Compassion Quotations | Page 4

But let us not forget that human love and compassion are equally deeply rooted in our primate heritage, and in this sphere too our sensibilities are of a higher order of magnitude than those of chimpanzees.

There are many animal-welfare groups that sometimes seem to forget that human beings are animals too, that we need to include them in our sphere of compassion.

Surely it should be a matter of moral responsibility that we humans, different from other animals mainly by virtue of our more highly developed intellect and, with it, our greater capacity for understanding and compassion, ensure that medical progress slowly detaches its roots from the manure of non-human animal suffering and despair.

We are beginning to learn that each animal has a life and a place and a role in this world. If we place compassion and care in the middle of all our dealings with the animal world and honor and respect their lives, our attitudes will change.

We have so far to go to realize our human potential for compassion, altruism, and love.

It is these undeniable qualities of human love and compassion and self-sacrifice that give me hope for the future. We are, indeed, often cruel and evil. Nobody can deny this. We gang up on each one another, we torture each other, with words as well as deeds, we fight, we kill. But we are also capable of the most noble, generous, and heroic behavior.

Let us develop respect for all living things. Let us try to replace violence and intolerance with understanding and compassion. And love.

Mr. Bennet, how can you abuse your own children in such a way? You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion for my poor nerves." "You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these last twenty years at least.

Have a little compassion on my nerves. You tear them to pieces.

In fantasy stories we learn to understand the differences of others, we learn compassion for those things we cannot fathom, we learn the importance of keeping our sense of wonder. The strange worlds that exist in the pages of fantastic literature teach us a tolerance of other people and places and engender an openness toward new experience. Fantasy puts the world into perspective in a way that 'realistic' literature rarely does. It is not so much an escape from the here-and-now as an expansion of each reader's horizons.

Just when all seems to be going right, challenges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously. When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more. He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding, and compassion which polish you for your everylasting benefit.

I had all the characteristics of a human being—flesh, blood, skin, hair—but my depersonalization was so intense, had gone so deep, that my normal ability to feel compassion had been eradicated, the victim of a slow, purposeful erasure. I was simply imitating reality, a rough resemblance of a human being, with only a dim corner of my mind functioning

Nothing excites compassion, in friend and foe alike, as much as the sight of you ker-splonked on the Tarmac with your propeller buried six feet under.

Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.

I have been uplifted by the extraordinary power of the American heart - by those armies of compassion, who are willing to cross town or cross the globe to minister to those they've never met and will never see again.

Every time I sit down to eat, I cast my lot: for mercy, against misery; for the oppressed, against the oppressor; and for compassion, against cruelty. There is a lot of suffering in the world, but how much suffering can be addressed with literally no time or effort on our part? We can just stop supporting it, by making different choices.

"Sentimentalist" is the abuse with which people counter the accusation that they are cruel, thereby implying that to be sentimental is worse that to be cruel, which it isn't.

I don't hold animals superior or even equal to humans. The whole case for behaving decently to animals rests on the fact that we are the superior species. We are the species uniquely capable of imagination, rationality, and moral choice - and that is precisely why we are under an obligation to recognize and respect the rights of animals.

The doctrines contained in the Bible will lift to a superior condition all who observe them; they will impart to them knowledge, wisdom, charity, fill them with compassion and cause them to feel after the wants of those who are in distress.

Let us have compassion upon each other, and let the strong tenderly nurse the weak into strength, and let those who can see guide the blind until they can see the way for themselves.

The life of Jesus suggests that to be like Abba is to show compassion.

The ragamuffin gospel reveals that Jesus forgives sins, including the sins of the flesh; that He is comfortable with sinners who remember how to show compassion; but that He cannot and will not have a relationship with pretenders in the Spirit.

The life of Jesus suggests that to be like Abba is to show compassion. Donald Gray expresses this: "Jesus reveals in an exceptionally human life what it is to live a divine life, a compassionate life.

What makes the Kingdom come is heartfelt compassion: a way of tenderness that knows no frontiers, no labels, no compartmentalizing, and no sectarian divisions.

