Everyone benefits from compassion in their lives, yup, even lawyers. Compassion is what makes life a bit more bearable, because being good and kind to others brings back the feelings triple-fold. Well, supposedly, but if you don’t believe in empathy, you’ve probably lost your faith in humanity as a whole. And if that’s the case, try and read these compassion quotes - they might just restore the equilibrium. And if you do believe in kindness wholeheartedly, then read these empathy quotes anyway, as they might motivate you to keep doing what you are already doing!
These kindness quotes are going to talk hard about that selfless love for others. A thing that’s like a unicorn, indeed - we all think it doesn’t exist, but then again, does a horse with a horn seem more probable, or a cow with a three-story-long neck? Huh? And these quotes about compassion will convince you that that kind of love does exist and not only in theory! Overall, if you’re looking for something to make your day just a tiny bit better, these positive quotes will give you that boost of optimism - a total win-win situation on your hands.
So, get ready for some genuinely heartwarming quotes coming your way! Read these quotes about empathy, feel that much better about humanity, and give your vote to the most inspiring phrases you read. After that, share this article with your friends, for they too might need something beautiful in their day.
This post may include affiliate links.
"Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive." — Dalai Lama
"Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you." — Princess Diana
"Love and compassion are the true religions to me. But to develop this, we do not need to believe in any religion." — Dalai Lama
"Use your voice for kindness, your ears for compassion, your hands for charity, your mind for truth, and your heart for love."
"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
"Give compassion: every day the average person fights epic battles never told just to survive." — Ken Poirot
"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
"Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t appreciate kindness and compassion." — Dalai Lama
"Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life." — Jackie Chan
"Understanding someone's suffering is the best gift you can give another person. Understanding is love's other name. If you don't understand, you can't love." — Thich Nhat Hanh
"There is no such thing as tough love. Love is kind, love is compassionate, love is tender." — Heather Wolf
"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
"Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind." — Henry James
"We forget some of the oldest medicines we have are love and compassion, and they can be deployed by everyone." — Vivek Murthy
"In compassion, when we feel with the other, we dethrone ourselves from the center of our world and we put another person there." — Karen Armstrong
"We can’t heal the world today but we can begin with a voice of compassion, a heart of love, an act of kindness." — Mary Davis
"One thing is for sure—you will make mistakes. Learn to learn from them. Learn to forgive yourself. Learn to laugh when everything falls apart because, sometimes, it will." — Vironika Tugaleva
"If you understand the difficulty and problems a person faces, you will tend to be compassionate and try to heal their wounds." — Anthony Aries
"Being compassionate helps with anger and resolves bitterness more easily than anything." — Brittany Hallison
"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
"There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world." — Mary Anne Radmacher
"Drop the people who do not value you, respect you. Life has infinite horizons. Accept yourself, love yourself, and move forward." — Amit Ray
"True happiness comes from having a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved by cultivating altruism, love and compassion, and by eliminating anger, selfishness and greed." — Dalai Lama
"But if we cultivate the seeds of compassion, we nourish peace within us and around us." — Thich Nhat Hanh
"We are in great need of people being able to stand in somebody else’s shoes and see the world through their eyes." — Barack Obama
"There is no beauty in receiving without giving. True compassion lies in what you can do for someone else." — Olivia Benjamin
"A leader must be humble and serve with humility, compassion and love." — Leadership Wisdom Institute
"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 nobility in compassion, a beauty in empathy, a grace in forgiveness." — John Connolly
"Let our hearts be stretched out in compassion toward others, for everyone is walking his or her own difficult path." — Dieter F. Uchtdorf
"Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change." — Bob Kerrey
"That is what compassion does. It challenges our assumptions, our sense of self-limitation, worthlessness, of not having a place in the world. As we develop compassion, our hearts open." — Sharon Salzberg
"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
"Don’t change your self-criticism habit. Change your habitual reactions to self-criticism." — Yong Kang Chan
"Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion." — Jack Kornfield
