# Quotes about empathy - Quotes: 130 - Authors: 98 - Broader topic: [Quotes about compassion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/compassion.md) - Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy - JSON version (same data): https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.json ## Quotes > If we examine the process of "understanding" people and ideas from the perspective of Western thought, we discover that its basis is this requirement for transparency. In order to understand and thus accept you, I have to measure your solidity with the ideal scale providing me with grounds to make comparisons and, perhaps, judgments. I have to reduce. (p. 189-90) [Édouard Glissant](https://www.leafyquotes.com/edouard-glissant.md) · [Poetics of Relation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/edouard-glissant/poetics-of-relation.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/edouard-glissant/poetics-of-relation/if-we-examine.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [judging others](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/judging-others.md) > [W]e are just the same—I am only a little girl like you. It's just an accident that I am not you, and you are not me! [Frances Hodgson Burnett](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frances-hodgson-burnett.md) · [A Little Princess](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frances-hodgson-burnett/a-little-princess.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frances-hodgson-burnett/a-little-princess/w-e-are-just.md) Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > It’s one thing to be looked at, and another to be seen. [Caleb Azumah Nelson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/caleb-azumah-nelson.md) · [Open Water](https://www.leafyquotes.com/caleb-azumah-nelson/open-water.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/caleb-azumah-nelson/open-water/its-one-thing.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > We all be speaking different because we all are having different growing-up life, but we can all be understanding each other if we just take the time to listen well. [Abi Dare](https://www.leafyquotes.com/abi-dare.md) · [The Girl with the Louding Voice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/abi-dare/the-girl-with-the-louding-voice.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/abi-dare/the-girl-with-the-louding-voice/we-all-be-speaking.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [listening](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/listening.md) > Before you call the snail a weakling, tie your house to your back and carry it around for a week. [Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayobami-adebayo.md) · [Stay with Me](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayobami-adebayo/stay-with-me.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayobami-adebayo/stay-with-me/before-you-call.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [judging others](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/judging-others.md) > Everyone’s got their own battles to fight. [Shon Faye](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shon-faye.md) · [The Transgender Issue](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shon-faye/the-transgender-issue.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shon-faye/the-transgender-issue/everyones-got-their.md) Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > understanding breeds grace. [Nedra Glover Tawwab](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nedra-glover-tawwab.md) · [Drama Free](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nedra-glover-tawwab/drama-free.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nedra-glover-tawwab/drama-free/understanding-breeds-grace.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Only emotionally phobic, emotionally immature people believe that wanting empathy and understanding is a sign of weakness. [Lindsay C. Gibson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lindsay-c-gibson.md) · [Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lindsay-c-gibson/adult-children-of-emotionally-immature-parents.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lindsay-c-gibson/adult-children-of-emotionally-immature-parents/only-emotionally-phobic.md) Topics: [emotions](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emotions.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Empathy is what makes people feel safe in relationships. Along with self-awareness, it's the soul of emotional intelligence, guiding people toward prosocial behavior and fairness in dealings with others. In contrast, nonempathic people overlook your feelings and don't seem to imagine your experience or be sensitive to it. It's important to be aware of this, because a person who isn't responsive to your feelings won't be emotionally safe when the two of you have any kind of disagreement. [Lindsay C. Gibson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lindsay-c-gibson.md) · [Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lindsay-c-gibson/adult-children-of-emotionally-immature-parents.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lindsay-c-gibson/adult-children-of-emotionally-immature-parents/empathy-is-what.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [relationships](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/relationships.md), [safety](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/safety.md) > Pity is the awful lost dazed brother of empathy. Pity doesn't know what to do with itself so it just goes Awwwwwww. [Steve Toltz](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz.md) · [A Fraction Of The Whole](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole/pity-is-the.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [compassion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/compassion.md) > He talked, and listened, and tried to do the hardest thing of all. > > He tried to understand. [Chad Oliver](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chad-oliver.md) · [The Winds of Time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chad-oliver/the-winds-of-time.md) · p. 27 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chad-oliver/the-winds-of-time/he-talked-and.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [listening](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/listening.md) > “If they were ugly, Peter, would you care half so much?” asked Nightingale. “There are some hideous things out there that can talk and reason, and I wonder if you would be quite so quick to rush to their defense.” > > “Maybe not,” I said. “But that just makes me shallow, it doesn’t make me wrong.” [Ben Aaronovitch](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch.md) · [Moon Over Soho](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/moon-over-soho.md) · p. 279 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/moon-over-soho/if-they-were.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [prejudice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/prejudice.md), [appearance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/appearance.md) > Do not boast to me in your newspapers of the thousands of tons of bombs you have let loose at random on the unhappy land of Germany, because I will tell you that you have let loose those bombs on me, on your church, on yourselves and on your God. Tell me, rather, how you have wept for the single German soldier you have been forced to kill as he stood before you armed and dangerous, and I will say, you are my defender and the defender of my church and my England. [Irwin Shaw](https://www.leafyquotes.com/irwin-shaw.md) · [The Young Lions](https://www.leafyquotes.com/irwin-shaw/the-young-lions.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/irwin-shaw/the-young-lions/do-not-boast.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > It’s like seeing her for the first time: the human behind the maji. Fear embedded in the pain. Tragedy caused in Father’s name.” [Tomi Adeyemi](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tomi-adeyemi.md) · [Children of Virtue and Vengeance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tomi-adeyemi/children-of-virtue-and-vengeance.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tomi-adeyemi/children-of-virtue-and-vengeance/its-like-seeing.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > When i say ours was a love affair, it is an expression of nostalgia and melancholy for the depth of our empathy. (p39) [Ana Castillo](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ana-castillo.md) · [The Mixquiahuala Letters](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ana-castillo/the-mixquiahuala-letters.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ana-castillo/the-mixquiahuala-letters/when-i-say.md) Topics: [love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [nostalgia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nostalgia.md) > In telling my own sorrows, I cannot pass by those of my fellow-slaves—for when I think of my own griefs, I remember theirs. [Mary Prince](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-prince.md) · [The History of Mary Prince](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-prince/the-history-of-mary-prince.md) · p. 12 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-prince/the-history-of-mary-prince/in-telling-my-own.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [slavery](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/slavery.md) > Human beings have a kind of optical illusion, Einstein once said. We think ourselves separate rather than part of the whole. This imprisons our affection to those few nearest us. [Marilyn Ferguson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilyn-ferguson.md) · [The Aquarian Conspiracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilyn-ferguson/the-aquarian-conspiracy.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilyn-ferguson/the-aquarian-conspiracy/human-beings-have.md) Topics: [loneliness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > If we consider that any child being abused is our child, the problem changes. When we see our culture, our social conditioning, or our class as an artifact rather than a universal yardstick, our kinship expands. We are no longer "ethnocentric," centered in our own culture. p. 402 [Marilyn Ferguson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilyn-ferguson.md) · [The Aquarian Conspiracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilyn-ferguson/the-aquarian-conspiracy.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilyn-ferguson/the-aquarian-conspiracy/if-we-consider.md) Topics: [children](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > There is less certainty about what is right for others. With an awareness of multiple realities, we lose our dogmatic attachment to a single point of view. A new sense of connection with others promotes social concern. A more benign view of the world makes others seem less threatening; enemies disappear. [Marilyn Ferguson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilyn-ferguson.md) · [The Aquarian Conspiracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilyn-ferguson/the-aquarian-conspiracy.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilyn-ferguson/the-aquarian-conspiracy/there-is-less.