Empathy is the capacity to relate to (or be aware of) the feelings, emotions, perspectives, and experiences of others; whereas, compassion is having the wisdom and courage and to take action to make things better for someone.
These 311 quotes serve as reminders the importance and power of empathy and compassion. They inspire us to make our interactions and relationships more meaningful; to be more understanding and kind, rather than judging in our daily lives. A little empathy can go a long way in brightening someone’s day and improving the world.
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Empathy and Compassion Wisdom by Dalai Lama
1. "Compassion naturally creates a positive atmosphere, and as a result, you feel peaceful and content."
2. "Love and compassion are the true religions to me. But to develop this, we do not need to believe in any religion."
3. "We need to take action to develop compassion, to create inner peace within ourselves and to share that inner peace with our family and friends. Peace and warm-heartedness can then spread through the community just as ripples radiate out across the water when you drop a pebble into a pond."
4. "The topic of compassion is not at all religious business; it is important to know it is human business, it is a question of human survival."
5. "Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength."
6. "To the extent that our experience of suffering reminds us of what everyone else also endures, it serves as a powerful inspiration to practice compassion and avoid causing others pain. And to the extent that suffering awakens our empathy and causes us to connect with others, it serves as the basis of compassion and love."
7. "Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive."
8. "People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost."
9. "We must each lead a way of life with self-awareness and compassion, to do as much as we can. Then, whatever happens we will have no regrets."
10. "Compassion and happiness are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength."
11. "A truly compassionate attitude toward others does not change even if they behave negatively or hurt you."
12. "Only the development of compassion and understanding for others can bring us the tranquility and happiness we all seek."
13. "Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them."
14. "Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive."
15. "Peace does not mean an absence of conflicts; differences will always be there. Peace means solving these differences through peaceful means; through dialogue, education, knowledge; and through humane ways."
16. "Love is the absence of judgment."
17. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
18. "We must each lead a way of life with self-awareness and compassion, to do as much as we can. Then, whatever happens we will have no regrets."
19. "The whole purpose of religion is to facilitate love and compassion, patience, tolerance, humility, and forgiveness."
20. "Only the development of compassion and understanding for others can bring us the tranquility and happiness we all seek."
21. "Looking at various means of developing compassion, I think empathy is an important factor: the ability to appreciate others’ suffering."
22. "Compassion is the radicalism of our time."
23. "Compassion and happiness are not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength."
More Empathy and Compassion Wisdom
24. “Wearing another’s skin is the most effective way to learn sympathy.”― A G Howard
25. “Don’t criticize them; they are just what we would be under similar circumstances.”― Abraham Lincoln
26. "Maybe your life purpose isn’t supposed to be a thrill-seeking narrative. What if you’re meant to be the sunshine to someone’s stormy day? Or the voice of clarity to a frantic mind? You don’t have to be a superhero to save the world." - @consciousreminder
27. “Don’t criticize them; they are just what we would be under similar circumstances.”― Abraham Lincoln
28. “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” – Albert Einstein
29. “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
30. “The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.” ― Albert Schweitzer
31. “Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another.” – Alfred Adler
32. “If you aren’t humble, whatever empathy you claim is false and probably results from some arrogance or the desire to control. But true empathy is rooted in humility and the understanding that there are many people with as much to contribute in life as you.” — Anand Mahindra
33. "When you finally learn that a person’s behavior has more to do with their own internal struggle than you, you learn grace." - Allison Aars
34. “Every day you need to take some actions – actions to improve your life and actions to improve someone else’s life.”― Amit Ray
35. "You just never know what someone is dealing with behind closed doors. No matter how happy someone looks, how loud their laugh is, how big their smile is, there can still be a level of hurt that is indescribable. So be kind. Even when others are not, choose to be kind." - Andrea Russett
