to our BFFs to better understand how we're doing ourselves. Our friends help us make sense of what we have, what we aspire to, and what we truly long for.

I suppose what I aspire to do is to make it easy for the audience to connect with a story.

Assault in any form is never OK, and I want to be very clear on that.

There are a lot of negotiators that really will give in on a deal because being understood is more important than getting what they want. And there's a particular type in particular, the assertive negotiator: being understood is actually more important to them than actually making the deal.

I certainly didn't reach out to my old assets and ask 'em how they're doing, although I would have liked to.

You can never guess or assume what anyone is going to think.

You've got to build a relationship. You can't just deal with people when it's business. If it is, then you always have to assume that they have an angle when they come at you.

I feel like people assume if a character is very different than you, that means it's difficult to get into their head or into their skin.

It is a form of arrogance to assume that other people are even thinking about you.

I always think of myself as an audience first. If I like something, my assumption is that others, too, will like it.

Sometimes I wish I could go back through time to meet Proust, just so I could give him my asthma inhaler. The poor guy.

Every successful person needs to have at least one person in their life who's not afraid of them.

I know I'm not the only guy that's had problems in life. And it seems to me that a lot of athletes shy away from talking about things that may have happened to them or their families.

After two years of doing one show, you do get attached to everyone.

Audiences are just like us as writers - we grow attached to characters. In certain ways you don't want them to change.

My wife looked after children with disabilities. She is brilliant at it. I admire her because I could not do it, it would be heart-wrenching. It takes a real sort of person to do that and not get attached because I would.

I don't like attacking.

You'll always have someone attacking you in some way. But it's weird from someone who's never met you.

What I try to do, what I attempt to do, is say things that I mean at least at an emotional level.

What we realized is if you don't see yourself represented - no matter if it is on TV or in a club or whatever - you're probably not going to want to attend. You're not going to feel comfortable.

Wearing the sari, adhering to the parda system and all those things are really taxing. After wearing a woman's attire, I came to understand what they go through daily.