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [tolerance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tolerance.md) > To know someone's pain is to share in it. And to share in it is to relieve some of it. [Nnedi Okorafor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nnedi-okorafor.md) · [The Book of Phoenix](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nnedi-okorafor/the-book-of-phoenix.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nnedi-okorafor/the-book-of-phoenix/to-know-someones.md) Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > “Humanity has evolved—as far as it has evolved,” continued the old priest, “with no thanks to its predecessors or itself. Evolution brings human beings. Human beings, through a long and painful process, bring humanity.” > > “Empathy,” Aenea said softly. [Dan Simmons](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons.md) · [Endymion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons/endymion.md) · p. 449 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons/endymion/humanity-has-evolved-as.md) Topics: [evolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evolution.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Another friend, a child psychologist from the college, once commented that Rachel at age five showed the most reliable indicators of true giftedness in a young person: structured curiosity, empathy for others, compassion, and a fierce sense of fair play. [Dan Simmons](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons.md) · [Hyperion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons/hyperion.md) · p. 249 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons/hyperion/another-friend-a-child.md) Topics: [children](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > In society, we do horrible things to one another because we don't see the person it affects. We don't see their face. We don't see them as people. Which was the whole reason the hood was built in the first place, to keep the victims of apartheid out of sight and out of mind. Because if white people ever saw black people as human, they would see that slavery is unconscionable. We live in a world where we don't see the ramifications of what we do to others, because we don't live with them. It would be a whole lot harder for an investment banker to rip off people with subprime mortgages if he actually had to live with the people he was ripping off. If we could see one another's pain and empathize with one another, it would never be worth it to us to commit the crimes in the first place. [Trevor Noah](https://www.leafyquotes.com/trevor-noah.md) · [Born a Crime](https://www.leafyquotes.com/trevor-noah/born-a-crime.md) · p. 222 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/trevor-noah/born-a-crime/in-society-we-do-horrible.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > The ability to know another’s mind does not preclude the likelihood of misunderstanding it. [Karen Lord](https://www.leafyquotes.com/karen-lord.md) · [The Best of All Possible Worlds](https://www.leafyquotes.com/karen-lord/the-best-of-all-possible-worlds.md) · p. 34 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/karen-lord/the-best-of-all-possible-worlds/the-ability-to-know.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > True empathy is not about waiting to understand another person; it is about proactively seeking to do so. It takes effort to give another person your full time and attention; to ask others how they are feeling and if they coping well with things. And don’t overlook those closest to you. Never take anyone for granted. Avoid being too preoccupied to sit down and talk with your children, partners and colleagues. [Nigel Cumberland](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nigel-cumberland.md) · [100 Things Successful People Do](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nigel-cumberland/100-things-successful-people-do.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nigel-cumberland/100-things-successful-people-do/true-empathy-is-not.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > The urge to control others is very strong, but the desire for freedom and the ability to show compassion will always survive. Darkness is everywhere, but the Light still appears. [John Twelve Hawks](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-twelve-hawks.md) · [The Traveler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-twelve-hawks/the-traveler.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-twelve-hawks/the-traveler/the-urge-to-control.md) Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > "... How we treat the least of out brethren, how we treat the peasant suffering with volvulus, that's the measure of this country. Not our fighter planes or tanks, or how big the Emperor's palace happens to be ..." [Abraham Verghese](https://www.leafyquotes.com/abraham-verghese.md) · [Cutting for Stone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/abraham-verghese/cutting-for-stone.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/abraham-verghese/cutting-for-stone/how-we-treat.md) Topics: [poverty](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poverty.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Miriamele was dismayed by her own willful ignorance. How could she, with all her native good fortune, be so consumed with the few inconveniences that God or fate had put in her way? It was shameful. > > She tried to tell Duke Isgrimnur something of her thoughts, but he would not let her slide too far into self-loathing. > > “Each one of us has our own sorrows, Princess,” he said. “It’s no shame to take them to heart. The only sin is to forget that other folk have theirs, too—or to let pity for yourself slow your hand when someone needs help.” [Tad Williams](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams.md) · [To Green Angel Tower](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams/to-green-angel-tower.md) · p. 649 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams/to-green-angel-tower/miriamele-was-dismayed.md) Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > "...when you're struggling with something, look at all the people around you and realize that every single person you see is struggling with something, and to them, it's just as hard as what you're going through." [Nicholas Sparks](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks.md) · [Dear John](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/dear-john.md) · p. 71 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-sparks/dear-john/when-youre-struggling.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > These are armed enemy, who have hastened to this site with one object only: to take the lives of my comanions and me. I must take theirs first. No truth could be plainer. Yet at the same time nothing can alter the fact that beneath the fascist insignia of their uniforms, these men are fathers, husbands, sons. [Steven Pressfield](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-pressfield.md) · [Killing Rommel](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-pressfield/killing-rommel.md) · p. 204 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-pressfield/killing-rommel/these-are-armed.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > "Once brought face to face, man to man, with an individual of the masses around him, and (take notice) out of the character of master and workman, in the first instance, they had each begun to recognise that 'we have all of us one human heart.' " [Elizabeth Gaskell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-gaskell.md) · [North and South](https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-gaskell/north-and-south.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-gaskell/north-and-south/once-brought-face.md) Topics: [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Our emotional intelligence determines our potential for learning the practical skills that are based on its five elements: self-awareness, motivation, self-regulation, empathy, and adeptness in relationships [Daniel Goleman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-goleman.md) · [Working with Emotional Intelligence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-goleman/working-with-emotional-intelligence.md) · p. 24 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-goleman/working-with-emotional-intelligence/our-emotional-intelligence.md) Topics: [emotions](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emotions.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > The first step, then, is the most important: to realize you have a remarkable social tool that you are not cultivating. The best way to see this is to try it out. Stop your incessant interior monologue and pay deeper attention to people. Attune yourself to the shifting moods of individuals and the group. Get a read on each person’s particular psychology and what motivates them. Try to take their perspective, enter their world and value system. You will suddenly become aware of an entire world of nonverbal behavior you never knew existed, as if your eyes could now suddenly see ultraviolet light. Once you sense this power, you will feel its importance and awaken to new social possibilities. [Robert Greene](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene.md) · [The Laws of Human Nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene/the-laws-of-human-nature.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene/the-laws-of-human-nature/the-first-step.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [listening](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/listening.md) > We all naturally possess the most remarkable tool for connecting to people and attaining social power—empathy. When cultivated and properly used, it can allow us to see into the moods and minds of others, giving us the power to anticipate people’s actions and gently lower their resistance. This instrument, however, is blunted by our habitual self-absorption. We are all narcissists, some deeper on the spectrum than others. Our mission in life is to come to terms with this self-love and learn how to turn our sensitivity outward, toward others, instead of inward. We must recognize at the same time the toxic narcissists among us before getting enmeshed in their dramas and poisoned by their envy. [Robert Greene](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene.md) · [The Laws of Human Nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene/the-laws-of-human-nature.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-greene/the-laws-of-human-nature/we-all-naturally.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > When men must live like rats in the dark beneath the earth, they soon run out of pity, as they do of milk and honey. [George RR Martin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin.md) · [A Feast for Crows](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-feast-for-crows.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-feast-for-crows/when-men-must.md) Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > When we are customarily annoyed by what we see as the failings of others, we are judging them by a ludicrous standard: we are assuming that they fully understand our desires, quite possibly better than we do, and that they have nothing to do but arrange things to fall seamlessly into place around our probably ill-communicated wishes. [Derren Brown](https://www.leafyquotes.com/derren-brown.md) · [Confessions of a Conjuror](https://www.leafyquotes.com/derren-brown/confessions-of-a-conjuror.