Quotes About Empathy

an inverse operation multiplies to such a degree what concerns our welfare and divides by such a formidable figure what does not concern it, that the death of millions of unknown people hardly affects us more unpleasantly than a draught.

He lost his temper once only, because she cried, which he considered cowardly, unworthy of her. People are not always very tolerant of the tears which they themselves have provoked

for as the dead exist only in us, it is ourselves that we strike without ceasing when we persist in recalling the blows that we have dealt them.

When the compartments in which we live parts of our lives are too different from one another, we can expend ourselves on a person who, by the following day, may come to seem uninteresting. But we feel responsible for what we may have said the night before, and wish to honor it.

Un día que habían salvado contra su voluntad a una viuda que se había arrojado al agua, mi abuela me había dicho (movida acaso por uno de esos presentimientos que leemos a veces en el misterio, tan oscuro, sin embargo, de nuestra vida orgánica, pero en que parece como que se refleja lo por venir) que no conocía crueldad semejante a la de arrancar a una desesperada a la muerte que ella misma ha querido y devolverla a su martirio.

But when it comes to the disconcerting actions of our fellow-men, we rarely discover their motives.

But, just as we are devoid of that sense of direction with which certain birds are endowed, so we lack the sense of visibility as we lack that of distances, imagining as close the concerned attention of people who, on the contrary, never give us a thought, and not suspecting that during this same time we are the sole preoccupation of others.

It is only with the passions of others that we are ever really familiar, and that we come to find out about our own can be no more than what other people have shewn us.

Ogni lettore, quando legge, legge se stesso.

it was the bridle which, so as to avoid all appearance of egotism, she herself used to curb the gratification which her friend was attempting to procure for her.

On ne guérit d'une souffrance qu'à condition de l'éprouver pleinement.

Es ist unglaublich zu denken, dass jemand nicht begreifen kann, dass er sich, wenn er sich dazu herabwürdigt, über einen Mitmenschen zu lächeln, dem er eben noch die Hand gedrückt hat, in eine Gosse begibt, aus dem er sich beim besten Willen nicht wieder herausarbeiten kann.

A real human being, however profoundly we sympathize with him, is in large part perceived by our senses, that is to say, remains opaque to us, presents a dead weight which our sensibility cannot lift.

Kadar ?lovek ljubi, je ljubezen prevelika, da bi jo mogel obdržati vso v sebi samem; tedaj ljubezen izžareva proti ljubljenemu bitju, naleti v njem na ploskev, ki jo prestreže in odbije proti izhodiš?u, in ta odboj lastnih ?ustev imamo za ljubezen onega drugega bitja ter smo od nje vsi o?arani, saj ne spoznamo, da izvira iz nas.

for the people who decline to give you the things you desire give you other things.

Bir insan öldükten sonra, e?er sanatç?ysa ve eserine kendinden bir ?eyler katm??sa, o insan?n bir parças?n?n ya?amaya devam edebilece?i söylenir bazen. Belki ayn? ?ekilde, bir insandan al?n?p ba?ka bir insan?n kalbine a??lanan sürgün de, al?nd??? insan yok olduktan sonra bile ya?amaya devam eder.

nous ne connaissons jamais que les passions des autres, et que ce que nous arrivons à savoir des nôtres, ce n'est que d'eux que nous avons pu l'apprendre.

pour la première fois, ma tristesse n'était plus considérée comme une faute punissable

Les êtres nous sont d'habitude si indifférents que, quand nous avons mis dans l'un d'eux de telles possibilités de souffrance et de joie pour nous, il nous semble appartenir à un autre univers, il s'entoure de poésie, il fait de notre vie comme une étendue émouvante où il sera plus ou moins rapproché de nous.

When we are suffering, the only words that touch us are the words of those who have known the person we loved and who can recall him to us.

In such a case we feel more compassionate towards those unknown to us, whom we can only imagine, than towards those whose vulgar daily life is lived close to us, unless we feel completely one of them, one flesh with them; patriotism works this miracle, we stand by our country as we do by ourselves in a love quarrel.

Mamma was the first person who had given her the pleasure of feeling that her peasant existence, with its simple joys and sorrows, might offer some interest, might be a source of grief or pleasure to some one other than herself. My

Chaque fois qu'elle voyait aux autres un avantage si petit fût-il qu'elle n'avait pas, elle se persuadait que c'était non un avantage mais un mal et les plaignait pour ne pas avoir à les envier.

Hata, ba?kalar?n?n tatl?l???na, zekâs?na kay?ts?z kalmam?zd?r.