65 Quotes About Empathy to Teach You About Compassion

1. "I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it." - Maya Angelou

2. "Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself." - Mohsin Hamid

3. "Be Somebody who makes Everybody feel like a Somebody." - Brad Montague

3. "Your presence is the most precious gift you can give to another human being." - Marshall B. Rosenberg

4. "Empathy is a respectful understanding of what others are experiencing." - Marshall B. Rosenberg

5. "The opposite of anger is not calmness, its empathy." - Mehmet Oz

6. “It's the hardest thing in the world to go on being aware of someone else's pain.” - Pat Barker

7. "All advocacy is, at its core, an exercise in empathy." - Samantha Power

8. "The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy." - Meryl Streep

9. "We think empathy is innate, but it's not. It's a muscle you're working." - Julien Baker

10. "When we focus on others, our world expands." - Daniel Goleman

11. "There is no greater intelligence than kindness and empathy." - Bryant H. McGill

12. "In order to have understanding, you need forgiveness, compassion, and empathy." - Rooney Mara

13. “Men build too many walls and not enough bridges.” - Joseph Fort Newton

14. “No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” - Theodore Roosevelt

15. "The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way." - Keanu Reeves

1. "Empathy works so well because it does not require a solution. It requires only understanding." - John Medina

2. "Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else's shoes for a while." - Malorie Blackman

3. "It's dangerous to think of yourself as a hero and someone else as a villain. It gets in the way of empathy." - Megan Ganz

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

5. “All I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being not just with my hands but with my heart.” - Tahereh Mafi

6. “Sometimes all a person wants is an empathetic ear; all he or she needs is to talk it out. Just offering a listening ear and an understanding heart for his or her suffering can be a big comfort.” - Roy T. Bennett

7. “I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person.” - Walt Whitman

8. "Empathy seems to be seen as a weakness. We condition people to withdraw it to succeed. But really, it needs to be re-seen as a strength again if there is to be any kind of hope in the world." - Matt Bellamy

9. "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

10. "Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It's the capacity to understand that every war is both won and lost. And that someone else's pain is as meaningful as your own." - Barbara Kingsolver

1. "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

2. "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

3. “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

4. "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

5. "You don't teach morals and ethics and empathy and kindness in the schools. You teach that at home, and children learn by example." - Judy Sheindlin

6. "When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you." - Susan Sarandon

7. "The functions of intellect are insufficient without courage, love, friendship, compassion and empathy." - Dean Koontz

8. "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view." - Harper Lee

9. “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

10. “When I get ready to talk to people, I spend two thirds of the time thinking what they want to hear and one third thinking about what I want to say.” - Abraham Lincoln

1. "Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly." - Plutarch

2. "Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply." - Stephen Covey

3. "We think we listen, but very rarely do we listen with real understanding, true empathy. Yet listening, of this very special kind, is one of the most potent forces for change that I know." - Carl Rogers

4. "When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen." - Ernest Hemingway

5. "One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say." - Bryant H. McGill

6. "So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it." - Jiddu Krishnamurti

7. "There's a lot of difference between listening and hearing." - Gilbert K. Chesterton

8. "Empathetic listening is an awesome medication for the hurting heart." - Gary Chapman

9. "Listening is such a simple act. It requires us to be present, and that takes practice, but we don't have to do anything else. We don't have to advise, or coach, or sound wise. We just have to be willing to sit there and listen." - Margaret J. Wheatley

10. "Listening better. Caring more. Being there. Its not big changes, but the little ones in our daily lives that make all the difference. With little ways to love more, big things happen" - Yehuda Berg

1. "Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive." - Dalai Lama

2. "The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others." - Albert Schweitzer

3. "Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity." - Pema Chodron

4. "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." - Aesop

5. "Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." - Mark Twain

6. "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." - Dalai Lama

7. "An attitude of compassion does not mean looking down on someone, pitying them in their misery. Compassion is based on respect. We discuss life as equals, learn from each other and strive together to improve our lives." - Daisaku Ikeda

8. "A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees." - Amelia Earhart

9. "Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty." - Albert Einstein

10. "Compassion begins with attention." - Daniel Goleman

1. "Three keys to more abundant living: caring about others, daring for others, sharing with others." - William Arthur Ward

2. "You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. "One of the cruelest things you can do to another person is pretend you care about them more than you really do." - Douglas Coupland

4. "One person caring about another represents life's greatest value." - Jim Rohn

5. "Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does." - William James

6. "The simple act of caring is heroic." - Edward Albert

7. "Caring about others, running the risk of feeling, and leaving an impact on people brings happiness." - Harold S. Kushner

8. "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'" - Martin Luther King, Jr.

9. "I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another." - Thomas Jefferson

10. "Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution." - Khalil Gibran