36. "We need more people who are willing to say, ‘I’ve been there, and I’m here. You can always talk to me without judgment." Amy Williams
37. "Anyone who has experienced a certain amount of loss in their life has empathy for those who have experienced loss.” – Anderson Cooper
38. "Nothing is more important than empathy for another human being’s suffering. Nothing—not career, not wealth, not intelligence, certainly not status. We have to feel for one another if we’re going to survive with dignity." - Audrey Hepburn
39. “One does not remember one’s own pain. It is the suffering of others that undoes us.” – Anna Funder
40. "The greatest cruelty is our casual blindness to the despair of others." – Anonymous
41. “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
42. “I did not know how to reach him, how to catch up with him… The land of tears is so mysterious.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
43. “Empathy may be the single most important quality that must be nurtured to give peace a fighting chance.” – Arundhati Roy
44. “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
45. “Those who are governed by reason desire nothing for themselves which they do not desire for the rest of humankind.”― Baruch Spinoza
46. "There’s something in everyone only they know." – Ben Harper
47. "The world is already so full of conflict. If we want to create more peace in the world, we have to choose not to take things personally and instead respond with understanding, compassion, connection, and peace." - Ben Fizell
48. "The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own." - Benjamin Disraeli
49. "The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart." - Benjamin Franklin
50. "Love will not save you. But it will hold your hand while you save yourself. And in a world that sometimes seems void of goodness, in a world that sometimes feels too heavy to bear, I think that is all we are really searching for. Someone by our side. Someone who grounds us. Someone who will quietly hug us for twenty minutes straight while we figure it all out. I think that is all anyone really needs. Someone who sees them. Someone who stays." - Bianca Sparacino
51. “The highest form of knowledge is empathy.” – Bill Bullard
52. “We have to teach empathy as we do literacy.” – Bill Drayton
53. “Empathy is simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of you’re not alone.” – Brene Brown
54. “There’s nothing that inspires that deep sense of belonging like shared empathy!” ― Brene Brown
55. "Empathy is a connection; it’s a ladder out of the shame hole." – Brene Brown
56. "Empathy has no script. There is no right way or wrong way to do it. It’s simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of ‘You’re not alone." - Brené Brown
57. “If we can share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can’t survive.” – Brene Brown
58. "You’re imperfect, and you’re wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging." - Brené Brown
59. "Sometimes you get what you want. Other times, you get a lesson in patience, timing, alignment, empathy, compassion, faith, perseverance, resilience, humility, trust, meaning, awareness, resistance, purpose, clarity, grief, beauty, and life. Either way, you win." - Brianna Wiest
60. "The people you will always remember are the ones who made you feel loved when you were at your lowest." - Brigitte Nicole
61. "Never define yourself by your relationship status, your income, or your looks. It’s your generosity, kindness, and compassion that counts." - Brigitte Nicole
62. "One of the most important aspects of being a human being, is being able to be in a relationship. Being able to successfully form and maintain a relationship. And at the heart of that capability is the capacity to put yourself in somebody else’s shoes, to see the world as how they see it. That capacity is empathy." – Bruce Perry
63. “Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering.” – Buddha
64. "Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion." - Buddha
65. "Be the reason someone still believes in magic, truth, authenticity, compassion, intelligent conversation, loyalty, courage, and love that doesn’t have an agenda." - Brooke Hampton
66. "The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit. And the habit hardens into character." - Buddha
67. "In separateness lies the world’s great misery, in compassion lies the world’s true strength." - Buddha
68. "What does it mean to hold space for another person? It means that we are willing to walk alongside another person in whatever journey they’re on without judging them, making them feel inadequate, trying to fix them, or trying to impact the outcome. When we hold space for other people, we open our hearts, offer unconditional support, and let go of judgment and control." - Heather Plett
69. “Empathy is the ability to step outside of your own bubble and into the bubbles of other people.” ― C. JoyBell C.