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/derren-brown/confessions-of-a-conjuror/when-we-are.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [criticism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/criticism.md) > Each of us is leading a difficult life, and when we meet people we are seeing only a tiny part of the thinnest veneer of their complex, troubled existences. To practice anything other than kindness towards them, to treat them in any way save generously, is to quietly deny their humanity. [Derren Brown](https://www.leafyquotes.com/derren-brown.md) · [Confessions of a Conjuror](https://www.leafyquotes.com/derren-brown/confessions-of-a-conjuror.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/derren-brown/confessions-of-a-conjuror/each-of-us-is-leading.md) Topics: [kindness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Say that again after you’ve been in the same spot and acted differently, old buddy. Maybe then I’ll be ashamed. [Tim Powers](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-powers.md) · [The Anubis Gates](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-powers/the-anubis-gates.md) · p. 169 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-powers/the-anubis-gates/say-that-again.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > The best doctors found a middle position where they were neither overwhelmed by their feelings nor estranged from them. That was the most difficult position of all, and the precise balance — neither too detached nor too caring — was something few learned. [Michael Crichton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-crichton.md) · [Travels](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-crichton/travels.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-crichton/travels/the-best-doctors.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Who had the bigger burden? The one who had to watch the other person endure or the one who endured? [Jeff VanderMeer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeff-vandermeer.md) · [Finch](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeff-vandermeer/finch.md) · p. 87 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeff-vandermeer/finch/who-had-the.md) Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Being smarter may help the understanding not only of one’s self-interest, but also how the lives of others can be strongly affected by one’s own actions. [Amartya Sen](https://www.leafyquotes.com/amartya-sen.md) · [The Idea of Justice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/amartya-sen/the-idea-of-justice.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/amartya-sen/the-idea-of-justice/being-smarter-may.md) Topics: [intelligence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/intelligence.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > How large was mankind’s sense of obligation? The caveman first had this feeling for his mate, then for his family. It grew until men fought and died for the abstract ideas of cities and nations, then for whole planets. Would the time ever come when men might realize that the obligation should be to the largest and most encompassing reality of all—mankind? And beyond that to life of all kinds. [Harry Harrison](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-harrison.md) · [Planet of the Damned](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-harrison/planet-of-the-damned.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-harrison/planet-of-the-damned/how-large-was.md) Topics: [animals](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [altruism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/altruism.md) > "But there are times when being happy — just happy, nothing else — is simply vile." > > "Why?" Jill inquired. > > "Because," Enrique reasoned, "one cant be happy in a place where everybody is unhappy." [Imre Kertész](https://www.leafyquotes.com/imre-kertesz.md) · [Detective Story](https://www.leafyquotes.com/imre-kertesz/detective-story.md) · p. 55 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/imre-kertesz/detective-story/but-there-are.md) Topics: [happiness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > But in such perfect Animals as Sheep and Oxen, in whom the Heart, the Brain and Nerves differ so little from ours, and in whom the Separation of the Spirits from the Blood, the Organs of Sense, and consequently Feeling it self, are the same as they are in Human Creatures; I can't imagine how a Man not hardened in Blood and Massacre, is able to see a violent Death, and the Pangs of it, without Concern. In answer to this, most People will think it sufficient to say, that all Things being allow'd to be made for the Service of Man, there can be no Cruelty in putting Creatures to the use they were design'd for; but I have heard Men make this Reply, whilst their Nature within them has reproach'd them with the Falshood of the Assertion. [Bernard Mandeville](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bernard-mandeville.md) · [The Fable of the Bees](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bernard-mandeville/the-fable-of-the-bees.md) · p. 187 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bernard-mandeville/the-fable-of-the-bees/but-in-such.md) Topics: [animals](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [cruelty](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty.md), [veganism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/veganism.md) > When you see your neighbors, their needs, their joys, their sorrows, when you see them next door or halfway around the world, you will know what to do. It is concern that precedes and inspires agendas, and survives when agendas fail, and it causes us to try again, always trying our best, never certain about our own judgment. It is knowing that God's purpose exceeds whatever we can put in an agenda. For Christians, it is trusting in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. [John Danforth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth.md) · [Faith and Politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics.md) · p. 189 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-danforth/faith-and-politics/when-you-see.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [altruism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/altruism.md) > Any guy who’s played team sports has practiced a skill I call “team sport empathy”: he’s practiced focusing on anticipating the other team’s moves. That means figuring out their way of looking at the situation. [Warren Farrell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/warren-farrell.md) · [Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say](https://www.leafyquotes.com/warren-farrell/women-cant-hear-what-men-dont-say.md) · p. 32 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/warren-farrell/women-cant-hear-what-men-dont-say/any-guy-whos.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [sport](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sport.md) > Humans have spent (10k+) years learning to fight and debate with the other side, and almost no time learning to listen and empathize. [Warren Farrell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/warren-farrell.md) · [Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say](https://www.leafyquotes.com/warren-farrell/women-cant-hear-what-men-dont-say.md) · p. 18 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/warren-farrell/women-cant-hear-what-men-dont-say/humans-have-spent.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [listening](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/listening.md) > But now, for the first time, I see you are a man like me. I thought of your hand-grenades, of your bayonet, of your rifle; now I see your wife and your face and our fellowship. Forgive me, comrade. We always see it too late. Why do they never tell us that you are poor devils like us, that your mothers are just as anxious as ours, and that we have the same fear of death, and the same dying and the same agony — Forgive me, comrade; how could you be my enemy? [Erich Maria Remarque](https://www.leafyquotes.com/erich-maria-remarque.md) · [All Quiet on the Western Front](https://www.leafyquotes.com/erich-maria-remarque/all-quiet-on-the-western-front.md) · p. 223 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/erich-maria-remarque/all-quiet-on-the-western-front/but-now-for.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [enemies](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/enemies.md) > In some mysterious way, once one has gained an insight into human nature, that insight grows from day to day, and he to whom it has given to experience vicariously even one single form of earthly suffering acquires, by reason of this tragic lesson, an understanding of all its forms, even those most foreign to him, and apparently abnormal. [Stefan Zweig](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stefan-zweig.md) · [Beware of Pity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stefan-zweig/beware-of-pity.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stefan-zweig/beware-of-pity/in-some-mysterious.md) Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [experience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/experience.md) > There are two kinds of pity. One, the weak and sentimental kind, which is really no more than the heart's impatience to be rid as quickly as possible of the painful emotion aroused by the sight of another's unhappiness, that pity which is not compassion, but only an instinctive desire to fortify one's own soul against the sufferings of another; and the other, the only one at counts, the unsentimental but creative kind, which knows what it is about and is determined to hold out, in patience and forbearance, to the very limit of its strength and even beyond. [Stefan Zweig](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stefan-zweig.md) · [Beware of Pity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stefan-zweig/beware-of-pity.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stefan-zweig/beware-of-pity/there-are-two.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [compassion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/compassion.md) > If out of reading this book you get just one thing—an increased tendency to think always in terms of other people’s point of view, and see things from their angle—if you get that one thing out of this book, it may easily prove to be one of the building blocks of your career. [Dale Carnegie](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dale-carnegie.md) · [How to Win Friends and Influence People](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dale-carnegie/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people.md) · p. 63 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dale-carnegie/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people/if-out-of-reading.