Quotes About Empathy

To get to know someone so different from myself as an octopus, and to know that the individual recognised me and even enjoyed my company, was an enormous privilege. The octopuses I came to know were strong but gentle, and the suction of their suckers tasting my skin pulled me like an alien's kiss.

Before he died, my dad had three primary cancers over 20 years, and for four of those years, he was having chemo every day. We got used to sitting as a family at the table and him not to be able to taste what we were tasting.

After watching my poor mother being sometimes neglected by my father, it was almost tattooed on my brain that I would never cause hardship or despair to a partner.

I think I wish I had never spanked my children, but I have. And they remember every instance like they tattooed it on their palms. I think it's a terrible lesson, to use physical punishment to make a point about not behaving, not being kind to their siblings, to other people. I mean that's just absurd. But I've lost it, I understand it.

I could direct a very decent Holocaust film, but I don't have the same experience as a young boy who was rocked to sleep in the lap of a grandmother who had a tattooed number on her arm, who told him stories of the people who disappeared, the relatives she never saw again, as he drifted off with his cheek nestled next to that number.

I don't have tattoos, I have scars!

There's people out there that wear hoodies, that have tattoos and piercing, that look crazy and have huge hearts on the inside.

If we're having a tough day, we'll bring the babies on, and suddenly, these crew guys who have, like, tattoos all over their necks are cooing and fawning.

Time has taught me that parents do the best they can with the light they are seeing with. That is what we all do.

Henry Hays was cheated all his life. He was cheated by his father who taught him to hate. His community taught him to hate. My mom told me, no matter what one does in life, he or she deserves some compassion, and I knew Hays deserved compassion more than anybody.

My mother always taught us that if people don't agree with you, the important thing is to listen to them. But if you've listened to them carefully and you still think that you're right, then you must have the courage of your convictions.

My mother and father just taught me the basics: to be really kind, to really listen to people. I have never been one to put on airs and graces.

You've got to be taught to hate and fear.

I didn't want to be pro-life. I hated the pro-life movement. I had been taught to hate them. I thought they hated me.

One of the things my father taught me was you should not exclude those who are opposed to your ideas.

One of the first things I was taught as an actor was, 'Don't judge the character.'

I'm not sure if I've learned anything from show business. Life in general has taught me if you're kind to people, everything gets easier. Being a decent person really smoothes the way for you and everyone else.

Robert De Niro taught me how to listen, and how to be part of the conversation. It's not just about reading your lines and saying what's in the script; you have to understand your character, along with the other characters so that you can always respond.

Calamities have taught us a great lesson - we have to stand together when we are in danger.

You simply can't get inside the heads of other people and say to them, 'Look, I went through some rough times.' It's impossible to explain everything the streets taught me, and that was quite a lot.

My parents always taught me to be humble no matter what the experience, to not think I was better than anyone else.

My mother was kind and forgiving and would take in all the waifs and strays in our neighbourhood; we always compared her to Mother Teresa. She taught me a lot.

Where there had been only jeers or taunts at first, crowds come to listen with serious and sympathetic men.

From paying off friends' tax bills to rescuing stray dogs and stuffing £20 notes into the hands of homeless people, I can't get rid of my money fast enough.