Our culture says that ruthless competition is the key to success. Jesus says that ruthless compassion is the purpose of our journey.

Live in the wisdom of accepted tenderness. Tenderness awakens within the security of knowing we are thoroughly and sincerely liked by someone... Scripture suggests that the essence of the divine nature is compassion and that the heart of God is defined by tenderness.

Whenever I allow anything but tenderness and compassion to dictate my response to life--be it self-righteous anger, moralizing, defensiveness, the pressing need to change others...I am alienated from my true self. My identity as Abba's child [a child of God] becomes ambiguous, tentative and confused

I'm still a researcher. The best way to explain it is that I trusted myself deeply as a professional, but I did not have a lot of self-trust personally. When I started learning all of these things about the value and the importance of belonging, vulnerability, connection, self-kindness and self-compassion, I trusted what I was learning - again, I know I'm a good researcher. When those things and wholeheartedness started to emerge with all these different properties, I knew I had to listen. I'd heard these messages before personally but I didn't trust myself there.

We can talk about courage and love and compassion until we sound like a greeting card store, but unless we're willing to have an honest conversation about what gets in the way of putting these into practice in our daily lives, we will never change. Never, ever.

Compassion is not a virtue -- it is a commitment. It's not something we have or don't have -- it's something we choose to practice.

We cannot ignore our pain and feel compassion for it at the same time.

I now see how gifts like courage, compassion, and connection only work when they are exercised. Every day.

Let go of who you think you should be in order to be who you are. Be imperfect and have compassion for yourself. Connection is the result of authenticity.

We can’t practice compassion with other people if we can’t treat ourselves kindly.

Spirituality emerged as a fundamental guidepost in Wholeheartedness. Not religiosity but the deeply held belief that we are inextricably connected to one another by a force greater than ourselves--a force grounded in love and compassion. For some of us that's God, for others it's nature, art, or even human soulfulness. I believe that owning our worthiness is the act of acknowledging that we are sacred. Perhaps embracing vulnerability and overcoming numbing is ultimately about the care and feeding of our spirits.

Spirituality is recognizing and celebrating that we are all inextricably connected to each other by a power greater than all of us, and that our connection to that power and to one another is grounded in love and compassion. Practicing spirituality brings a sense of perspective, meaning and purpose to our lives.

Ask yourself if these Democrats still speak for you. When they say we have a duty to grow government even when we can't afford it, does it sound like compassion to you - or recklessness?

I don't understand love quite honestly. I think compassion is important but love fizzles out eventually. But if there is compassion in a relationship, things can always be worked out.

Internal and external are ultimately one. When you no longer perceive the world as hostile, there is no more fear, and when there is no more fear, you think, speak and act differently. Love and compassion arise, and they affect the world.

True freedom and the end of suffering is living in such a way as if you had completely chosen whatever you feel or experience at this moment. This inner alignment with Now is the end of suffering. Is suffering really necessary? Yes and no. If you had not suffered as you have, there would be no depth to you as a human being, no humility, no compassion. You would not be reading this now. Suffering cracks open the shell of ego, and then comes a point when it has served its purpose. Suffering is necessary until you realize it is unnecessary.

When your sense of self is no longer tied to thought, is no longer conceptual, there is a depth of feeling, of sensing, of compassion, of loving, that was not there when you were trapped in mental concepts. You are that depth.

Is suffering really necessary? Yes and no. If you had not suffered as you have, there would be no depth to you, no humility, no compassion.

Compassion is the awareness of a deep bond between yourself and all creatures.

Many of these Americans who are struggling to survive are Americans of color, .. Their cries for assistance confront America with a test of our moral compass as a nation.

How we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. If God brings to mind mostly fear and blame, it means there is too much fear and blame welled inside us. If we see God as full of love and compassion, so are we.

Even in darkness it is possible to create light and encourage compassion. That it is possible to feel free inside a prison. That even in exile, friendship exists and can become an anchor. That one instant before dying, man is still immortal.