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > I often went fishing up in Maine during the summer. Personally I am very fond of strawberries and cream, but I have found that for some strange reason, fish prefer worms. So when I went fishing, I didn’t think about what I wanted. I thought about what they wanted. I didn't bait the hook with strawberries and cream. Rather, I dangled a worm or grasshopper in front of the fish and said: "Wouldn't you like to have that?" > > Why not use the same common sense when fishing for people? [Dale Carnegie](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dale-carnegie.md) · [How to Win Friends and Influence People](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dale-carnegie/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dale-carnegie/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people/i-often-went.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [persuasion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/persuasion.md) > Here is one of the best bits of advice every given about the fine art of human relationships. "If there is any one secret of success," says Henry Ford, "it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own." [Dale Carnegie](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dale-carnegie.md) · [How to Win Friends and Influence People](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dale-carnegie/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people.md) · p. 42 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dale-carnegie/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people/here-is-one.md) Topics: [success and failure](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/success-and-failure.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > If her past were your past, her pain your pain, her level of consciousness your level of consciousness, you would think and act exactly as she does. With this realization comes forgiveness, compassion, peace. (Ch 8) [Eckhart Tolle](https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle.md) · [Stillness Speaks](https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/stillness-speaks.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/stillness-speaks/if-her-past.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [compassion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/compassion.md), [forgiveness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/forgiveness.md) > ... I have almost invariably found that the very feeling which has seemed to me most private, most personal, and hence most incomprehensible by others, has turned out to be an expression for which there is a resonance in many other people. [Carl Rogers](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-rogers.md) · [On Becoming a Person](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-rogers/on-becoming-a-person.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-rogers/on-becoming-a-person/i-have-almost.md) Topics: [emotions](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emotions.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > I used to look at homeless peopleand try to imagine what they had once looked like. It's not easy. Beneath the grime and degradation is a face once adored by someone. It's a truth that tricks the eye; our glances slide away. But something happened to ruin that life, to strip it bare; and it was something small, something that but for the grace of God could take us, too. [John Hart](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hart.md) · [The King of Lies](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hart/the-king-of-lies.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hart/the-king-of-lies/i-used-to-look.md) Topics: [fate](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fate.md), [poverty](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poverty.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Some paradox of our natures leads us, when once we have made our fellow men the objects of our enlightened interest, to go on to make them the objects of our pity, then of our wisdom, ultimately of our coercion. [Lionel Trilling](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lionel-trilling.md) · [The Liberal Imagination](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lionel-trilling/the-liberal-imagination.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lionel-trilling/the-liberal-imagination/some-paradox-of-our.md) Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > How odd it is that we so often weep for each other’s distresses, when we shed not a tear for our own! [Anne Brontë](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte.md) · [The Tenant of Wildfell Hall](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte/the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte/the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall/how-odd-it-is-that.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [compassion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/compassion.md) > “I don’t like their system, and they know it. That’s why I’m sitting in this cell instead of in my cabin, or on the engineering deck. But—” He shrugged. “Their social system is one thing, but people are people everywhere you go, just trying to get along in this crazy universe. I don’t like them as individuals, but that’s not the same as wanting them dead. They’re not monsters, and they don’t deserve what’s coming to them, and life isn’t fair, is it?” [Charles Stross](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross.md) · [Singularity Sky](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/singularity-sky.md) · p. 183 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/singularity-sky/i-dont-like.md) Topics: [human nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > “I always really admired you growing up. Always smiling through your unhappiness. A real inspiration.” > > “I wasn’t unhappy.” > > “You looked unhappy.” > > “Looks can be deceptive.” > > “All too true,” she said, “but I meant what I said: inspirational in a sort of tragic way, like you were the failure in the family, but always looked on the bright side of everything.” > > “You’re very kind,” I said, long used to Megan’s ways, “but it could have been much worse: I could have been born without tact or empathy, and be shallow, self-absorbed and hideously patronizing.” [Jasper Fforde](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jasper-fforde.md) · [Early Riser](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jasper-fforde/early-riser.md) · p. 7 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jasper-fforde/early-riser/i-always-really.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > "Man of the worldly mind!" replied the Ghost, "do you believe in me or not?" > > "I do," said Scrooge. "I must. But why do spirits walk the earth, and why do they come to me?" > > "It is required of every man," the Ghost returned, "that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world — oh, woe is me! — and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!" [Charles Dickens](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens.md) · [A Christmas Carol](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-christmas-carol.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-christmas-carol/man-of-the.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > That sort of half sigh, which, accompanied by two or three slight nods of the head, is pity's small change in general society. [Charles Dickens](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens.md) · [Nicholas Nickleby](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/nicholas-nickleby.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/nicholas-nickleby/that-sort-of-half.md) Topics: [appearances](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/appearances.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > In Lyra’s heart, revulsion struggled with compassion, and compassion won. [Philip Pullman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman.md) · [Northern Lights: His Dark Materials 1](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman/northern-lights-his-dark-materials-1.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman/northern-lights-his-dark-materials-1/in-lyras-heart.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > I do believe that man is a rope between animal and superman. But the superman I'm thinking of isn't Nietzsche's. The real superhuman, man or woman, is the person who's rid himself of all prejudices, neuroses, and psychoses, who realizes his full potential as a human being, who acts naturally on the basis of gentleness, compassion, and love, who thinks for himself and refuses to follow the herd. That's the genuine dyed-in-the-wool superman. [Philip José Farmer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-jose-farmer.md) · [The Dark Design](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-jose-farmer/the-dark-design.md) · p. 191 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-jose-farmer/the-dark-design/i-do-believe.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [prejudice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/prejudice.md), [human potential](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-potential.md) > I should also point out that empathy, sympathy, and love are limitless resources, energies that never deplete, and at this time of dwindling fuels we should cherish and explore these inexhaustible inner resources more than ever [Russell Brand](https://www.leafyquotes.com/russell-brand.md) · [Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/russell-brand/revolution.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/russell-brand/revolution/i-should-also.md) Topics: [love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Empathize with stupidity and you’re halfway to thinking like an idiot. [Iain M. Banks](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks.md) · [Consider Phlebas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/consider-phlebas.md) · p. 27 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/consider-phlebas/empathize-with-stupidity.md) Topics: [stupidity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Though sympathy can’t alter facts, it can help to make them more bearable. [Bram Stoker](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bram-stoker.md) · [Dracula](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bram-stoker/dracula.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/bram-stoker/dracula/though-sympathy-cant.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > This agony of feeling on behalf of someone else was entirely new to him. [Susan Hill](https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-hill.md) · [Strange Meeting](https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-hill/strange-meeting.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-hill/strange-meeting/this-agony-of-feeling.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > You can’t feel everyman’s death. [Susan Hill](https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-hill.md) · [Strange Meeting](https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-hill/strange-meeting.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-hill/strange-meeting/you-cant-feel.md) Topics: [death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Empathy lies at the heart of Gatsby, like so many other great novels — the biggest sin is to be blind to others' problems and pains. Not seeing them means denying their existence. [Azar Nafisi](https://www.leafyquotes.com/azar-nafisi.md) · [Reading Lolita in Tehran](https://www.leafyquotes.com/azar-nafisi/reading-lolita-in-tehran.