70. “Empathy is a special way of coming to know another and yourself.” – Carl R. Rogers
71. "The state of empathy, or being empathic, is to perceive the internal frame of reference of another with accuracy and with the emotional components and meanings which pertain thereto as if one were the person.” – Carl Roger
72. “No matter who we are, no matter how successful, no matter what our situation, compassion is something we all need to receive and give.” – Catherine Pulsifer
73. “Compassion is about giving all the love that you’ve got.” – Cheryl Strayed
74. “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 Roger
75. “It’s got to do with putting yourself in other people’s shoes and seeing how far you can come to truly understand them. I like the empathy that comes from acting.” - Christian Bale
76. "A moment of self-compassion can change your entire day. A string of such moments can change the course of your life." - Christopher K. Germer
77. "Empathy speaks to us in those silent moments, away from our wounded ego and our wondering heart, in those empty spaces where questions run riot like lost and rejected soldiers… it tells us that each soul is worthy, valued, loved, and honored and we only ever need to face our own shadows, our own pain… and to be our own mirror." – Christine Evangelou
78. “My own feeling is we need more compassion, we need more empathy, we need more togetherness, in terms of working together.” - Cindy McCain
79. "Money is not the root of all evil. A lack of empathy is." – Cole Todd
80. "Empathy is forgetting oneself in the joys and sorrows of another, so much so that you actually feel that the joy or sorrow experienced by another is your own joy and sorrow. Empathy involves complete identification with another." – Dada Vaswani
81. “When good people consider you the bad guy, you develop a heart to help the bad ones. You actually understand them.”― Criss Jami
82. "All men are born firstly with the instinct to protect themselves. But few grow to really love themselves, and even fewer learn to love their neighbor as themselves." – Criss Jami
83. “If your emotional abilities aren’t in hand, if you don’t have self-awareness, if you are not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you can’t have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far.” — Daniel Goleman
84. "The real test of love is loving those who we feel are the hardest ones to love." – Criss Jami
85. "Genuine sincerity opens people’s hearts, while manipulation causes them to close." - Daisaku Ikeda
86. "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." – Dan Pearce
87. "If you find yourself saying ‘But I’m just being honest’, chances are you’ve just been unkind. Honesty doesn’t heal. Empathy does." – Dan Waldschmidt
88. "Empathy represents the foundation skill for all the social competencies important for work.” – Daniel Goleman
89. "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 own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection – or compassionate action." – Daniel Goleman
90. "Empathy is one of our greatest tools of business that is most underused." – Daniel Lubetzky
91. “Empathetic presence involves listening to someone’s pain with what I call the five A’s: attention, acceptance, appreciation, affection, and allowing.”— David Richo
92. “Empathy is about standing in someone else’s shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes. Not only is empathy hard to outsource and automate, but it makes the world a better place.” — Daniel H. Pink
93. "We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
94. “One friend, one person who is truly understanding, who takes the trouble to listen to us as we consider a problem, can change our whole outlook on the world.” – E. H. Mayoli
95. "It’s easy to judge. It’s more difficult to understand. Understanding requires compassion, patience, and a willingness to believe that good hearts sometimes choose poor methods. Through judging, we separate. Through understanding, we grow." Doe Zantamata
96. “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.” ― Dolly Parton
97. “Empathy, sympathy, love, and justice create a place only in such character, where humanity fragrances and tongue stays sober.” – Ehsan Sehgal
98. “No human heart is denied empathy. No religion can demolish that by indoctrination. No culture, no nation and nationalism – nothing can touch it because it is empathy.” — Dayananda Saraswati
99. "Please remember to check in on your strong friend, your busy friend, your happy friend, your ‘seems to handle everything well’ friend." Emily Coxhead
100. "Each person you meet is an aspect of yourself, clamoring for love." – Eric Micha’el Leventhal
101. "Compassion dissolves anger. Understanding why someone behaves the way they do allows for forgiveness when they have mistreated you. Maybe they are insecure, or in pain, or maybe they even suffered some type of abuse in their lifetime, and you can see why they are the way they are. But when your compassion extends to excusing them for treating you poorly, over and over, it not only damages your self-worth, but prevents them from healing as well. Refuse to allow it to continue, for everyone’s sake." - Doe Zantamata