"Having compassion starts and ends with having compassion for all those unwanted parts of ourselves." — Pema Chodron
"Taking time to relax every day, spending quality time with friends, and practicing mindfulness are some of the tried and tested ways of developing self-compassion." — Dr. Prem Jagyasi
"Together, we are going to create a world with more love, more understanding, and more compassion. When we see beyond the surface and get to know people for their stories, for their unique experiences, and for their distinct gifts, hate becomes impossible and love becomes inevitable." — Laura Jack
"Develop compassion for someone who hurt you rather showing bitterness that will enable you to forgive them and make you feel comfortable." — Lisa Adams
"Research shows that the more compassionate we are toward ourselves, the happier we are and the more resilient we become when faced with difficult events in our lives." — Paul Gilbert PhD
"Cultivating compassion for ourselves and others can bring balance and harmony to our lives in a way we never dreamed of." — Thubten Chodron
"Like many things in life, your compassion is a skill that can be exercised." — Simeon Lindstrom
"Kindness can manifest as compassion, as generosity, as paying attention." — Sharon Salzberg
"God wants you live your life to be an example to others. He also wants you to share his compassion and love with those around you . Your purpose is not for you to continue to live only for yourself." — James Strand
"Compassion is not just sympathy. It is empathy. Genuine compassion is first able to feel their pain." — Mary Southerland
"Compassion, as opposed to pity, allows us to see ourselves in others and tugs at our heart until we find a way to prevent or relieve the other's suffering." — Linda Barbosa
"Compassion is supposed to hurt. If you can't feel the pain of those around you, it is you who has the problem - not them." — Josh Brendan
"When you manage your emotions and act with compassion, you are behaving as the real you." — Zeeshan Raza
"But if all members of the relationship truly strive for these things then forgiveness, compassion, and mercy are there when needed. The relationship will grow and become strong." — Jason A. Ponzio
"Michelle and I learned that sin was both personal and systemic, and everyone, no matter race and color, mattered equally to God. It was out of that commitment we began to reach out with compassion to the people in our new city." — Tim Orr
"You can cultivate mercy when you extend acts of compassion and kindness to yourself and to other people." — Bree Miller
"Although something inside us yearns to walk on air, never touching the ground, compassion brings us down to earth." — Marc Ian Barasch
"Self-esteem is closely tied to compassion for others and compassion for yourself." — Matthew McKay
"If compassion without wisdom is blind, compassion without action is hypocritical." – Matthieu Ricard
"We've noticed that people who have failed are more generous with their compassion, more extravagant with their love, and less inhibited in their expressions of both. I think it's because these people spend less time caring about what their lives look like and more time figuring out what their lives are about." — Bob Goff
"There is no time in a person's life when a rose of compassion is more appreciated than when they are in desert times of trials." — Patricia Partney Dascher
"Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless." — Eric Hoffer
"A relationship has several foundational core elements that, if absent, are a recipe for divorce, or extreme sadness and conflict in your relationship. Foundational elements include trust, honesty, mutual respect, empathy, and compassion." — Laura Raskin
"No child is born with a really cold heart, and it is only in proportion as we lose that youthful heart that we lose the inner warmth in ourselves." — Lin Yutang
"We do not need power to be compassionate, but we need compassion to be powerful." — Adolfo Quezada
"Because of my mom's compassion, direction, and knowledge, she gives me that extra push to be the best person I can be." — Diana Lopez
"What is kindness? For me, it is about treating people how you would want to be treated – but, with so many of us living out our lives on social media, it can be harder and harder to show compassion to those around us." — Katie Piper
"Whenever we love or care for anything in our lives we're willing to respond with care and with compassion, but if something that we love or someone we love is threatened, we're also willing to respond with courage." — Eric Greitens
"There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up." — John Holmes
"I love this life and even if to be taken from me, I will love that you have yours. Cherish all life, for life, is worth cherishing." — Tom Althouse
"Self-compassion is like a muscle. The more we practice flexing it, especially when life doesn’t go exactly according to plan (a frequent scenario for most of us), the stronger and more resilient our compassion muscle becomes." — Sharon Salzberg
"It is a lack of love for ourselves that inhibits our compassion toward others. If we make friends with ourselves, then there is no obstacle to opening our hearts and minds to others."
