Although it may be easier said than done, being an empath is one of the best ways to make the world around you a better place. Here are some quotes about empathy to highlight its importance and encourage you to practice it every day.
Empathy can be defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. It is the ability to be aware of other people’s emotions, experiences, and perspectives.
Empathy is one of the most important skills you can practice in life. It is crucial for our personal development and for society in general. We need empathy to form harmonious relationships, minimize stress, and improve emotional intelligence.
Although being an empath takes skill and can often be tricky, you can develop that skill by practicing a few simple habits. You can practice empathy by taking the time to observe the people around you and genuinely care about their well-being.
When you’re conversing with other people, take a moment to listen instead of just rushing to respond. This will help you understand their emotional state and the deeper motivations behind their statements.
Table of Contents
50 quotes of empathy for children and adults
1. “All I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being not just with my hands but with my heart.”
Tahereh Mafi
2. “I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to show it.”
Maya Angelou
3. “Empathy is simply listening, retaining judgment, connecting emotionally, and communicating that incredibly healing message that you are not alone.”
Brene Brown
4. “You can only understand people if you feel them in yourself.”
John Steinbeck
5. “The highest form of knowledge is empathy.”
Bill Bullard
6. “When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you.”
susan sarandon
7. “The hardest thing in the world is being aware of someone else’s pain.”
pat barker
8. “It is not possible to keep the peace using force; it can only be achieved through understanding.”
Albert Einstein
9. “Anyone who has experienced a certain amount of loss in their life feels empathy for those who have experienced it.”
Anderson Cooper
10. “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 change a life.”
Leo Buscaglia
11. “When people talk, listen to them fully. Most people never listen.”
Ernest Hemingway
12. “Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for goodness.”
Seneca
13. “Empathy means understanding others on your own terms and bringing them into the orbit of your own experience.”
Jacob A. Belzen
14. “I call him religious who understands the suffering of others.”
Mahatma Gandhi
15. “Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual pettiness. It is the ability to understand that every war is won and lost. And that someone else’s pain is just as significant as your own.”
Barbara Kingsolver
16. “The functions of the intellect are insufficient without courage, love, friendship, compassion and empathy.”
dean koontz
17. “Learning to stand in someone 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
18. “One of the most important things you can do in this world is to let people know that they are not alone.”
Shannon L Alder
19. “I believe that empathy is the most essential quality of civilization.”
Roger Ebert
20. “The only way to change someone’s mind is to connect with them from the heart.”
Rasheed Ogunlaru
21. “Every time you are about to point out a flaw in another person, ask yourself the following question: What flaw in me is similar to the one I am about to criticize?”
Marcus Aurelius
22. “When you show deep empathy towards others, your defensive energy goes down and is replaced by positive energy. This is how you can get more creative in solving problems.”
Stephen Covey
23. “The opposite of hate is not calm, it is empathy.”
Mehmed Oz
24. “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, remember that not everyone has had the same opportunities as you have.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald
25. “We must learn to consider people not in the light of what they do or omit to do, but in the light of what they suffer.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
26. “You can’t make a kind gesture too soon because you don’t know when it will be too late.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
27. “Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another and feeling with the heart of another.”
alfred adler
28. “Never look down on anyone unless you are helping them up.”
Jess Jackson
29. “We need to have empathy. When we lose empathy, we lose our humanity.”
Goldie Hawn
30. “Empathy is the greatest virtue. From it all other virtues flow.”
Eric Zorn
31. “I don’t ask the injured person how they feel. I myself become the injured person.”
Walt Whitman
32. “If there is a secret to success, it lies in the ability to see the other person’s point of view.”
Henry Ford
33. “The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.”
meryl streep
34. “When a good man suffers, everyone who considers himself good must suffer with him.”
Euripides
35. “Love is an enviable state that knows no envy or vanity, only empathy and the desire to be greater than oneself.”
Thomas More
36. “Empathy is a respectful understanding of what others are experiencing.”
marshall rosenberg
37. “There is no small act of kindness. Every act of compassion makes the world bigger.”
Mary Anne Radmacher
38. “Empathy is the starting point to create a community and act. It is the impetus to create change.”
Max Carver
39. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view, until you get into their skin and walk with them.”
Harper Lee
40. “You cannot understand another person well and do something else at the same time.”
M. Scott Peck
41. “Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in you.”
mohsin hamid
42. “If talking is silver, listening is gold.”
turkish proverb
43. “Empathy is a special way of getting to know another and yourself.”
Carl R. Rogers
44. “Empathy is the complete presence to what is alive in another person in the present moment.”
John Cunningham
45. “Empathy represents the foundational skill for all important soft skills at work.”
Daniel Golemann
46. “No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
Theodore Roosevelt
47. “If we can put a man on the moon, we can make a man walk in another’s shoes.”
Mary Gordon
48. “The nature of humanity, its essence, is to feel the pain of others as our own and act to eliminate that pain. There is a nobility in compassion, a beauty in empathy, a grace in forgiveness.”
John Connolly
49. “The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most revealing signs of a culture that is about to descend into barbarism.”
Hannah Arendt
50. “We think we listen but very rarely do we listen with true understanding, with true empathy. However, listening is something very special, it is one of the most powerful forces for change that I know.”
carl rogers
Which of these empathy quotes is your favorite?
When you try and experience other people’s realities, it will help you get along better and feel better. I hope that these quotes have inspired and motivated you to practice empathy and be the best person you can be.
Did you enjoy these empathy quotes? I’d love to hear all about it in the comments section below.