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/azar-nafisi/reading-lolita-in-tehran/empathy-lies-at-the.md) Topics: [literature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > A novel is not an allegory ... It is the sensual experience of another world. If you don't enter that world, hold your breath with the characters and become involved in their destiny, you won't be able to empathize, and empathy is at the heart of the novel. This is how you read a novel: you inhale the experience. So start breathing. [Azar Nafisi](https://www.leafyquotes.com/azar-nafisi.md) · [Reading Lolita in Tehran](https://www.leafyquotes.com/azar-nafisi/reading-lolita-in-tehran.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/azar-nafisi/reading-lolita-in-tehran/a-novel-is-not.md) Topics: [reading](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > This, I believe, is how the villain in modern fiction is born: a creature without compassion, without empathy. [Azar Nafisi](https://www.leafyquotes.com/azar-nafisi.md) · [Reading Lolita in Tehran](https://www.leafyquotes.com/azar-nafisi/reading-lolita-in-tehran.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/azar-nafisi/reading-lolita-in-tehran/this-i-believe.md) Topics: [evil](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > 'We don't think enough [about the lot] of the other fellow, and that's a fact.' [Christopher Isherwood](https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-isherwood.md) · [Prater Violet](https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-isherwood/prater-violet.md) · p. 83 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-isherwood/prater-violet/we-dont-think.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Principles of Earth Democracy, #10: Earth Democracy connects people in circles of care, cooperation, and compassion instead of dividing them through competition and conflict, fear and hatred. In the face of a world of greed, inequality, and overconsumption, Earth Democracy globalizes compassion, justice, and sustainability. (p. 11) [Vandana Shiva](https://www.leafyquotes.com/vandana-shiva.md) · [Earth Democracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/vandana-shiva/earth-democracy.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/vandana-shiva/earth-democracy/principles-of-earth.md) Topics: [ecology](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ecology.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Our Earth, our green beautiful Earth is in danger, and all of us know it. Yet we act as if our daily lives have nothing to do with the situation of the world. If the Earth were your body, you would be able to feel many areas where she is suffering. Many people are aware of the world's suffering, and their hearts are filled with compassion. They know what needs to be done, and they engage in political, social, and environmental work to try to change things. But after a period of intense involvement, they become discouraged, because they lack the strength needed to sustain a life of action. Real strength is not in power, money, or weapons, but in deep, inner peace. If we change our daily lives—the way we think, speak, and act—we change the world. The best way to take care of the environment is to take care of the environmentalist. [Thich Nhat Hanh](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh.md) · [The Sun My Heart](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/the-sun-my-heart.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/the-sun-my-heart/our-earth-our.md) Topics: [ecology](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ecology.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > During the war in Vietnam, we young Buddhists organized ourselves to help victims of the war rebuild villages that had been destroyed by the bombs. Many of us died during service, not only because of the bombs and the bullets, but because of the people who suspected us of being on the other side. We were able to understand the suffering of both sides, the communists and the anti-communists. We tried to be open to both, to understand this side and to understand that side, to be one with them. That is why we did not take a side, even though the whole world took sides. We tried to tell people our perception of the situation: that we wanted to stop the fighting. But the bombs were so loud. Sometimes we had to burn ourselves alive to get the message across, but even then the world couldn't hear us. [Thich Nhat Hanh](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh.md) · [Being Peace](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/being-peace.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thich-nhat-hanh/being-peace/during-the-war.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > The difficult thing isn't living with other people, it's understanding them. [José Saramago](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago.md) · [Blindness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/blindness.md) · p. 284 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/blindness/the-difficult-thing.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > [Danny] laughed once and said, 'That man is such an ignoramus, Father.' I was angry. 'Look into his soul,' I said. 'Stand inside his soul and see the world through his eyes. You will know the pain he feels because of his ignorance, and you will not laugh.' He was bewildered and hurt. The nightmares he began to have. . . . But he learned to find answers for himself. He suffered and learned to listen to the suffering of others. In the silence between us, he began to hear the world crying." [Chaim Potok](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chaim-potok.md) · [The Chosen](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chaim-potok/the-chosen.md) · p. 286 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chaim-potok/the-chosen/danny-laughed-once.md) Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [ignorance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ignorance.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > I went away and cried to the Master of the Universe, "What have you done to me? A mind like this I need for a son? A heart I need for a son, a soul I need for a son, compassion I want from my son, righteousness, mercy, strength to suffer and carry pain, that I want from my son, not a mind without a soul!" [Chaim Potok](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chaim-potok.md) · [The Chosen](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chaim-potok/the-chosen.md) · p. 264 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chaim-potok/the-chosen/i-went-away.md) Topics: [parents](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/parents.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [soul](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/soul.md) > Herein lies the tragedy of the age: not that men are poor, — all men know something of poverty; not that men are wicked, — who is good? not that men are ignorant, — what is Truth? Nay, but that men know so little of men. [W.E.B. Dubois](https://www.leafyquotes.com/web-dubois.md) · [The Souls of Black Folk](https://www.leafyquotes.com/web-dubois/the-souls-of-black-folk.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/web-dubois/the-souls-of-black-folk/herein-lies-the.md) Topics: [human nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > That play of black upon white, white upon black, has the intent and takes the form of creative art. It has in it a flow of the spirit and a harmony of music. Everything is lost when suddenly a false note is struck, or one party in a duet suddenly launches forth on an eccentric flight of his own. A masterpiece of a game can be ruined by insensitivity to the feelings of an adversary. [Yasunari Kawabata](https://www.leafyquotes.com/yasunari-kawabata.md) · [The Master of Go](https://www.leafyquotes.com/yasunari-kawabata/the-master-of-go.md) · p. 164 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/yasunari-kawabata/the-master-of-go/that-play-of-black.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [play](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/play.md) > What can any individual do? Of that, every individual can judge. There is one thing that every individual can do, — they can see to it that they feel right. An atmosphere of sympathetic influence encircles every human being; and the man or woman who feels strongly, healthily and justly, on the great interests of humanity, is a constant benefactor to the human race. See, then, to your sympathies in this matter! Are they in harmony with the sympathies of Christ? or are they swayed and perverted by the sophistries of worldly policy? [Harriet Beecher-Stowe](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harriet-beecher-stowe.md) · [Uncle Tom's Cabin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harriet-beecher-stowe/uncle-toms-cabin.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harriet-beecher-stowe/uncle-toms-cabin/what-can-any.md) Topics: [emotions](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emotions.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > I have always found those times when another person recognizes you to be strangely sad; I suspect the pathos of these moments is their rareness, the way they contrast with most daily encounters. That reminder that it can be different, that you need not go through your life unknown but that you probably still will - that is the part that's almost unbearable. [Curtis Sittenfeld](https://www.leafyquotes.com/curtis-sittenfeld.md) · [Prep](https://www.leafyquotes.com/curtis-sittenfeld/prep.md) · p. 65 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/curtis-sittenfeld/prep/i-have-always.md) Topics: [loneliness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Tact is after all a kind of mind-reading. [Sarah Orne Jewett](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sarah-orne-jewett.md) · [The Country of the Pointed Firs](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sarah-orne-jewett/the-country-of-the-pointed-firs.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sarah-orne-jewett/the-country-of-the-pointed-firs/tact-is-after.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > It is the historic glory of the intellectual class of the West in modern times that, of all the classes which could be called in any sense privileged, it has shown the largest and most consistent concern for the well-being of the classes which lie below it in the social scale. [Richard Hofstadter](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter.md) · [Anti-Intellectualism in American Life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter/anti-intellectualism-in-american-life.md) · p. 29 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-hofstadter/anti-intellectualism-in-american-life/it-is-the.md) Topics: [intelligence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/intelligence.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > You cannot understand a man's actions unless you understand his beliefs. [Robert Shea](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-shea.md) · [The Illuminatus! Trilogy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-shea/the-illuminatus-trilogy.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-shea/the-illuminatus-trilogy/you-cannot-understand.