1,354 Quotes About Empathy

Be me a little.

As we tell stories about the lives of others, we learn how to imagine what another creature might feel in response to various events. At the same time, we identify with the other creature and learn something about ourselves.

There is absolutely no single aspect of one’s personality that is more important to develop than empathy, which is not a skill at which men typically are asked to excel. I believe empathy is not only the core of art, literature and music, but should also be at the core of society, from ethics to economics.

Maybe your empathy's just a comforting lie, you ever think of that? Maybe you think you know how the other person feels but you're only feeling yourself, maybe you're even worse than me. Or maybe we're all just guessing.

Can I see anothers woe,And not be in sorrow too.Can I see anothers grief,And not seek for kind relief.Can I see a falling tear.And not feel my sorrows share,Can a father see his child,Weep, nor be with sorrow fill'd.Can a mother sit and hear,An infant groan, an infant fear-No no never can it be,Never, never can it be.- On Anothers Sorrow

Some people are far more cognizant than others but sensitivity has its own cross to bear and ample insight, in many cases, can bring on disquietude.

There is no force in the world better able to alter anything from its course than love.

What dooms our best efforts to cultivate empathy and compassion is always, of course, other people.

What do you want with these special Jewish pains? I feel as close to the wretched victims of the rubber plantations in Putamayo and the blacks of Africa with whose bodies the Europeans play ball… I have no special corner in my heart for the ghetto: I am at home in the entire world, where there are clouds and birds and human tears.