When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you

 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.

I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it

 Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another

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

If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.

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?

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.

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

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

I told you once that I was searching for the nature of evil. I think I’ve come close to defining it: a lack of empathy. Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.

“All I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being not just with my hands but with my heart.” 

“The highest form of knowledge is empathy.”

“It’s the hardest thing in the world to go on being aware of someone else’s pain.”

“Empathetic presence involves listening to someone’s pain with what I call the five A’s: attention, acceptance, appreciation, affection, and allowing.”

“One of the most important things you can do on this earth is to let people know they are not alone.”

“The only way to change someone’s mind is to connect with them from the heart.”

 “The most important thing is that we need to be understood. We need someone to be able to listen to us and to understand us. Then we will suffer less.”

“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.”