Empathy Quotes

• Learning to stand in somebody else's shoes, to see through their eyes, that's how peace begins. And it's up to you to make that happen. Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world.

  Barack Obama

  Character, Eye, Shoes

  Obama Holds a Town Hall in Istanbul, www.washingtonpost.com. April 7, 2009.

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• Your presence is the most precious gift you can give to another human being.

  Marshall B. Rosenberg

  Inspirational, People, Giving

  Marshall B. Rosenberg (2004). “Teaching Children Compassionately: How Students and Teachers Can Succeed with Mutual Understanding”, p.31, PuddleDancer Press

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• Be Somebody who makes Everybody feel like a Somebody.

  Brad Montague

  Inspirational, Sympathy, Kindness

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• Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Motivational, Inspiring, Leadership

  Theodore Roosevelt (2015). “Theodore Roosevelt on Bravery: Lessons from the Most Courageous Leader of the Twentieth Century”, p.5, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• Leadership is about empathy. It is about having the ability to relate to and connect with people for the purpose of inspiring and empowering their lives.

  Oprah Winfrey

  Compassion, People, Empowering

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• Empathy works so well because it does not require a solution. It requires only understanding.

  John Medina

  Understanding, Doe, Wells

  John Medina (2014). “Brain Rules for Baby (Updated and Expanded): How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five”, p.49, Pear Press

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• Empathy is a respectful understanding of what others are experiencing.

  Marshall B. Rosenberg

  Understanding, Respectful

  "Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life". Book by Marshall B. Rosenberg, www.huffingtonpost.com. 1999.

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  Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

  Leo Buscaglia

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  "Love". Book by Leo Buscaglia, 1972.

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• Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?

  Henry David Thoreau

  Relationship, Kids, Eye

  Henry David Thoreau (1882). “Walden”, p.19

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• Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals.

  Neil Gaiman

  Self, People, Tools

  Neil Gaiman (2016). “The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction”, p.12, HarperCollins

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• Empathy is a respectful understanding of what others are experiencing. Instead of offering empathy, we often have a strong urge to give advice or reassurance and to explain our own position or feeling. Empathy, however, calls upon us to empty our mind and listen to others with our whole being.

  Marshall B. Rosenberg

  Respect, Strong, Offering

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• Empathy is the most powerful weapon [...]

  Augusto Boal

  Powerful, Weapons, Most Powerful

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• The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Funny, Humor, Effective Listening

  Henry David Thoreau, Nancy L. Rosenblum (1996). “Thoreau: Political Writings”, p.103, Cambridge University Press

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• Often, instead of offering empathy, we have a strong urge to give advice or reassurance and to explain our own position or feeling.

  Marshall B. Rosenberg

  Strong, Offering, Giving

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• When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you.

  Susan Sarandon

  Kindness, Power, Imagination

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• When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That's when you can get more creative in solving problems.

  Stephen Covey

  Life, Change, Creative

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• Empathy grows as we learn.

  Alice Miller

  Grows

  Alice Miller (2002). “For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence”, p.101, Macmillan

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• There is no greater intelligence than kindness and empathy.

  Bryant H. McGill

  Kindness, Greater

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• Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world.

  Barack Obama

  Character, Quality, World

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• The functions of intellect are insufficient without courage, love, friendship, compassion and empathy.

  Dean Koontz

  Compassion, Friendship Love, Function

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• When we focus on others, our world expands.

  Daniel Goleman

  Our World, Focus, Selfishness

  Daniel Goleman (2011). “Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships”, p.54, Random House

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• Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.

  Martin Farquhar Tupper

  Witty, Powerful, Humorous

  Martin Farquhar Tupper (1839). “Proverbial philosophy: a book of thoughts and arguments”, p.149

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• Empathy provides more than just information about relationships. It is an expression of being in relationship. It is not just a means to better healing relationship, but because it recenters relationship as a central organizing feature of psychic life, empathy itself is healing. The experience of being known and accepted deeply by another, being aware of another being aware of you, what Jordan calls "mutual empathy".

  Maureen O'Hara

  Healing, Mean, Expression

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• Learning is a result of listening, which in turn leads to even better listening and attentiveness to the other person. In other words, to learn from the child, we must have empathy, and empathy grows as we learn.

  Alice Miller

  Education, Children, Learning

  Alice Miller (2002). “For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence”, p.101, Macmillan

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• Why wouldn't I help? What good reason do I have as a human being with power and a sense of empathy and morality, why wouldn't I do something?

  John Legend

  Helping Others, Volunteer, Morality

  "John Legend Shows How Easy Charity Can Be With Poverty Action Tour". Interview with Jayson Rodriguez, www.mtv.com. January 29, 2008.

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