Quotes About Empathy

I wanted to try to build a bridge of words between me and that world outside, that world which was so distant and elusive that it seemed unreal. I would hurl words into the darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of the hunger for life that gnaws in us all, to keep alive in our hearts a sense of the inexpressibly human.

At the age of twelve I had an attitude toward life that was to endure, that was to make me seek those areas of living that would keep it alive, that was to make me skeptical of everything while seeking everything, tolerant of all and yet critical. The spirit I had caught gave me insight into the sufferings of others, made me gravitate toward those whose feelings were like my own, made me sit for hours while others told me of their lives, made me strangely tender and cruel, violent and peaceful.

All of my life had shaped me to live by my own feelings and thoughts.

My life as a Negro in America had led me to feel—though my helplessness had made me try to hide it from myself—that the problem of human unity was more important than bread, more important than physical living itself; for I felt that without a common bond uniting men, without a continuous current of shared thought and feeling circulating through the social system, like blood coursing through the body, there could be no living worthy of being called human.

If laying down my life could stop the suffering in the world I'd do it. But I don't believe anything can stop it.

Roo looks out for me. Roo has better sense than I do," Ashley went on miserably. "It's always been that way, ever since we were little. She's always had the brains. And I've always had…not the brains." Etienne's eyes and Parker's eyes met behind Ashley's back. "Not going there," Etienne mumbled.

I thought you'd snap out of it. I thought, with a little time, you'd lighten up and see how it didn't matter!

We must participate in this world that has birthed us. We must not sit around in rawhide rocking chairs with our heads sunk in grief, while the waters trickle past. We must join the waters.

Sometimes the ones the world has no place for are best equipped to show us what it is to live fully and to be truly loved.

there are always more than two sides to a story, that nobody is ever as bad as people think, and nobody is ever as good as people think.

When you're starved for this kind of contact, a little goes a long way.

We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another—until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.

Ronald Reagan was just as angry. But he made you want to stand right alongside him and shake your fist at the same things he was shaking his fist at.

He talks to people's grievances, but he doesn't seem mad. – Elizabeth Drew

It takes time to see anyone's real damage.

HUGS, another one of the many benefits of not being a nihilistic, psychopathic automaton.

Once she was gone, I knelt next to Annabeth and felt her forehead. She was still burning up. You're cute when you're worried, she muttered. Your eyebrows get all scrunched together. You are not going to die while I owe you a favor, I said. Why did you take that knife? You would've done the same for me. It was true. I guess we both knew it. Still, I felt like somebody was poking my heart with a cold metal rod.

But remember, boy, that a kind act can sometimes be as powerful as a sword.

He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!

Thalia's shoulders relaxed. I owe you one. Two. One and a half, Thalia said. She smiled, and for a second, I remembered that I actually liked her when she wasn't yelling at me.

Sometimes mortals can be more horrible than monsters.

Will put his hand on Nico's shoulder. Nico, we need to have another talk about your people skills. Hey, I'm just stating the obvious. If this is Apollo, and he dies, we're all in trouble. Will turned to me. I apologize for my boyfriend. Nico rolled his eyes. Could you not? Would you prefer special guy? Will asked. Or significant other? Significant annoyance, in your case, Nico grumbled

Then she did something so unexpected Nico would later think he dreamed it. She walked up to Nico, who was standing to one side in the shadows, as usual. She grabbed his hand and pulled him gently into the firelight. 'We had one home,' she said. 'Now we have two.' She gave Nico a big hug and the crowd roared with approval. For once, Nico didn't feel like pulling away. He buried his face in Reyna's shoulder and blinked the tears out of his eyes.

Frank heard a laugh behind him. He glanced back and couldn't believe what he saw. Nico di Angelo was actually smiling. That's more like it, Nico said. Let's turn this tide!