102. “Empathy, humanity and support for each other is more important than revenue, than growth.” — Eric Yuan
103. “Empathy is the greatest virtue. From it, all virtues flow. Without it, all virtues are an act.” – Eric Zorn
104. "If you know someone who has lost a child, and you’re afraid to mention them because you think you might make them sad by reminding them that they died—you’re not reminding them. They didn’t forget they died. What you’re reminding them of is that you remembered that they lived, and …that is a great gift." - Elizabeth Edwards
105. “When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.”― Ernest Hemingway
106. "When a good man is hurt all who would be called good must suffer with him.” – Euripides
107. "If we are to love our neighbors, before doing anything else we must see our neighbors. With our imagination as well as our eyes, that is to say like artists, we must see not just their faces but the life behind and within their faces." – Frederick Buechner
108. “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one…just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”― F. Scott Fitzgerald
109. “I want us to organize, to tell the personal stories that create empathy, which is the most revolutionary emotion.” ― Gloria Steinem
110. “The seeds of care and empathy are built into every human being and a variety of soils and fertilizers will allow those same seeds to grow and flourish.”― Gudjon Bergmann
111. “Empathy is the most radical of human emotions.” ― Gloria Steinem
112. “There is a great deal of empathy between people who are not only of the same age but genetically identical.” ― Gordon Randall Garett
113. "When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares." – Henri Nouwen
114. “There is no force in the world better able to alter anything from its course than love.” – Gregory Boyle
115. “It is true that I am endowed with an absurd sensitiveness, what scratches others tears me to pieces.”― Gustave Flaubert
116. “Empathy is one of humankind’s prized possessions. Acts of consideration and kindness are inevitable when a person can mentally step into someone else’s shoes. Even if it’s just for a moment.”― Izey Victoria Odiase
117. “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.” – Harper Lee
118. "Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eye for an instant?" – Henry David Thoreau
119. "There’s no such thing as a ‘bad kid’—just angry, hurt, tired, scared, confused, impulsive ones expressing their feelings and needs the only way they know how. We owe it to every single one of them to always remember that." - Dr. Jessica Stephens
120. “If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from his angle as well as your own.” – Henry Ford
121. “Yet, taught by time, my heart has learned to glow for other’s good, and melt at other’s woe.” – Homer
122. “Have compassion and empathy in your heart. Many people are suffering deep emotional anguish beneath the surface of their lives, and smile even as they hurt inside.” – Jim Palmer
123. "The heart is like a garden: it can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there?" Jack Kornfield
124. "If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete." - Jack Kornfield
125. “Empathy comes from the Greek empatheia – em (into) and pathos (feeling) – a penetration, a kind of travel. It suggests you enter another person’s pain as you’d enter another country, through immigration and customs, border crossing by way of query: What grows where you are? What are the laws? What animals graze there?” – Leslie Jamison
126. “Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life.” – Jackie Chan
127. “Empathy means both understanding others on their own terms and bringing them within the orbit of one’s own experience.” – Jacob A. Belzen
128. “Only by examining our personal biases can we truly grow as artists; only by cultivating empathy can we truly grow as people.” ― Jen Knox
129. "When a child can’t calm down they need connection and comfort, not criticism and control." - Jane Evans
130. “Look what scares you in the face and try to understand it. Empathy is revolutionary.” ― Jane Fonda
131. "You can’t heal the people you love. You can’t make choices for them. You can’t rescue them. You can promise that they won’t journey alone. You can loan them your map. But this trip is theirs." - Laura Jean Truman
132. “The more empathy you have and the more connected you are to society, the better off you’ll be.” - Jasmila Zbanic
133. “Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping him up.” – Jesse Jackson
134. "Whatever you’re feeling, it will eventually pass. You won’t feel sad forever. At some point, you will feel happy again. You won’t feel anxious forever. In time, you will feel calm again. You don’t have to fight your feelings or feel guilty for having them. You just have to accept them and be good to yourself while you ride this out. Resisting your emotions and shaming yourself will only cause you more pain, and you don’t deserve that. You deserve your own love, acceptance, and compassion." - Lori Deschene
135. "Give whatever you are doing and whoever you are with the gift of your attention." - Jim Rohn
136. “Love is that enviable state that knows no envy or vanity, only empathy and a longing to be greater than oneself.” ― Joe McMahon