"Having compassion for yourself means that you honor and accept your humanness." — Kristen Neff
"When we give ourselves compassion, we are opening our hearts in a way that can transform our lives." — Kristin Neff
"And as I’ve gotten older, I’ve had more of a tendency to look for people who live by kindness, tolerance, compassion, a gentler way of looking at things." — Martin Scorsese
"Creating uplifting environment for others through the words we use and showing compassion goes outside of the home as well." — Chris Johnston
"If you place kindness and compassion as the heart of what you do, you will create a ripple effect that will benefit the 'individual' and the 'company' in equal measure." — Glen Hall
"Let's choose each day and every day to keep an attitude of faith and joy and belief and compassion." — Charles Swindoll
"Many people involved in the mental health professions are beginning to understand that compassion can play a role in helping us to work with difficult emotions." — Russell Kolts
"Compassion can be defined in many ways, but its essence is a basic kindness, with a deep awareness of the suffering of oneself and of other living things, coupled with the wish and effort to relieve it." — Paul Gilbert
"As teachers, we need to have compassion for our students, to look at where they're coming from, and to intuit their particular strengths and limits." — Tim Gunn
"The individual is capable of both great compassion and great indifference. He has it within his means to nourish the former and outgrow the latter." — Norman Cousins
"I usually find that the best way to describe self-compassion is to start with a more familiar experience - compassion for others. After all, compassion is the same whether we direct it to ourselves or to other people." — Kristin Neff
"Converting your energy to compassion and understanding, once you accept this reality, helps our own healing; that type of energy is more positive and calming." — Lisa Kardos
"Self-compassion doesn’t depend on external forces. You don’t need an applauding audience to experience it." — Padraig O’Morain
"I am reminded that we must show compassion to others. I am reminded that my circumstances are not as bad as I might think they are." — Jason Ponzio
"A person with much compassion is likely to be more favorable to another than a human being with little or no sympathy." — Jimi Akanbi
"Every time you choose to treat yourself and your child with more compassion, you take a step towards inner peace and more happiness." — Laura Markham
"We need to gain compassion, love, and acceptance and to let go of loathing, judgement, criticism, anger, and hate (for ourselves and others)." — Michael Smith
"As children of God, we need genuine compassion for others, even those with whom we may not necessarily be able to relate or with whom we don't have shared experience." — Shari Howerton
"Together, self-awareness and a positive relation to yourself create a powerful force, a combination I call compassionate self-awareness. Blended properly, they are like Miracle-Gro for the soul." — Leslie Becker-Phelps
"When the people become involved in their government, government becomes more accountable, and our society is stronger, more compassionate, and better prepared for the challenges of the future." — Arnold Schwarzenegger
"Compassion can be thought of as full emotional engagement with the other, as in suffering with them, where you experience little if any separation between you and the other person, animal, plant, or character. Their suffering is your suffering. It's a single universal, transcendently shared, emotional experience." — Albert Flynn DeSilver
"Compassion in the heart has right of way. So practise not restraint; to prudence do not bow; the weary one and faint needs your swift kindness now." — Wilhelmina Stitch
"World over, the single most desirable trait in your partner, friend, parent, teacher, neighbor, colleague, or child is kindness. Kindness is the daily practice of compassion." — Amit Sood
"Evil has no power over the compassion I feel for humanity. My prayer is that we as a species will survive this narrow entrance into the next age, and that many more of us will touch the sweet spot of our humility." — Debra Silverman
"The value of compassion cannot be over-emphasized. Anyone can criticize. It takes a true believer to be compassionate. No greater burden can be borne by an individual than to know no one cares or understands." — Arthur H. Stainback
"You know the power of compassion. You have encountered moments when your walls of defense and resistance crumbled and profound compassion emerged, and your heart has been comforted and altered by the compassion, tenderness, and forgiveness you have received from others." — Christina Feldman
"Compassion automatically invites you to relate with people because you no longer regard people as a drain on your energy." — Chogyam Trungpa
"Sometimes in bereavement a friend will come and just sit with you, not necessarily saying anything at all. The simple act of being there conveys love and compassion and a willingness to help." — Margaret Weston
"Compassion, on the other hand, can be the lifeline someone needs to find his or her way through the darkness." — Eleze 'Lisa' Thomas-McMillan
"If we could only see the other person with the eyes of God, if we could only look at them with the full love and compassion of Jesus Christ flowing through our hearts it would become impossible for us to withhold forgiveness from them, no matter what wrong they had committed against us." — Paula Casill
"We have to love our neighbours, and to do good to all. Our actions are to be geared towards people, not structures; relieving needs, not removing causes; showing compassion, not pushing for reform." — Brian Johnston
"As Abraham became a teenager, he began to distance himself from his father. His sense of alienation may have originated at the time of his mother's death, when he needed more support and compassion than his stolid father was able to give." — David Herbert Donald
"It is in knowing suffering, in all its darkest places and with all its most harrowing faces, that we are brought to a place of fierce compassion for others and, perhaps one day, for ourselves." — Joanne Cacciatore
"I love my ability to generate empathy and compassion within myself and others." — Asia Kate Dillon
"Literature is always about bygone times. It's always looking back in time with a certain perspective. I look at bygone life which no longer exists, and as I said, I look at it without nostalgia but without anger, either. I look at it with criticism and with compassion. I look at it with curiosity." — Amos Oz
"We have to be a nation of compassion and some sort of humanity when it comes to the treatment of other human beings." — Rashida Tlaib
"Creating unity and compassion and understanding of each of our brothers and sisters is so powerful. We have to preach that to the ones that don't want to listen and understand." — Bubba Wallace
"Whether it's a song or a television show, or a book or poem, art is the thing that cracks me open and encourages me to go on a deeper journey to find my own compassion and empathy and humanity." — Asia Kate Dillon
"At the end of the day, I believe we can all work to foster a spirit of compassion, understanding, and awareness within our communities." — Kenny Stills
"Compassion is at the heart of every little thing we do. It is the dearest quality we possess. Yet all too often it can be cast aside with consequences too tragic to speak of. To lose our compassion, we lose what it is to be human."
