1,354 Quotes About Empathy

Never say you understand someone's pain if you haven't felt the same, because not only would you sound mocking but also ignorant.

It is not rubbish! It is the part of people that you do not understand.

Storms don't come to teach us painful lessons, rather they were meant to wash us clean.

This mournful and restless sound was a fit accompaniment to my meditations.

Depression can seem absurdly self aggrandizing to those who do not experience it, But that does not make it any less painful to those who do.

As I squeeze, he turns his head, and there is the tiniest, slimmest of moments when he sees me. I look into those wolf eyes, and even though they are empty, they're still alive. In that split second he is alive and looking at me. I am alive and looking at him. Then the moment is over, the trigger is pulled back, and the gun is empty.

I could meet dreadful people and end up seeing the world through their eyes, seeing their frailties, their needs. You refer to yourself in order to understand other people. That's the novelist's gift, isn't it?

If imagination is what enables us to conceive of and enjoy stories other than our own, and if empathy is the act of taking other people’s stories seriously, certainty deadens or destroys both qualities. When we are caught up in our own convictions, other people’s stories—which is to say, other people—cease to matter to us.

Mental illness is not a fraternity or a social club for like minds. It is its own religion to each person that has it. Their mind is their pastor, their feelings are their scriptures and their delusions are their own bible story. To break them free, is to break their faith in signs. That is why so many feel lost.