137. "The nature of humanity, its essence, is to feel another’s pain as one’s own, and to act to take that pain away. There is a nobility in compassion, a beauty in empathy, a grace in forgiveness.” – John Connolly
138. "It doesn’t hurt to show some empathy." – John Cornyn
139. “There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” – John Holmes
140. "It is an absolute human certainty that no one can know his own beauty or perceive a sense of his own worth until it has been reflected back to him in the mirror of another loving, caring human being." – John Joseph Powell
141. “You can only understand people if you feel them in yourself.” – John Steinbeck
142. "Love is about bottomless empathy, born out of the heart’s revelation that another person is every bit as real as you are." – Jonathan Franzen
143. “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
144. “The arts bridge cultures; they’re good for the economy, and they’re good for fostering empathy and decency.” – Julie Andrews
145. “Stories teach us empathy. They reveal to us ourselves in the skins of others.” - Justin Simien
146. "The truth is we’re all a little bit broken. We must learn to love the broken pieces of ourselves—be gentle and empathetic with ourselves, and others."- Karen Salmansohn
147. "It is well to give when asked but it is better to give unasked, through understanding." - Kahlil Gibran
148. “If it is not tempered by compassion, and empathy, reason can lead men and women into a moral void.” – Karen Armstrong
149. “Empathy frequently informs our earliest days with our infants as we try to figure out what they need, how to comfort and satisfy them.” ― Katherine Ellison
150. "Be the reason someone believes in the goodness of people." - Karen Salmansohn
151. “Leading with integrity and empathy requires vision and a connection to your deepest self.” ― Karla McLaren
152. "You can’t be everyone’s hero. You can’t take away everyone’s pain, solve all their problems, and make them feel happy with themselves and their lives. All you can do is love them, and that’s all you have to do. Just love them in their messiness, their confusion, their grief. See them, hear them, and accept them without judgment. Then let them know it’s okay to be right where they are, and if and when they need you, you’ll be there." - Lori Deschene
153. “Experiencing terrible pain opens our hearts and minds to express compassion for other people and communion with ourselves.”― Kilroy J. Oldster
154. “A child is not born with affection, adoration, and kindheartedness. A person accrues empathy and sympathy from experiencing our own pain.”― Kilroy J. Oldster
155. “Practicing kindness increases our ability to be empathetic. It helps keep our hearts open. And that, truly, is the best way to live.”― Kristi Bowman
156. "Be gentle first with yourself if you wish to be gentle with others." - Lama Yeshe
157. "I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures." - Lao Tzu
158. "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
159. “An empathic person is a good listener, patient, understanding, and kind.” ― Laura Raskin
160. “Empathy is like giving someone a psychological hug.” – Lawrence J
161. "Be the person who breaks the cycle. If you were judged, choose understanding. If you were rejected, choose acceptance. If you were shamed, choose compassion. Be the person you needed when you were hurting, not the person who hurt you. Vow to be better than what broke you—to heal instead of becoming bitter so you can act from your heart, not your pain." - Lori Deschene
162. “Empathy requires knowing that you know nothing.” – Leo Buscaglia
163. “I’m hopeful for a world with more love, acceptance, and compassion for others.” ― Lily Alridge
164. "You may not always see the results of your kindness, but every bit of positive energy you contribute to the world makes it a better place for all of us." - Lisa Currie
165. “Compassion, empathy, and love are the real pillars we need to build within ourselves to become human.” ― Loknath
166. "Love like someone’s life depends on it. Be compassionate, understanding, and kind. You never know who’s crying inside or this close to giving up." - Lori Deschene
167. "We are all wounded people dealing with messy emotions in a confusing, uncertain, sometimes scary world. That doesn’t give anyone the right to be mean, thoughtless, or disrespectful. But remembering this makes it a little easier to think, ‘I hope you heal from your pain’ instead of ‘I hope you hurt like you hurt me.’" - Lori Deschene
168. “We need empathy, we need the eyes that still can weep.” – Lydia Millet
169. "You will never forget a person who came to you with a torch in the dark." - M. Rose
170. "The only time you look in your neighbor’s bowl is to make sure that they have enough. You don’t look in your neighbor’s bowl to see if you have as much as them." – Louis C.K.
171. “I call him religious who understands the suffering of others.”― Mahatma Gandhi
172. “Empathy is a respectful understanding of what others are experiencing.” – Marshall B. Rosenberg
173. "Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?” – Marcus Aurelius
174. "We may have all come in different ships, but we’re in the same boat now." - Martin Luther King Jr.
