Empathy Quotes - Page 30

• Love is about bottomless empathy, born out of the heart’s revelation that another person is every bit as real as you are. And this is why love, as I understand it, is always specific. Trying to love all of humanity may be a worthy endeavor, but, in a funny way, it keeps the focus on the self, on the self’s own moral or spiritual well-being. Whereas, to love a specific person, and to identify with his or her struggles and joys as if they were your own, you have to surrender some of your self.

  Jonathan Franzen

  Spiritual, Real, Struggle

  Jonathan Franzen (2012). “Farther Away: Essays”, p.9, Macmillan

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• Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you do criticize him, you'll be a mile away and have his shoes.

  Steve Martin

  Funny, Music, Humor

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• It was about grace, she decides, something that has been missing from her own life. ... She wants to be the kind of person who can bestow unearned kindness on another, replace bitterness with empathy, forgive only for the sake of forgiving.

  Emily Giffin

  Kindness, Missing, Grace

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• I've noticed that about your people, Doctor. You find it easier to understand the death of one than the death of a million. You speak about the objective hardness of the Vulcan heart, yet how little room there seems to be in yours.

  Leonard Nimoy

  Sympathy, Heart, Doctors

  "Star Trek: The Immunity Syndrome". TV Series, www.imdb.com. 1968.

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• It is through weakness and vulnerability that most of us learn empathy and compassion and discover our soul.

  Desmond Tutu

  Compassion, Soul, Weakness

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• Kylie bit down on her lip. Burnett took a step forward. He squared his shoulders, empathy filling his eyes. He took a deep, apparent heartfelt breath and looked at Kylie. She nodded at him as if giving him the lead. He looked back at Holiday and, in a deep voice, said, "Kylie has something to tell you." Kylie's mouth fell open and right then she knew it was official. Men sucked at verbal communication especially where anything emotional was concerned.

  C.C. Hunter

  Communication, Holiday, Eye

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• Will was making a speech, something about having been young and careless once, the sort of thing old-timers said when they issued a deathblow, as if they thought their sanctimonious ramblings disguised as empathy would be welcomed, but Evie was only half listening.

  Libba Bray

  Listening, Would Be, Rambling

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• One of his greatest talents was empathy; no sadist can aspire to perfection without that diagnostic ability.

  Vernor Vinge

  Perfection, Talent, Ability

  Vernor Vinge (2010). “A Fire Upon The Deep”, p.454, Macmillan

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• James, you are all the family I have. I would die for you. You know that. I would die without you. If it were not for you, I would be dead a hundred times over these past five years. I owe you everything, and if you cannot believe I have empathy, perhaps you might at least believe I know honor--honor, and debt--

  Cassandra Clare

  Believe, Past, Years

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• Suffering should not define you as a woman! And just because you’re a man it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t affect you! HELP HER to remove the taboos and the loneliness surrounding this disease; be understanding, show empathy, and don’t accuse her of being sensitive, delicate, or overly dramatic – this is a big opportunity for you guys to show that you care and to be a real man!

  Susan Sarandon

  Real, Loneliness, Mean

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• I think it's easy to mistake understanding for empathy - we want empathy so badly. Maybe learning to make that distinction is part of growing up. It's hard and ugly to know somebody can understand you without even liking you.

  Thomas Harris

  Life, Growing Up, Mistake

  Thomas Harris (1999). “Hannibal”

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• But love, honest love, requires empathy. It is a sharing—of joy, of pain, of laughter, and of tears. Honest love makes one’s soul a reflection of the partner’s moods. And as a room seems larger when it is lined with mirrors, so do the joys become amplified. And as the individual items within the mirrored room seem less acute, so does pain diminish and fade, stretched thin by the sharing. That is the beauty of love, whether in passion or friendship. A sharing that multiplies the joys and thins the pains.

  R. A. Salvatore

  Laughter, Pain, Passion

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• I lay my head on his chest and listen to his heart beating, solid and sure.....he reads me so well. He's known about my emotional empathy since we were children. Nothing disturbs him...Few can lie to me... I don't know the truth, only that there is a lie. It takes a scrupulously honest man to love me. That's my Sean. We learned to trust each other completely before we were old enough to have learned suspicion.

  Karen Marie Moning

  Children, Lying, Heart

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• Ecstasy is a complex emotion containing elements of joy, fear, terror, triumph, surrender, and empathy. What has replaced our prehistoric understanding of this complex of ecstasy now is the word comfort, a tremendously bloodless notion. Drugs are not comfortable, and anyone who thinks they are comfortable or even escapist should not toy with drugs unless they’re willing to get their noses rubbed in their own stuff.

  Terence McKenna

  Thinking, Joy, Drug

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• Are you proud of yourself tonight that you have insulted a total stranger whose circumstances you know nothing about?

  Harper Lee

  Tonight, Proud, Stranger

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• I am older and have more control over my empathy,' said Qwan. 'That's why I didn't throw up.' And having said that, he threw up.

  Eoin Colfer

  Said

  Eoin Colfer (2008). “Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony”, Miramax

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• We were awash in tiny attentions. Small gestures, words, empathies thought to be extinct came to life... We discovered the color of each other's eyes.

  Jerry Spinelli

  Eye, Color, Small Gestures

  Jerry Spinelli (2012). “The Stargirl Collection”, p.32, Knopf Books for Young Readers

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• Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.

  Brené Brown

  Meaningful, Spiritual, Creativity

  Brené Brown (2012). “Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead”, p.37, Penguin

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• Life is always going to be a series of ouch-making moments, and the question was, was I going to go all fetal position, or was I going to woman up? I went into fetal position on the bed to think about this. Fetal position turned out to be very comfortable.

  Maureen Johnson

  Thinking, Bed, Ouch

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• But compassion isn't about solutions. It's about giving all the love that you've got.

  Cheryl Strayed

  Compassion, Giving, Solutions

  Cheryl Strayed (2013). “Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Someone Who’s Been There”, p.73, Atlantic Books Ltd

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• What he has in addition is pure empathy and projection,” Dr. Bloom said. “He can assume your point of view, or mine – and maybe some other points of view that scare and sicken him. It’s an uncomfortable gift, Jack. Perception’s a tool that’s pointed on both ends.

  Thomas Harris

  Views, Perception, Scare

  Thomas Harris (2009). “Red Dragon”, p.189, Penguin

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• She knows too well what it's like to tamp down your natural inclinations, to force a smile when you feel numb....The expression of emotion does not come naturally, so yo learn to fake it. To pretend. To display an empathy you don't really feel. And so it is that you learn to pass, if you're lucky, to look like everyone else, even though you're broken inside.

  Christina Baker Kline

  Broken Inside, Expression, Fake

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• Political correctness is anti-empathetic because it has correctness in it. We all have biases, we all have prejudices and if we cant talk about them openly - if we get attacked for it then this is an anti-empathetic movement and therefore it cannot complain about a lack of empathy.

  Stefan Molyneux

  Political, Prejudice, Complaining

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• Women, on average, tend to be more aware of their emotions, show more empathy, and are more adept interpersonally. Men on the other hand, are more self-confident and optimistic, adapt more easily, and handle stress better.

  Daniel Goleman

  Stress, Optimistic, Men

  Daniel Goleman (2011). “Working With Emotional Intelligence”, p.7, Bantam

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• By peace we mean the capacity to transform conflicts with empathy, without violence, and creatively- a never-ending process

  Johan Galtung

  Inspirational, Sympathy, Peace

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