Quotes About Empathy

An elderly black man stepped forward and prayed aloud for Lincoln's safety. Much to Coffin's surprise, the President "lifted his own hat from his head and bowed to the old man."24

Lo que me atormenta es mi propia ignorancia y mi incapacidad. En Ispahán aprenderé a ayudar a aquellos por los que ahora no puedo hacer nada.

Paul Slovic, another moral philosopher, agrees. He says empathy is a poor tool for improving the lives of others, because the human mind is bad at thinking about, and empathizing with, millions or billions of individuals

Give, they told the world, don't take. They knew what we didn't. That it is impossible to be useful and sad.

If he could speak, Simon would have said, Isn't it the job of the strong to protect the weak?

Deep down, it seemed, many Americans were convinced that a gain for others was a loss for themselves.

Of the true mysteries of the universe . . . the one we may never solve is the mystery of other people. This is the underlying subject of all fiction--Who ARE you, and why are you different from me?--from a NYT Book Review review of Since We Fell, by Dennis Lehane

He told me to tell you that it's hard to be useful and sad.

Difficult personalities are a mirror for the places where we get stuck in judgment, fear, and confusion.

An action from a confused and suffering being in the past doesn't represent what that being is forever; it is only an expression of that being's suffering. And if we cling to resentment over past hurts, we simply increase our own suffering.

We will eventually come to realize that acting out our hatred only causes more hatred. Picking up the burning ember of ill will to throw at our enemy burns us before it burns them. Likewise, when we pick up the substance or behavior that allows us to temporarily avoid the pain, we play with fire. It may feel warm and fuzzy at first, but it will inevitably burn us to the core.

True happiness exists as the spacious and compassionate heart's willingness to feel whatever is present.

Does our lack of forgiveness really punish them, or does it just make our hearts hard and our lives unpleasent.

I remember at the age of five travelling on a trolley car with my mother past a group of women on a picket line at a textile plant, seeing them being viciously beaten by security people. So that kind of thing stayed with me.

It is quite possible--overwhelmingly probable, one might guess--that we will always learn more about human life and personality from novels than from scientific psychology

Appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, most relationships do not end suddenly. This is true of friends, romantic partners, and business associates alike. When someone claims to be blindsided, it's usually because they had their eyes closed.

Tell her how much she means to you. Tell her you were with someone else before you met her—that's very important—and unfortunately you contracted something. Be polite and discreet and very apologetic. Remember, she likes you. She doesn't know you're a whore.

And that's no way to treat folks who are trying to find a little heaven after catching hell all week long.

I knew that if the subject were to arise, I would once again speak words that would cut my friend, little ceremonial slashes to his soul, not to cause a mortal wound, just to draw blood and to relieve myself of a nameless burden.

People will forget who you are, what you said, but never how you made them feel

Vera said: "Why do you feel you have to turn everything into a story?" So I told her why. Because if I tell the story, I control the version. Because if I tell the story, I can make you laugh, and I would rather have you laugh at me than feel sorry for me. Because if I tell the story, it doesn't hurt as much. Because if I tell the story, I can get on with it.

Why do people want everyone to act just like they do? Talk like they do. Look like they do. Act like they do. And if you don't— If you don't, people make the assumption that you do not FEEL what they feel. And then they make the assumption— That you must not feel anything at all.

These were such friendly people, they didn't notice how crabby we were, and before you knew it everyone was as happy as they were.

but I think when you are trying so hard to hide your own truth, it's hard to see anyone else's." -Ruby