175. “There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.”― Mary Anne Radmacher
176. "The world isn’t filled with ‘haters’ and ‘toxic people.’ It’s filled with people who are hurting and trying, ineffectively, to give themselves some relief. So distance yourself if you must, but try to do it with empathy, not judgment. The only cure for ‘haters’ is love, so try to show them more kindness than they showed you. This is how we can slowly make the world a more loving place." - Lori Deschene
177. “If we can get man to the moon, we can get man to walk in each other’s shoes.” — Mary Gordon
178. “Compassion is not just sympathy. It is empathy. Genuine compassion is first able to feel their pain.” – Mary Southerland
179. "If we could look into each other’s hearts and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care." - Marvin J. Ashton
180. “Empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking action. It’s the impetus for creating change.” — Max Carver
181. “I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.” – Maya Angelou
182. “Empathy is the faculty to resonate with the feelings of others. When we meet someone who is joyful, we smile. When we witness someone in pain, we suffer in resonance with his or her suffering.” - Matthieu Ricard
183. “The opposite of anger is not calmness, its empathy.” – Mehmet Oz
184. “The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.” – Meryl Streep
185. "My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style." - Maya Angelou
186. “Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.” – Mohsin Hamid
187. "Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals.” ― Neil Gaiman
188. “Humans aren’t as good as we should be in our capacity to empathize with feelings and thoughts of others, be they humans or other animals on Earth. So maybe part of our formal education should be training in empathy. Imagine how different the world would be if, in fact, that were ‘reading, writing, arithmetic, empathy.”” — Neil deGrasse Tyson
189. "We need to teach our children empathy and care and love and communication and social responsibility in preparation for adulthood."" – Maya Soetoro-Ng
190. "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." - Mr. Rogers
191. "Maybe the problem isn’t that you are too sensitive. Maybe the problem is that they lack the emotional intelligence required to process empathy. The problem is that they aren’t sensitive enough." - Nikita Gill
192. "Empathy is how kind hearts breathe." – Nitya Prakash
193. “Feeling too much is a hell of a lot better than feeling nothing.” – Nora Roberts
194. “Empathy is not merely the basic principle of artistic creation. It is also the only path by which one can reach the truth about life and society.” ― Nagai Kafu
195. “It is the weak that expresses aggressiveness to show strength. But real strength, it’s in the gentle.”― Nurudeen Ushawu
196. “The struggle of my life created empathy – I could relate to pain, being abandoned, having people not love me.” – Oprah Winfrey
197. "This capacity for empathy leads to a genuine encounter – we have to progress toward this culture of encounter." – in which heart speaks to heart. – Pope Francis
198. “Leadership is about empathy.”– Oprah Winfrey
199. “It’s the hardest thing in the world to go on being aware of someone else’s pain.” ― Pat Barker
200. “As we learn to have compassion for ourselves, the circle of compassion for others – what and whom we can work with, and how – becomes wider.” ― Pema Chodron
201. "If you look into someone’s face long enough, eventually you’re going to feel that you’re looking at yourself." – Paul Auster
202. "Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals." - Pema Chodron
203. "Meeting a child’s aggression with adult aggression only adds fuel to the fire. To extinguish aggressive behavior meet it with calmness and compassion. Being calm isn’t passive—it’s mature. Be it to teach it." - Rebecca Eanes
204. "You have to learn to care about people without taking on all their problems." - Phylicia Rashad
205. “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” ― Plato
206. “In my view, the best of humanity is in our exercise of empathy and compassion. It’s when we challenge ourselves to walk in the shoes of someone whose pain or plight might seem so different than yours that it’s almost incomprehensible.” - Sarah McBride
207. "Kindness is choosing love over hate, light over darkness, compassion over judgment." - Raktivist
208. "It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
209. “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
210. “The only way to change someone’s mind is to connect with them from the heart.” – Pope Francis
211. "At the end of the day, I’d rather be excluded for who I include than included for who I exclude." - Rev. Eston Williams
212. "Build people up instead of tearing them down, appreciate them instead of taking them for granted, and be kind instead of being insensitive. Let’s focus on compassion and love and let’s make the world a better place." - Rubyanne
213. “People need people who show that they care.” – Richelle E. Goodrich
214. “If you have never suffered through it, then you don’t understand it. There are no exceptions.” – Richelle E. Goodrich
215. "The person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt, a real superhero." - Stan Lee
216. "People are not as beautiful as they look and talk. They are only as beautiful as they love, as they care, as they share." - Ritu Ghatourey
217. “I believe empathy is the most essential quality of civilization.”— Roger Ebert
218. "To embrace suffering culminates in greater empathy, the capacity to feel what it is like for the other to suffer, which is the ground for unsentimental compassion and love." – Stephen Bachelor
219. “All advocacy is, at its core, an exercise in empathy.” — Samantha Power
