Quotes About Empathy

Krissa, tough Lady Krissa, who had stood by impassively while Areau vomited out ten years of bitter addiction, wiped her eyes and offered Areau Mrs. Wrinkle's pie in comfort, and it suddenly occurred to Areau in the strangest, most dreamlike of ways, that his pain was not the only pain on the planet.

I can get mad all I want, but they don't mean it. They love me. Sometimes, some creatures, when they get cornered, they forget who loves them and think everybody's the enemy. You don't just leave them alone, cold and afraid, because their instinct takes over and it's wrong. You don't if you give a shit, you know?'

I'll do anything not to break your heart.

I'd give anything to know you were okay. But it's not fair to ask us to sacrifice that boy so you can heal. Do you understand?

Sometimes people hurt each other, just by being. It's not your fault.

He was starting to learn that you didn't really know what it meant unless you felt the broken glass of worry that went with it.

They'll be wonderful," Henry said with a faint smile. "They'll respect her decisions and tell her the truth as they know it and be kind when her heart's broken. It's really all she can ask for.

Cheever started rocking back and forth, shaking, and Cambridge made an unhappy little sound. "Oh, son. Pain makes you selfish, did you not know that?

And he was kind. So damned kind. A man like me… a man like me did not take kindness for weakness. Kindness in the face of all the tiny knives the world had to throw at a body—that was real strength.

guess," he said thoughtfully. "I mean… it's not like… it's not like he's going to be anything other than Deacon, right?

Keep dreaming, my man. I used to dream I was going to be a veterinarian." Crispin gasped. He hadn't known this. "Really? Why didn't you?" "Because I couldn't put an animal down.

Kids were his soft spot. Who knew?

Because you were saying them about somebody's son," he snarled. "Why not your own?

And…." Oh! Kelly's boy was crying. Crying so hard he couldn't breathe. Crying so hard he could barely talk! Kelly's arms were sprained at the shoulders, because two guys had held them behind him and he'd struggled, oh, he'd struggled so fucking hard. Carefully he raised his hand to cup Seth's cheek and saw the bruises, then felt his stomach go cold. "Seth? Seth… mijo. What did you do?

but Mason finally realized that he'd met someone who saw life in the same terms Mason always had: how best to care for and feed that strange animal that had been born between his legs. "You're so clever," Terry said in admiration. Dane showed up right then with clothes, which Terry said thank you for before disappearing into the bathroom.

It's not privilege when it makes you feel awful, when it cripples your ability to do good things in the world.

Cheever was silent then, appalled, because it sort of hit him. He was going through hell, but his brother had already been there. And his brother was mad because Cheever had gone and foisted his hell on somebody else.

Well, maybe just for now. I… I'll be honest. A young guy—Rivers—kept coming by, talking about how he'd make sure the guy who took out Castor got a fair hearing. I was…." His father shrugged. "I was thinking about it, Seth. I hate that you're… you're afraid while you're here.

Then you understand," he growled. "Nobody but me gets to see your nightmares. You're going to play the caveman thing with me, then we're both in the same goddamned cave.

There is no cure for hell," she said softly. "There's only showing it to other people so they can share the burden.

The man I fought with, the man who comforted me, the man who tried valiantly to slay my inner dragons on a daily basis, in spite of their preference for the tender flesh near his heart.

Anyway, it was just really important that I come out here for him, you know? So he's never afraid I'll leave him alone in an empty room.

If I'm your friend, you know anything is forgivable. Being lovers is harder. Let's get our shit sorted first.

And now Michael would go to prison all over again—he'd do it twice—to help that kid cross the damned street.