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [beliefs](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beliefs.md) > "Everybody is crazy," Saul said patiently, "if you don't understand his motives." [Robert Shea](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-shea.md) · [The Illuminatus! Trilogy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-shea/the-illuminatus-trilogy.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-shea/the-illuminatus-trilogy/everybody-is-crazy.md) Topics: [madness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/madness.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > We have a saying, “Where one lives, all live; where one suffers, all suffer.” One, in our language, includes all living things. In your language someone has said, “No man is an island,” which encompasses the concept but which, by mentioning only mankind, misses the point. [Sheri S. Tepper](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper.md) · [The Fresco](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-fresco.md) · p. 157 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-fresco/we-have-a-saying.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [community](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/community.md) > It is when we try to grapple with another man's intimate need that we perceive how incomprehensible, wavering, and misty are the beings that share with us the sight of the stars and the warmth of the sun. [Joseph Conrad](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad.md) · [Lord Jim](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/lord-jim.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/lord-jim/it-is-when.md) Topics: [human nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature.md), [loneliness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > There is always something left to love. And if you ain't learned that, you ain't learned nothing. Have you cried for that boy today? I don't mean for yourself and for the family 'cause we lost the money. I mean for him; what he's been through and what it done to him. Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most; when they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain't through learning — because that ain't the time at all. It's when he's at his lowest and can't believe in hisself 'cause the world done whipped him so. When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is. [Lorraine Hansberry](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lorraine-hansberry.md) · [A Raisin in the Sun](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lorraine-hansberry/a-raisin-in-the-sun.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/lorraine-hansberry/a-raisin-in-the-sun/there-is-always.md) Topics: [love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [judging others](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/judging-others.md) > To listen to someone is to put oneself in his place while he is speaking. To put oneself in the place of someone whose soul is corroded by affliction, or in near danger of it, is to annihilate oneself. It is more difficult than suicide would be for a happy child. Therefore the afflicted are not listened to. They are like someone whose tongue has been cut out and who occasionally forgets the fact. When they move their lips no ear perceives any sound. And they themselves soon sink into impotence in the use of language, because of the certainty of not being heard. > > That is why there is no hope for the vagrant as he stands before the magistrate. Even if, through his stammerings, he should utter a cry to pierce the soul, neither the magistrate nor the public will hear it. His cry is mute. And the afflicted are nearly always equally deaf to one another; and each of them, constrained by the general indifference, strives by means of self-delusion or forgetfulness to become deaf to his own self. [Simone Weil](https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-weil.md) · [Simone Weil: An Anthology](https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-weil/simone-weil-an-anthology.md) · p. 71 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-weil/simone-weil-an-anthology/to-listen-to-someone.md) Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [listening](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/listening.md) > If everyone could feel everyone else’s pain, who would torture? [Octavia E. Butler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler.md) · [Parable of the Sower](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower.md) · p. 115 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/parable-of-the-sower/if-everyone-could.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [cruelty](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty.md) > If you don’t care about my people, why should I care about yours? [Octavia E. Butler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler.md) · [Adulthood Rites](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/adulthood-rites.md) · p. 383 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/adulthood-rites/if-you-dont.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Fortunately for you, we British judge man’s civility not by his compassion for his friends, but by his compassion for his enemies. [Dan Brown](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-brown.md) · [The Da Vinci Code](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-brown/the-da-vinci-code.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-brown/the-da-vinci-code/fortunately-for-you.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [enemies](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/enemies.md) > Some moments in a life, and they needn’t be very long or seem very important, can make up for so much in that life; can redeem, justify, that pain, that bewilderment, with which one lives, and invest one with the courage not only to endure it, but to profit from it; some moments teach one the price of the human connection: if one can live with one’s own pain, then one respects the pain of others, and so, briefly, but transcendentally, we can release each other from pain. [James Baldwin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-baldwin.md) · [Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-baldwin/tell-me-how-long-the-trains-been-gone.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-baldwin/tell-me-how-long-the-trains-been-gone/some-moments-in-a-life.md) Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > [H]e was genuinely incapable of uttering a single sentence that was not a cliché.[…] Eichmann, despite his rather bad memory, repeated word for word the same stock phrases and self-invented clichés (when he did succeed in constructing a sentence of his own, he repeated it until it became a cliché) each time he referred to an incident or event of importance to him.[…] The longer one listened to him, the more obvious it became that his inability to speak was closely connected with an inability to think, namely to think from the standpoint of somebody else. No communication was possible with him, not because he lied but because he was surrounded by the most reliable of all safeguards against the words and the presence of others, and hence against reality as such. [Hannah Arendt](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt.md) · [Eichmann in Jerusalem](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt/eichmann-in-jerusalem.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hannah-arendt/eichmann-in-jerusalem/h-e-was-genuinely.md) Topics: [thinking](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Envy is negative empathy. [Martin Amis](https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-amis.md) · [The Pregnant Widow](https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-amis/the-pregnant-widow.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-amis/the-pregnant-widow/envy-is-negative.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [jealousy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/jealousy.md) > It is one of the best traits of good people that they love where they pity. And this is truer of women than of men. So they get themselves drawn into situations that are harmful to them. I have seen this happen many, many times. I have always had trouble finding a way to caution against it. Since it is, in a word, Christlike. [Marilynne Robinson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilynne-robinson.md) · [Gilead](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilynne-robinson/gilead.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilynne-robinson/gilead/it-is-one.md) Topics: [love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Science is better than sympathy, if only it is science. [E.M. Forster](https://www.leafyquotes.com/em-forster.md) · [Maurice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/em-forster/maurice.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/em-forster/maurice/science-is-better.md) Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > We spend our lives guessing at what's going on inside everybody else, and when we happen to get lucky and guess right, we think we "understand." Such nonsense. Even a monkey at a computer will type a word now and then. [Orson Scott Card](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card.md) · [Xenocide](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/xenocide.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/xenocide/we-spend-our.md) Topics: [irony](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/irony.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > No human being, when you understand his desires, is worthless. No one's life is nothing. Even the most evil of men and women, if you understand their hearts, had some generous act that redeems them, at least a little, from their sins. [Orson Scott Card](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card.md) · [Speaker for the Dead](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/speaker-for-the-dead.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/speaker-for-the-dead/no-human-being.md) Topics: [human nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Once you know what people really want, you can't hate them anymore. You can fear them, but you can't hate them, because you can always find the same desires in your own heart. [Orson Scott Card](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card.md) · [Speaker for the Dead](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/speaker-for-the-dead.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/speaker-for-the-dead/once-you-know.md) Topics: [hatred](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hatred.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view — until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. [Harper Lee](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee.md) · [To Kill a Mockingbird](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee/to-kill-a-mockingbird.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee/to-kill-a-mockingbird/you-never-really.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough. [Harper Lee](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee.md) · [To Kill a Mockingbird](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee/to-kill-a-mockingbird.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee/to-kill-a-mockingbird/atticus-was-right.