220. "The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good." - Samuel Johnson
221. "I love when people that have been through hell walk out of the flames carrying buckets of water for those still consumed by the fire." - Stephanie Sparkles
222. "Empathy is a muscle, so it needs to be exercised." – Satya Nadella
223, "You have no idea how long something you say can stay inside someone’s mind." - Scarlett Leithold
224. "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
225. “Empathy is the gateway; compassion is the way.”― Scott Perry
226. “Wherever there is a human being there is an opportunity for kindness.” ― Seneca
227. “Empathy begins with understanding life from another person’s perspective. Nobody has an objective experience of reality. It’s all through our own individual prisms.” — Sterling K. Brown
228. “One of the most important things you can do on this earth is to let people know they are not alone.”― Shannon L. Alder
229. “Kindness can manifest as compassion, as generosity, as paying attention.” – Sharon Salzberg
230. “Whether it is rational or empirical, your approach to life must always be empathetic. Emotional intelligence is acquired when knowledge and empathy are combined and applied to situations regularly in everyday life.”― Stewart Stafford
231. “Like many things in life, your compassion is a skill that can be exercised.” – Simeon Lindstrom
232. “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” ― Simone Weil
233. "You have no idea how many people there are in the world whose day could be made and their life changed for the better if someone would just look them in the eye, smile, and say, ‘Hello.’" - Stormie Omartian
234. "Don’t tell a mother she looks tired; she already knows that. Tell her she’s doing a great job; she may not know that." - Stephanie Peltier
235. “Empathy takes time, and efficiency is for things, not people.” ― Stephen Covey
236. “Empathy is the most mysterious transaction that the human soul can have, and it’s accessible to all of us, but we have to give ourselves the opportunity to identify, to plunge ourselves in a story where we see the world from the bottom up or through another’s eyes or heart.” - Sue Monk Kidd
237. "A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal." - Steve Maraboli
238. “When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you.” – Susan Sarandon
239. “We shall listen, not lecture; learn, not threaten. We will enhance our safety by earning the respect of others and showing respect for them.” - Theodore C. Sorensen
240. "Empathy nurtures wisdom. Apathy cultivates ignorance." – Suzy Kassem
241, “All I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being not just with my hands but with my heart.” ― Tahereh Mafi
242. “If we revision human nature to include our innate capacity for empathy, then acting on behalf of others lead to self-fulfillment, rather than personal privation.” ― Tom Hurley
243. “An exchange of empathy provides an entry point for a lot of people to see what healing feels like.” — Tarana Burke
244. “At the end of the day, love and compassion will win.” ― Terry Waite
245. “Judge tenderly, if you must. There is usually a side you have not heard, a story you know nothing about, and a battle waged that you do not have to fight.” – Traci Lea Larussa
246. “What you don’t realize is that the world does not need more perfection. It needs more compassion and empathy.”― Tessa Dare
247. "Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” – Theodore Roosevelt
248. "Some of you are unaware of just how amazing you really are. The way you make people laugh, lift others up, or spread some extra love. You do this even though you are struggling too, and I think it makes you such a beautiful human being." - Unknown
249. "To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself." - Thich Nhat Hanh
250. “By compassion, we make others’ misery our own, and so, by relieving them, we relieve ourselves also.” ― Thomas Browne
251. "Build someone up. Put their insecurities to sleep. Remind them they’re worthy. Tell them they’re magical. Be a light in a too often dim world." - Unknown
252. "Be the reason someone feels welcome, seen, heard, valued, loved, and supported." - Unknown
253. "Always help someone. You might be the only one who does." - Unknown
254. "If you see someone falling behind, walk beside them. If you see someone being ignored, find a way to include them. If someone has been knocked down, lift them up. Always remind people of their worth. One small act could mean the world to them." - Unknown
255. "I am not impressed by money, status, or job title. I’m impressed by the way you treat other human beings."- Unknown
256. "Your greatest test will be how you handle people who mistreated you." - Unknown
257. "I am an old soul. I love genuine kindness. I love compassion. I love poetry. I love soul connection. I love old books. I love deep conversations. I love depth. I love rawness." Unknown
258. "It wasn’t the trauma that made you strong, kinder, and more compassionate. It’s how you handled it. That credit is yours." - Unknown
259. "Despite all the bad days and mean people, I still believe in good days and kind people. Plus, there are always dogs." - Unknown
260. "So many messages telling those who are struggling to reach out. Fair enough, but part of what depression does is mutes your ability to reach. If you are NOT depressed and you see someone struggling, YOU reach out. If you don’t see someone who used to be around, YOU reach out." - Caissie St. Onge
261. "People don’t always say I love you. Sometimes it sounds like: Be safe. Did you eat? Call me when you get home. I made you this." - Unknown
262. "Be kind to one another. Say a word or two of encouragement. You never know who may need those gentle reminders more than anything today." - Unknown
