Treat people like people. Beware of pity and patronization because in them, you can’t see when you’re unashamedly looking down on someone.

I had a dream about you. You were guarding a bridge that I needed to cross. You asked if I had the proper paperwork, and I said I did, but I was just missing one...

The emotional states are liberated inside water, we calm down emotionally, we become more sensitive, we are able to “touch” deeper ourselves and other beings. Empathy is echoing back to us giving subtle vibrations from...

We weep for the blood of a bird, but not for the blood of a fish. Blessed are those who have voice.

Pain without cause is a pain we can’t trust. We assume it’s been chosen or fabricated.

…Because a book is a little empathy machine. It puts you inside somebody else’s head. You see out of the world through somebody else’s eyes. It’s very hard to hate people of a certain kind...

I stumble and fall.I weep and struggle to rise.My mom feels it all.

Do you know what it is?’ [Toby] said thoughtfully. ‘It’s that they haven’t had anything really awful happen to them. No wonder they seem so superficial and unfeeling.’ It was certainly an interesting theory, …...

King and Gandhi had found a way to use aggressive impulses to resist injustice without hurting others. Where did the aggression go? The answer, as King would later tell Poussaint, was this: into the courage...

In my judgment, the woman is the equal of the man. She has all the rights I have and one more, and that is the right to be protected. That is my doctrine. You are...

Empathy is the stepping stone to respect

My other boy thing is that I sort of have a teeny tiny superpower. It’s not a jump-over-buildings, see-through-people’s-clothes, or lift-a-train-over-my-head one, which is good, because when you can do those kinds of things you...

To perceive is to suffer.

People said things to me like “They’re just animals. They’re here for our use.” I had a visceral reaction to that phrase, maybe because I was told countless times during my growing-up years that I...

We are out sisters’ keepers.

I think if God came down and gave us all His version of Empathy then all the world’s problems would surely become a thing of the past.

No matter what the situation may be, I still take pleasure in witnessing the joy of others.

Call the world, if you please, “the Vale of Soul Making”. Then you will find out the use of the world….There may be intelligences or sparks of the divinity in millions — but they are...

Empathy isn’t just listening, it’s asking the questions whose answers need to be listened to. Empathy requires inquiry as much as imagination. Empathy requires knowing you know nothing. Empathy means acknowledging a horizon of context...

You can unlock spiritual things only from within.

If only this great concern we have for our own sensitive feelings expanded to encompass the feelings of our fellow men.

Everyone breathing is broken. Keep breathing light into them until the stained glass collage takes your breath away.

The imagination is truly the enemy of bigotry and dogma.

GLOUCESTERNow, good sir, what are you?EDGARA most poor man made tame to fortune’s blows,Who by the art of known and feeling sorrowsAm pregnant to good pity.

When a good man is hurt all who would be called good must suffer with him.

Those who cannot perceive are no better than those who cannot see…Those who cannot empathize are no better than those who cannot perceive…

Motivation is my problem: I’m almost too motivated. I lie awake thinking how Kris would dress for the occasion or why Benjamin would be upset in the field or how the hell Brianna will manage...

If bullies actually believe that somebody loves them and believes in them, they will love themselves, they will become better people, and many will even become saviors to the bullied.

Mostly we think of people with great authority as higher up, far away, hard to reach. But spiritual authority comes from compassion and emerges from deep inner solidarity with those who are ‘subject’ to authority....

The faculty to think objectively is reason; the emotional attitude behind reason is that of humility. To be objective, to use one’s reason, is possible only if one has achieved an attitude of humility, if...

When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.

safety net” created by a trusted support system I feel like I can tackle stressors in my life and be effective. Because my caregivers have been accurately attuned to me emotionally and reflected my thoughts...

The misery of other people is only an abstraction […] something that can be sympathized with only by drawing from one’s own experiences. But as it stands, true empathy remains impossible. And so long as...

My knowledge of myself is direct, synthetic, from within outwards; my knowledge of other persons is indirect, analytical, from outside inwards. My knowledge of myself starts at the core; that of others at the crust.

The internet and online communication is the window into your world – but real life, in person communication / connection is the door.

I am not an ornithologist—I am a bird.

We live close together and we live far apart. We all go through the same things-it’s all just a different kind of the same thing.

The difference between a moral person and a person of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, made out of weakness and tries to make amends with their life when they find the...

All that we can’t say is all we need to hear.

Sure, the outcome was favourable, but what was the cost? Wasn’t changing the way she felt about something not far from taking away her free will altogether?

…It also taught me that while cruelty can be fun for a few moments, compassion has a much longer shelf life.

I’ve come to the conclusion that liking a person we are required to have dealings with is not of paramount importance. But respect is crucial, on both sides, as is tolerance, and a depth of...

As a kid my heart would break for the villains.

Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion. When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands. Our...

The moral crisis she’d just gone through made her feel indulgent toward the faults, the delinquencies of others. How thoroughly a human being can be buffeted and over-mastered by fate had been borne in upon...

Becoming aware of the intense suffering of billions of animals, and of our own participation in that suffering, can bring up painful emotions: sorrow and grief for the animals; anger at the injustice and deception...

Imagining someone else’s pain with too much surety can be as damaging as failing to imagine it.

A book is a little empathy machine. It puts you inside somebody else’s head. You see out of the world through somebody else’s eyes. It’s very hard to hate people of a certain kind when...

I’m not asking you to walk in my shoes; I’d never wish my afflictions on anyone. But could you walk beside me on secure ground and reach to hold my hand?

When we fail to harmonize and integrate, living systems, from individuals to families and countries, tend to move toward either chaos or rigidity.