concept

empathy Quotes

54 of the best book quotes about empathy
01
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“On a bad day you also don’t need a lot of advice. You just need a little empathy and affirmation. You need to feel once again that other people have confidence in you.”
Anne Lamott
author
Bird By Bird
book
empathy
confidence
bad days
encouragement
affirmations
writer
concepts
02
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“Without suffering, there’d be no compassion.”
03
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“Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.”
Miranda
character
empathy
concept
04
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“O, I have suffered With those that I saw suffer.”
05
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“A very important tidbit about customer service: just apologize to people. Even if it’s not your fault, they’ve been disappointed by the company you work for and it’s your job to empathize with them. Though you may be paid minimum wage, to the customers you are the face of the entire company. It’s this kind of accountability that gets people raises, promotions, and eventually careers.”
06
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“The more we diminish our own pain, or rank it compared to what others have survived, the less empathetic we are to everyone.”
07
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“If we can share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can’t survive.”
08
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“Courage gives us a voice and compassion gives us an ear. Without both, there is no opportunity for empathy and connection.”
09
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“If empathy is the skill or ability to tap into our own experiences in order to connect with an experience someone is relating to us, compassion is the willingness to be open to this process.”
10
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“Empathy, evidently, existed only within the human community, whereas intelligence to some degree could be found throughout every phylum and order including the arachnida.”
11
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″ It, he thought. She keeps calling the owl it.”
12
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“In front of him he distinguished a shadowy figure, motionless. ‘Wilbur Mercer! Is that you?’ My god, he realized; it’s my shadow.”
13
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“Love is a verb. Love – the feeling – is the fruit of love the verb or our loving actions. So love her. Sacrifice. Listen to her. Empathize. Appreciate. Affirm her.”
14
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“An android doesn’t care what happens to another android. That’s one of the indications we look for.”
15
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“You can’t understand most of the important things from a distance, Bryan. You have to get close.”
16
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“When people talk listen completely. Don’t be thinking what you’re going to say. Most people never listen.”
17
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“When your own life is threatened, your sense of empathy is blunted by a terrible, selfish hunger for survival.”
18
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“And understanding begets empathy and compassion, even for the meanest beggar . . . ”
19
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“It’s the recognition that other people’s problems, their pain and frustrations, are every bit as real as our own – often far worse. In recognizing this fact and trying to offer some assistance, we open our hearts and greatly enhance our sense of gratitude.”
20
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“It is very difficult for a man to differentiate between empathy and sympathy. He hates to be pitied.”
21
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“Thus, nothing can be written about ministry without a deeper understanding of the ways in which ministers can make their own wounds available as a source of healing.”
22
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“Our service will not be perceived as authentic unless it comes from a heart wounded by the suffering about which we speak.”
23
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“The main question is not ‘How can we hide our wounds?’ so we don’t have to be embarrassed, but ‘How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?’ ”
24
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“Who can listen to a story of loneliness and despair without taking the risk of experiencing similar pains in his own heart and even losing his precious peace of mind?”
25
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“In short: ‘Who can take away suffering without entering it?’ ”
26
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“As followers of Jesus we can also allow our wounds to bring healing to others.”
27
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“‘But please, please—won’t you—can’t you give me something that will cure Mother?’ Up till then he had been looking at the Lion’s great feet and the huge claws on them; now, in his despair, he looked up at its face. What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face was bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion’s eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory’s own that for a moment he felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself. ‘My son, my son,’ said Aslan. ‘I know. Grief is great. Only you and I in this land know that yet. Let us be good to one another.‘”
28
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“I had not thought before of this disfigured robber having had a childhood.”
29
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“Courage, love, friendship, compassion, and empathy lift us above the simple beasts and define humanity.”
30
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“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
31
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“Are you proud of yourself tonight that you have insulted a total stranger whose circumstances you know nothing about?”
32
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“Jem, see if you can stand in Bob Ewell’s shoes a minute. I destroyed his last shred of credibility at that trial, if he had any to begin with. The man had to have some kind of comeback, his kind always does. So if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take.”
33
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“You children made Walter Cunningham stand in my shoes for a minute. That was enough.”
34
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“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.”
35
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“It is because I think so much of warm and sensitive hearts, that I would spare them from being wounded.”
36
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“There is prodigious strength in sorrow and despair.”
37
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“Yup, I know how that feels.”
Eeyore
character
empathy
concept
38
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“Moved me to tears.”
39
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“Love is something else entirely. It is caring. It is arguing with curiosity—It is giving an inch when the other seems certainly wrong—it is teasing, it is empathy, it is respect, it is a moment of quiet smiling admiration each morning.”
40
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“Can you imagine how far they have come?”
41
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“Each of us has lived through some devastation, some loneliness, some weather superstorm or spiritual superstorm. When we look at each other we must say, I understand. I understand how you feel because I have been there myself. We must support each other because each of us is more alike then we are unalike. ”
42
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“Empathy combined with stronger emotions leads to compassion.”
43
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“Because of these strong feelings and deep thoughts, most high sensitive children are unusually empathic. So they suffer more when others suffer and become interested early in social justice.”
44
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“It was a dreadful thing that he did, and he is not to be admired for it, but right then I felt I understood why he did it. I even felt a little sorry for him. He probably just wanted some company, for it is very lonely knowing things.”
45
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“I thought how you could never tell just by looking at them what they were thinking or what was happening in their lives.”
46
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Equating willfulness with being special, the child then confronts other themes of life such as eternity and loneliness. The cat declares that he is immortal. The girl concludes that they are both willful. As the girl identifies with the cat they discuss some of life’s themes. Loneliness is seen in the mailman and dog. The girl attempts to show empathy, but the cat will have none of that. He does not show compassion and is irritated that the girl will not follow his lead in being pitiless.
47
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“It also touches on the universal themes of friendship and empathy and includes kid-friendly mindfulness and self-compassion activities.”
48
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“At that moment, they heard scratching and a soft cry. Esperanza peeked under the stairs and spotted a kitty shaking and shivering.”
49
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“She had the power of silent sympathy. That sounds rather dull, I know, but it’s not so dull as it sounds. It just means that a person is able to know that you are unhappy, and to love you extra on that account, without bothering you by telling you all the time how sorry she is for you.”
50
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“When I signed on with Guardian I took a vow of poverty. If my clients can survive on two bucks a day for food, the least I can do is cut every corner.”
51
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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.”
52
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“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.”
53
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“Though the friendship between the two never quite reaches the same level of realism, readers will empathize with Perdita, and with Megan when she is ultimately forced to choose.”
54
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The vibrantly coloured and expressive illustrations and best of all the feelings of love, compassion and empathy that flow throughout the story.

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