Perhaps fate isn't blind after all. Perhaps it's capable of fantasy, even compassion.

A Jew must be sensitive to the pain of all human beings. A Jew cannot remain indifferent to human suffering... The mission of the Jewish people has never been to make the world more Jewish, but to make it more human.

In the face of suffering, one has no right to turn away, not to see.

Difficult situations require compassion, level-headedness & the empathy to see issues from somebody else's perspective.

I believe that women have a capacity for understanding and compassion which a man structurally does not have, does not have it because he cannot have it. He's just incapable of it.

If you can't find it in your own heart to be compassionate look in someone else's before giving up on love altogether.

I am prone to envy. It is one of my three default emotions, the others being greed and rage. I have also experienced compassion and generosity, but only fleetingly and usually while drunk, so I have little memory.

We've sweated and torn out our hair trying to reconstruct our chosen lives, to fashion them like literary sculptures, at once monumental and yet human. We've applied all of our intelligence, our empathy, our critical faculties, our compassion - and we think, in our delusion, that it's still 1960, and our work is going to get noticed.

Let us subdue the ravages of the baser-self, and aspire to the higher calling of exalting joy through compassion, for that is the one true purpose of humanity.

Evolve your understanding of success from the outer realm of control, materialism, and ego, to the inner realm of surrender, spirituality, and compassion.

The expansion of your own consciousness, love capacity, humility and compassion - this is the path; this is the way.

We must quit thinking we know everything, and quit placing "knowledge" over kindness and compassion.

The solution to nearly every problem in the world comes down to greater awareness, compassion, and empathy.

You cannot save people from themselves. All you can do is stand firmly in your hopes for them, with compassion.

Kindness and compassion towards all living things is a mark of a civilized society. Conversely, cruelty, whether it is directed against human beings or against animals, is not the exclusive province of any one culture or community of people.

Kindness and compassion toward all living things is the mark of a civilized society.

Compassion should be our animating principle when undertaking instruction with children and adults, since they are made in God's image.

The hope for the twentieth century rests on recognition that war and depression are man-made, and needless. They can be avoided in the future by turning from the nineteenth-century characteristics just mentioned (materialism, selfishness, false values, hypocrisy, and secret vices) and going back to other characteristics that our Western Society has always regarded as virtues: generosity, compassion, cooperation, rationality, and foresight, and finding a increased role in human life for love, spirituality, charity, and self discipline.

Harden our hearts to the innocents in the womb, and we have hardened our hearts to the need for compassion, and mercy, and fellow-feeling, and charity, and decency in this world.

A state has the right to prohibit the killing of dogs and bears whether for film or for other purposes.

Rather than saying 'I hate mess', it might draw more compassion to say, 'mess terrifies me as a harbinger of catastrophe'.

Few things are so deadly as a misguided sense of compassion.

Authentic Christians are persons who stand apart from others. Their character seems deeper, their ideas fresher, their spirit softer, their courage greater, their leadership stronger, their concerns wider, their compassion more genuine and their convictions more concrete.

Life is too short and the world too compassion-starved for you to keep subsisting in situations that drag you down and curtail your potential to help advance the Kingdom. There's just too much at stake.

National Health Insurance means combining the efficiency of the Postal Service with the compassion of the I.R.S. ... and the cost accounting of the Pentagon.

The god of compassion is NOT the god of justice.

Compassion without wisdom is dangerous. It's what enables people to support the 'underdog,' even if the underdog is evil

I see compassion may become a justice, though it be a weakness, I confess, and nearer a vice than a virtue.

Success is the ability to meet worthy goals, but it's also the ability to love and have compassion and the ability to get in touch with your creative center, to transform yourself toward more peaceful and just pursuits. I hope we redefine success. Otherwise, we'll see more of what we're already seeing - more aggression, more burnout, more Wall Street scandals, more war, more terrorism, more eco-destruction.

Our most natural state is joy. It is the foundation for love, compassion, healing, and the desire to alleviate suffering.

