Quotes About Empathy

No woman, believe me, will want to rub elbows with the dead woman you keep in your heart." (CG 254/P 9:1127) Félix, she understands, cannot detach himself from the dead Henriette. And also from himself: she accuses him of an incurable egotism. If he continues to unburden himself to other women as he has to her, they will perceive "the aridity of your heart, and you will always be unhappy

We need novels in order to enter the minds of others. But that project can run up against the opacities of other minds and spirits. When a man tells us of a woman's desiring, we should beware of blindness.

I hate when people say 'I see'. It doesn't mean anything and I think it's hostile. Whenever anyone tells me 'I see' I think they're really saying 'Fuck you'.

To know you will be lonely is not the same as being lonely.

People do not love those whose eyes show that they are somewhere else

It's perfectly possible to enjoy a good, civilized, person-to-person conversation with a picture on a museum wall. Talk to it, listen carefully, and it will more than likely talk back to you.

Every single person you meet, Philo wrote, it's said—Everyone— is fighting a very great battle. Except that no one is able to find where he said it, or what he thought the burden might be that brings it on. Still, it's almost certainly true— and so he added, perhaps, be kind.

When we find fault in others, it's often because of the concerns we have about our own abilities.

When your heart's been cut out, how's it going to feel knowing that you're the one who wielded the knife ?

I would like to make you more aware of yourself as a human, and thus, ultimately a better person.

Poetry should be able to reach everybody, and it should be able to appeal to all levels of understanding.

We are not primarily put on this earth to see through one another, but to see one another through.

Life is not about receiving. It is about giving, knowing that someone might learn, understand or grow that little bit from the experience

To love as God loves means loving not just others like us, but those who are not.

A relationship based on trust means not walking on eggshells, but talking openly, honestly, with no hint of passive-aggressiveness or any of the other dysfunctional manipulative tactics we tend to impose on family and friends.

The role of the church is to be doctor and nurse, not judge and jury.

But at least I didn't do any harm. Along the way I came to see more and more that being right about God and making sure everyone else agreed with what I knew might not be the most important thing I could do in God's eyes.

The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said.

The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said.

True life is the understanding and support of other people, of selflessness, of charity, of kindness.

I don't understand why you need verbal trickery to ensnare a temporary mate," Tochee said. "Are you not attracted to each other by what you are?

I love humans, all humans. I often think that perhaps I was born into the wrong species.

the newly arrived Ivets being hunted down and killed. Beaten into the mud with makeshift clubs, or gored by baying sayce to the sound of cheers. If they looked through the window at an angle they would be able to see boats of all sizes sailing hurriedly out of the circular polyp harbours for the safety of the water. I hate Adamists, Lori said. Only Adamists could do this to one another. They do it because they don't know one another. They don't love, they can only lust and fear.

They might be different species, but it was easy enough to see your own kind in a mirror, however great the distortion.