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Let us suppose that the great empire of China, with all its myriads of inhabitants, was suddenly swallowed up by an earthquake, and let us consider how a man of humanity in Europe, who had no sort of connection with that part of the world, would be affected upon receiving intelligence of this dreadful calamity. He would, I imagine, first of all, express very strongly his sorrow for the misfortune of that unhappy people, he would make many melancholy reflections upon the precariousness of human life, and the vanity of all the labours of man, which could thus be annihilated in a moment. He would too, perhaps, if he was a man of speculation, enter into many reasonings concerning the effects which this disaster might produce upon the commerce of Europe, and the trade and business of the world in general. And when all this fine philosophy was over, when all these humane sentiments had been once fairly expressed, he would pursue his business or his pleasure, take his repose or his diversion, with the same ease and tranquillity, as if no such accident had happened. The most frivolous disaster which could befall himself would occasion a more real disturbance. If he was to lose his little finger to-morrow, he would not sleep to-night; but, provided he never saw them, he will snore with the most profound security over the ruin of a hundred millions of his brethren, and the destruction of that immense multitude seems plainly an object less interesting to him, than this paltry misfortune of his own. To prevent, therefore, this paltry misfortune to himself, would a man of humanity be willing to sacrifice the lives of a hundred millions of his brethren, provided he had never seen them? Human nature startles with horror at the thought, and the world, in its greatest depravity and corruption, never produced such a villain as could be capable of entertaining it. But what makes this difference? When our passive feelings are almost always so sordid and so selfish, how comes it that our active principles should often be so generous and so noble? When we are always so much more deeply affected by whatever concerns ourselves, than by whatever concerns other men; what is it which prompts the generous, upon all occasions, and the mean upon many, to sacrifice their own interests to the greater interests of others? It is not the soft power of humanity, it is not that feeble spark of benevolence which Nature has lighted up in the human heart, that is thus capable of counteracting the strongest impulses of self-love. It is a stronger power, a more forcible motive, which exerts itself upon such occasions. It is reason, principle, conscience, the inhabitant of the breast, the man within, the great judge and arbiter of our conduct. [Adam Smith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/adam-smith.md) · [The Theory of Moral Sentiments](https://www.leafyquotes.com/adam-smith/the-theory-of-moral-sentiments.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/adam-smith/the-theory-of-moral-sentiments/let-us-suppose.md) Topics: [selfishness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/selfishness.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [conscience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conscience.md) > Every faculty in one man is the measure by which he judges of the like faculty in another. I judge of your sight by my sight, of your ear by my ear, of your reason by my reason, of your resentment by my resentment, of your love by my love. I neither have, nor can have, any other way of judging about them. [Adam Smith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/adam-smith.md) · [The Theory of Moral Sentiments](https://www.leafyquotes.com/adam-smith/the-theory-of-moral-sentiments.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/adam-smith/the-theory-of-moral-sentiments/every-faculty-in-one.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it. [Adam Smith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/adam-smith.md) · [The Theory of Moral Sentiments](https://www.leafyquotes.com/adam-smith/the-theory-of-moral-sentiments.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/adam-smith/the-theory-of-moral-sentiments/how-selfish-soever.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > There is solemn satisfaction in doing the best you can for eight billion people. Perhaps their lives have no cosmic significance, but they have feelings. They can hurt. [Robert A. Heinlein](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein.md) · [Double Star](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/double-star.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/double-star/there-is-solemn.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Speaking our language, you will understand us—and if you can think as another man thinks, you cannot dislike him. [Jack Vance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance.md) · [The Languages of Pao](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/the-languages-of-pao.md) · p. 64 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/the-languages-of-pao/speaking-our-language.md) Topics: [language](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/language.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > And though this may seem to subtile a deduction of the Lawes of Nature, to be taken notice of by all men;whereof the most part are too busie in getting food, and the rest too negligent to understand; yet to leave all men unexcusable, they have been contracted into one easie sum, intelligble, even to the meanest capacity; and that is, Do not that to another, which thou wouldest not have done to thyselfe; which sheweth him, that he has no more to do in learning the Lawes of Nature, but, when weighing the actions of other men with his own, they seem too heavy, to put them into the other part of the balance, and his own into their place, that his own passions, and selfe love, may adde nothing to the weight; and then there is none of these Laws of Nature that will not appear unto him very reasonable. [Thomas Hobbes](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes.md) · [Leviathan](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan.md) · p. 79 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan/and-though-this.md) Topics: [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Many people need desperately to receive this message: "I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people don't care about them. You are not alone." [Kurt Vonnegut](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut.md) · [Timequake](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/timequake.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/timequake/many-people-need.md) Topics: [loneliness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > "We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is." [Kurt Vonnegut](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut.md) · [Timequake](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/timequake.md) · p. 78 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/timequake/we-are-here.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [helping others](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/helping-others.md) > I am a very bad scientist. I will do anything to make a human being feel better, even if it's unscientific. [Kurt Vonnegut](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut.md) · [Cat's Cradle](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle/i-am-a-very.md) Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > We must frankly confess, then, using our empirical common sense and ordinary practical prejudices, that in the world that actually is, the virtues of sympathy, charity, and non-resistance may be, and often have been, manifested in excess. ... You will agree to this in general, for in spite of the Gospel, in spite of Quakerism, in spite of Tolstoi, you believe in fighting fire with fire, in shooting down usurpers, locking up thieves, and freezing out vagabonds and swindlers. [William James](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james.md) · [The Varieties of Religious Experience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-james/the-varieties-of-religious-experience/we-must-frankly.md) Topics: [kindness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > That's the way it was then, you see. Folks noticed other people's trouble every bit as quick as if it was their own. [Orson Scott Card](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card.md) · [Seventh Son](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/seventh-son.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/seventh-son/thats-the-way.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Show him who I am, so he will pity me instead of fearing me. And then we can turn pity into compassion, and compassion into understanding, and understanding into affection, and affection into love, and love into life, the life of our children, the life of the new self we will become together. [Orson Scott Card](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card.md) · [The Ships Of Earth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/the-ships-of-earth.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/the-ships-of-earth/show-him-who.md) Topics: [love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > You were born with compassion, only that also means that when people are cruel to you it cuts you deep. You won't understand that you have to walk right up to the ones who are being hateful and laugh in their faces and earn their respect. Instead you'll try to figure out what you did to make them mad at you. [Orson Scott Card](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card.md) · [Lost Boys](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/lost-boys.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/lost-boys/you-were-born.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [cruelty](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty.md) > To see ourselves as others see us is a most salutary gift. Hardly less important is the capacity to see others as they see themselves. [Aldous Huxley](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley.md) · [The Doors of Perception](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/the-doors-of-perception.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/the-doors-of-perception/to-see-ourselves.md) Topics: [self-knowledge](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > One night I realized that when you give people understanding and encouragement a funny little meek childish look abashes their eyes, no matter what they've been doing they weren't sure it was right — lambies all over the world. [Jack Kerouac](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac.md) · [Lonesome Traveler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac/lonesome-traveler.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac/lonesome-traveler/one-night-i-realized.md) Topics: [kindness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > When you look directly at an insane man all you see is a reflection of your own knowledge that he's insane, which is not to see him at all. To see him you must see what he saw and when you are trying to see the vision of an insane man, an oblique route is the only way to come at it. [Robert M. Pirsig](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig.md) · [Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/when-you-look.md) Topics: [madness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/madness.