263. "Sometimes we need someone to simply be there, not to fix anything or do anything in particular, but just to let us feel we are supported and cared about." - Unknown
264. "I will never be that friend who calls you every day, but I will always be that friend you can rely on when your world collapses." - Unknown
265. "Wherever you go, leave a heartprint." - Unknown
266. “Empathy feels these thoughts; your hurt is in my heart, your loss is in my prayers, your sorrow is in my soul, and your tears are in my eyes.” ― William Arthur Ward
267. "The best way to knock the chip off your neighbor’s shoulder is to pat him on the back." - Unknown
268. "Sometimes, what a person needs is not a brilliant mind that speaks, but a patient heart that listens." - Unknown
269. "Feeling safe in someone’s energy is a different kind of intimacy. That feeling of peace and protection is really underrated." - Vanessa Klas
270. "Stop beating yourself up. You are a work in progress; which means you get there a little at a time, not all at once." - Unknown
271. "Love is saying, ‘I feel differently’ instead of ‘you’re wrong.’" - Unknown
272. “Suffering and joy teach us, if we allow them, how to make the leap of empathy, which transports us into the soul and heart of another person.” ― William Fritz
273. "Friendship isn’t a big thing. It’s a million little things." - Unknown
274. "I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person.” – Walt Whitman
275. "Judgments prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances." - Wayne Dyer
276. "When you live on a round planet, there’s no choosing sides."- Wayne Dyer
277. “The little things you do can be very significant to others.”― Wayne Gerard Trotman
278. “If you want more kindness in the world, put some there.”― Zero Dean
279. "We choose our destiny in the way we treat others." - Wit
280. “I feel like songwriting is an experiment in empathy.” ― Zooey Deschanel
Empathy and Compassion Wisdom for Kids
281. Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding. – Albert Einstein
282. You should not judge; you should understand. – Ernest Hemingway
283. Whenever you feel like criticizing any one…just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had. – F. Scott Fitzgerald
284. Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life. – Jackie Chan
285. If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from his angle as well as your own. – Henry Ford
286. If you judge people, you have no time to love them. – Mother Teresa
287. When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you. – Susan Sarandon
288. Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another. – Alfred Adler
289. Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping him up. – Jesse Jackson
290. One of the most important things you can do on this earth is to let people know they are not alone. – Shannon L. Alder
291. Empathy grows as we learn. – Alice Miller
292. Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. – Plato
293. Empathy is a respectful understanding of what others are experiencing. – Marshall B. Rosenberg
294. Empathy grows as we learn. – Alice Miller
295. You can only understand people if you feel them in yourself. – John Steinbeck
296. The little things you do can be very significant to others. – Wayne Gerard Trotman
Empathy and Compassion Wisdom At Workplace
297. The value that I really learned to appreciate deeply and which I talk about a great deal is empathy. I don’t think it is simply a “nice to have” but I believe it is at the centre of the agenda for innovation here at Microsoft – Satya Nadella
298. Empathetic presence involves listening to someone’s pain with what I call the five A’s: attention, acceptance, appreciation, affection, and allowing. – David Richo
299. The greater good is achieved by not only telling people what they need to know but also filling them with a sense of empathy and love. – Abigail Disney
300. What you don’t realize is that the world does not need more perfection. It needs more compassion and empathy. – Tessa Dare
301. One doesn’t have to operate with great malice to do great harm. The absence of empathy and understanding is sufficient. – Charles M. Blow
302. We cannot transform negativity into the positive without empathy, and we cannot truly understand empathy without experiencing it in our present life, in our past, and in our future. – Brian L. Weiss
303. The only way to change someone’s mind is to connect with them from the heart. – Rasheed Ogonlaru
304. No one reaches out to you for compassion or empathy so you can teach them how to behave better. They reach out to us because they believe in our capacity to know our darkness well enough to sit in the dark with them. – Brene Brown
305. A focus on empathy is just what is needed to make the world a better place for all animals, humans, and nonhuman alike. – Marc Bekoff
306. We need to understand the other side to impact the other side. We become much more effective as humans and leaders when we engage in hearty conversations with those who are different from us, not necessarily to change our opinions, but to build the empathy muscle. – Daniel Lubetzky
307. I always think that if you look at anyone in detail, you will have empathy for them because you recognize them as a human being, no matter what they’ve done. – Andrea Arnold
308. Empathy represents the foundation skill for all the social competencies important for work. – Daniel Goleman
309. 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
310. Empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking action. It’s the impetus for creating change. – Max Carver
311. Empathy may be the single most important quality that must be nurtured to give peace a fighting chance. – Arundhati Ray
Please click here to read Steve Maraboli's powerful compassion quote Dare to Be.