There is a need for everyone's brain to be imprinted with more self-enhancing impulses: the impulse to peace over violence, love over fear, compassion over selfishness.

My definition of success is: 1.) The progressive realization of worthy goals 2.) The ability to love and have compassion 3.) To be in touch with the creative source within.

When you expand your awareness, your energy flows freely. You're more flexible, balanced, and creative. You view yourself and the world with more compassion and understanding. You have more energy and are open to new possibilities.

Compassion is a living, breathing, organic emotion that vibrates through you and links you to those around you.

The true spiritual secret is this: what you seek, you already are. True success is discovering your inner divinity~ it's the ability to love and have compassion, trust your intuition, and awaken to your unlimited creative nature.

In democratic ages men rarely sacrifice themselves for another, but they show a general compassion for all the human race. One never sees them inflict pointless suffering, and they are glad to relieve the sorrows of others when they can do so without much trouble to themselves. They are not disinterested, but they are gentle.

Like all Americans, members of the Stanford community feel great compassion for the many who have suffered loss and a desire to respond to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, ... We are committed to helping out in whatever way we can, and we hope these efforts will make a small contribution to the outpouring of relief to victims of this disaster.

lead in promotion of spirituality and compassion for humanity.

Many times I'm overwhelmed by the compassion of the city,

Senator Santorum's remarks are deeply discriminatory and are antithetical to bringing people together. If this is how the president defines inclusion, then it clearly calls into question the depth of compassion in his conservatism.

Self-pity comes so naturally to all of us, that the most solid happiness can be shaken by the compassion of a fool.

She had the biggest heart, the most compassion I've ever seen.

Most people have come to prefer certain of lifes experiences and deny and reject others, unaware of the value of the hidden things that may come wrapped in plain and even ugly paper. In avoiding all pain and seeking comfort at all costs, we may be left without intimacy or compassion; in rejecting change and risk we often cheat ourselves of the quest; in denying our suffering we may never know our strength or our greatness.

Missouri is a compassionate state. And I think that in a very special way, they have demonstrated the compassion which they have, ... And I hope that the outcome of this election is a matter of comfort to Mrs. Carnahan. And I hope that we can all accord her the opportunity to have the kind of necessary recovery time after such a great personal loss.

Mr. Kushner said he has great sympathy and compassion for the governor, and his heart goes out to him.

Meanwhile, it seems, the world is suffering from compassion fatigue,

My illusion is dispelled by Your profound words, that You spoke out of compassion towards me, about the supreme secret of the Self.

None of us as parents brought up our children to be this way, ... We all have some turn out to be bad apples ... As one parent to another, I have a lot of compassion for him.

My daughter said, 'we have to do something,' and she called the Red Cross, ... She has a lot of compassion and made me proud.

Muslims were seen as a threat to religious values and survival. The difference between the Muslim-world and America is viewed as a clash of cultures by many. What's missing is empathy. Many human beings have plenty of compassion for the plight of their own people. It's the 'I've suffered more than you syndrome.' It's that kind of thinking that divides people.

Mortality is a proper object to invite our pity, and privation of life alone sufficient to move compassion in the living.

Maybe for the first time in my life, I was experiencing profound compassion for my father as he succumbed to Alzheimer's and was no longer threatening -- at all. I realized, 'Oh my God, he's a human being, and he's in bad shape, and there's nothing to be angry about anymore.' And then when the anger dropped, I just felt for him. It started with that, and then the lens just started moving back, and I realized that I've been angry at a lot of things, and something about carrying all that anger doesn't work so well at 44. It was kinda cool in my teens and 20s. Then in my 30s it started to be exhausting. And in my 40s, you know, I'm just too tired to be angry.

New Jersey families sent Congressman Scott Garrett to Washington to represent their values and compassion in Congress. Today, he has shown that he represents neither. Americans from every community in the country have selflessly donated millions of dollars to help those who so desperately need food, water and medical attention. When Congress had its chance to support the effort, Congressman Garrett opposed it.

My sense is that since we have been there before, we have more compassion and understanding than maybe a lot of people would because we've had that experience,