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > It's hard to kill a creature once it lets you see its consciousness. [Carl Sagan](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan.md) · [Contact](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/contact.md) · p. 147 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/contact/its-hard-to-kill.md) Topics: [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [consciousness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/consciousness.md) > We build the stories in our heads. We take words, and we give them power, and we look out through other eyes, and we see, and experience, what others see. I wonder, Are fictions safe places? And then I ask myself, Should they be safe places? [Neil Gaiman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman.md) · [Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/trigger-warning-short-fictions-and-disturbances.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/trigger-warning-short-fictions-and-disturbances/we-build-the.md) Topics: [literature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > No man, proclaimed Donne, is an Island, and he was wrong. If we were not islands, we would be lost, drowned in each other’s tragedies. We are insulated (a word that means, literally, remember, made into an island) from the tragedy of others, by our island nature, and by the repetitive shape and form of the stories. The shape does not change: there was a human being who was born, lived, and then, by some means or another, died. There. You may fill in the details from your own experience. As unoriginal as any other tale, as unique as any other life. Lives are snowflakes — forming patterns we have seen before, as like one another as peas in a pod (and have you ever looked at peas in a pod? I mean, really looked at them? There’s not a chance you’d mistake one for another, after a minute’s close inspection), but still unique. [Neil Gaiman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman.md) · [American Gods](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods/no-man-proclaimed.md) Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [storytelling](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/storytelling.md) > Without individuals we see only numbers: a thousand dead, a hundred thousand dead, "casualties may rise to a million." With individual stories, the statistics become people — but even that is a lie, for the people continue to suffer in numbers that themselves are numbing and meaningless. Look, see the child’s swollen, swollen belly, and the flies that crawl at the corners of his eyes, his skeletal limbs: will it make it easier for you to know his name, his age, his dreams, his fears? To see him from the inside? And if it does, are we not doing a disservice to his sister, who lies in the searing dust beside him, a distorted, distended caricature of a human child? And there, if we feel for them, are they now more important to us than a thousand other children touched by the same famine, a thousand other young lives who will soon be food for the flies’ own myriad squirming children? > > We draw our lines around these moments of pain, and remain upon our islands, and they cannot hurt us. They are covered with a smooth, safe, nacreous layer to let them slip, pearllike, from our souls without real pain. > > Fiction allows us to slide into these other heads, these other places, and look out through other eyes. And then in the tale we stop before we die, or we die vicariously and unharmed, and in the world beyond the tale we turn the page or close the book, and we resume our lives. > > A life that is, like any other, unlike any other. [Neil Gaiman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman.md) · [American Gods](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods/without-individuals-we-see.md) Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [literature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > 'Tis evident, that sympathy, or the communication of passions, takes place among animals, no less than among men. Fear, anger, courage and other affections are frequently communicated from one animal to another [...] And 'tis remarkable, that tho' almost all animals use in play the same member, and nearly the same action as in fighting; a lion, a tyger, a cat their paws; an ox his homs; a dog his teeth; a horse his heels: Yet they most carefully avoid harming their companion, even tho' they have nothing to fear from his resentment; which is an evident proof of the sense brutes have of each other's pain and pleasure. [David Hume](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume.md) · [A Treatise of Human Nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature/tis-evident-that.md) Topics: [animals](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > No quality of human nature is more remarkable, both in itself and in its consequences, than that propensity we have to sympathize with others, and to receive by communication their inclinations and sentiments, however different from, or even contrary to our own. This is not only conspicuous in children, who implicitly embrace every opinion propos'd to them; but also in men of the greatest judgment and understanding, who find it very difficult to follow their own reason or inclination, in opposition to that of their friends and daily companions. To this principle we ought to ascribe the great uniformity we may observe in the humours and turn of thinking of those of the same nation; and ’tis much more probable, that this resemblance arises from sympathy, than from any influence of the soil and climate, which, tho’ they continue invariably the same, are not able to preserve the character of a nation the same for a century together. A good-natur'd man finds himself in an instant of the same humour with his company; and even the proudest and most surly take a tincture from their countrymen and acquaintance. A chearful countenance infuses a sensible complacency and serenity into my mind; as an angry or sorrowful one throws a sudden dump upon me. Hatred, resentment, esteem, love, courage, mirth and melancholy; all these passions I feel more from communication than from my own natural temper and disposition. So remarkable a phaenomenon merits our attention, and must be trac'd up to its first principles. [David Hume](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume.md) · [A Treatise of Human Nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature/no-quality-of-human.md) Topics: [emotions](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emotions.md), [conformity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > We find it difficult to sympathise with the emotions of a potato; so we do with those of an oyster. Neither of these things makes a noise on being boiled or opened, and noise appeals to us more strongly than anything else, because we make so much about our own sufferings. Since, then, they do not annoy us by any expression of pain we call them emotionless; and so qua mankind they are; but mankind is not everybody. [Samuel Butler](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler.md) · [Erewhon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler/erewhon.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler/erewhon/we-find-it-difficult.md) Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > Take from our hearts this love of what is noble and you rob us of the joy of life. The mean-spirited man in whom these delicious feelings have been stifled among vile passions, who by thinking of no one but himself comes at last to love no one but himself, this man feels no raptures, his cold heart no longer throbs with joy, and his eyes no longer fill with the sweet tears of sympathy, he delights in nothing; the wretch has neither life nor feeling, he is already dead. [Jean Jacques Rousseau](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau.md) · [Emile; or On Education](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/take-from-our.md) Topics: [selfishness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/selfishness.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [joy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/joy.md) > [Footnote: The precept "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" has no true foundation but that of conscience and feeling; for what valid reason is there why I, being myself, should do what I would do if I were some one else, especially when I am morally certain I never shall find myself in exactly the same case; and who will answer for it that if I faithfully follow out this maxim, I shall get others to follow it with regard to me? The wicked takes advantage both of the uprightness of the just and of his own injustice; he will gladly have everybody just but himself. This bargain, whatever you may say, is not greatly to the advantage of the just. But if the enthusiasm of an overflowing heart identifies me with my fellow-creature, if I feel, so to speak, that I will not let him suffer lest I should suffer too, I care for him because I care for myself, and the reason of the precept is found in nature herself, which inspires me with the desire for my own welfare wherever I may be. From this I conclude that it is false to say that the precepts of natural law are based on reason only; they have a firmer and more solid foundation. The love of others springing from self-love, is the source of human justice. The whole of morality is summed up in the gospel in this summary of the law.] [Jean Jacques Rousseau](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau.md) · [Emile; or On Education](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/footnote-the-precept.md) Topics: [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md), [justice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md) > A needle slid into Winston's arm. Almost in the same instant a blissful, healing warmth spread all through his body. The pain was already half-forgotten. He opened his eyes and looked up gratefully at O'Brien. At sight of the heavy, lined face, so ugly and so intelligent, his heart seemed to turn over. If he could have moved he would have stretched out a hand and laid it on O'Brien's arm. He had never loved him so deeply as at this moment, and not merely because he had stopped the pain. The old feeling, that at bottom it did not matter whether O'Brien was a friend or an enemy, had come back. O'Brien was a person who could be talked to. Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood. O'Brien had tortured him to the edge of lunacy, and in a little while, it was certain, he would send him to his death. It made no difference. In some sense that went deeper than friendship, they were intimates: somewhere or other, although the actual words might never be spoken, there was a place where they could meet and talk. [George Orwell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell.md) · [Nineteen Eighty-Four](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/a-needle-slid.md) Topics: [love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love.md), [empathy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy.md), [torture](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/torture.md)