"We should be thankful that God is a longsuffering and compassionate God Who keeps on blessing us inspite of our ungratefulness." — Daniella Whyte
"Compassion can't be satisfied with selfish endeavors. It needs someone to fellowship with, give to and bless. Compassion needs someone on whom it can pour out its goodness." — Kenneth Copeland
"When we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the imprisoned, we bear witness to the compassion of Christ." — R.C. Sproul
"Since you accept yourself compassionately, it probably follows that you accept others as well in the same manner, and that you are an optimist with an outgoing personality, all necessary ingredients for a well equilibrated approach to life." — Charles C. Malone
"Every millennial needed to grow up in an environment where Christianity was not just something for Sunday morning, but rather, a life of compassion, forgiveness and commitment all week long." — Dan Delzell
"As I explain God's heart of goodness and how He wants to extend His mercy and compassion not only to you, but through you so that His goodness reaches those who need it most." — Bill Vincent
"Though his ministry is one of compassion, Jesus is an agitator. His presence is polarizing, forcing people to take sides; there is no fence-sitting." — Daniel Hochhalter
"Prison life deepened his (Nelson Mandela) compassion and generosity and also solidified his understanding of the human condition." — Abraham Mutwol
"Self-compassion is a crucial practice for parents. If we continually give to others without nurturing ourselves, our emotional gas tank will be stuck on empty. By nurturing and supporting ourselves, we will have more emotional resources to give to our children." — Kim Fredrickson
"The human greed and fear that are causing much of the suffering seem out of control. But when our hearts open in the midst of this, we want to help. This is the experience of compassion. Compassion is the tender opening of our hearts to pain and suffering. When compassion arises in us, we see and acknowledge what we often push away - away - the parts of life that cause us sadness, anger, or outrage." — Ram Dass
"When we come into contact with the other person, our thoughts and actions should express our mind of compassion, even if that person says and does things that are not easy to accept. We practice in this way until we see clearly that our love is not contingent upon the other person being lovable." — Thich Nhat Hanh
"Until he extends his circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace." — Albert Schweitzer
"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, human liberty as the source of national action, the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas." — John F. Kennedy
"Jesus was driven by tenderness and compassion to deal forthrightly and convincingly with any issue that might have separated His loved ones from Him." — Keith Intrater
"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose." — Gregory Brown
"When we feel charity and compassion for others, then we know the Savior." — Lindsey K. Rietzsch
"There is no greater news that anyone could share. The fact that the God of the universe looked at us with compassion and lovingly chose to intervene into the mess we had created is utterly amazing." — John Stange
"Guru Nanak Dev ji's life and teachings give a message of affection, compassion and brotherhood for the entire humanity." — Ram Nath Kovind
"Compassion, hope, and opportunity are some of the most fundamentally American values that we should fight like hell to protect." — Jay Inslee
"History is not merely a procession of people in fancy dress fighting wars. It is crucially the story of man's evolution from grunting cave dweller to serious thinker, from cruelly retributive law to merciful law, from casual barbarism to care and compassion." — Ann Widdecombe
"God does not live in unreachable heights, He fervently waits for our prayers,
God is a Judge whose compassionate heart truly reveals that He cares." — Greta Zwaan
"He can salve the bitterness, slake the fear, give you a heart of compassion and forgiveness. But you have to choose. Actively choose. Running from God will only lead to a lifetime of bad choices and deep regret." — Mary DeMuth
"But God is rich in love and grace, forgiving where we are, compassion for his wayward child, to whom he shows great care." — Greta Zwaan
"Building on all of the deep resources of empathy and compassion that seemed so richly and naturally a part of his life, (Martin Luther King Jr) King appeared determined not only to pay attention but to insist that his organization and his nation focus themselves and their resources on dozens of poor, exploited black communities - and especially their desperate young men, whose broken lives were crying out for new, humane possibilities in the midst of the wealthiest nation in the world." — Vincent Harding
"Jesus is compassion and while compassion is not a part of our worldly nature, it is a skill passed on to us through the Holy Spirit." — Mark S. Taylor
