Compassion Quotes

In dealing with the dead, if we treat them as if they were entirely dead, that would show a want of affection and should not be done; or, if we treat them as if they were entirely alive, that would show a want of wisdom and should not be done.

It is no non-violence if we merely love those that love us. It is non-violence only when we love those that hate us.

This is the principle of Universal Brotherhood of man with one another, with all life down to the little ants.

I know I could never forgive myself if I elected to live without humane purpose, without trying to help the poor and unfortunate, without recognizing that perhaps the purest joy in life comes with trying to help others.

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.

I know the struggles of poor people, and have always kept that with me.

I presume that you are compassionate: to be without pity means to be sick in body and spirit. But one should have spirit in abundance, so as to be permitted to be compassionate! For your pity is detrimental to you and to everyone.

Is it not when the fall is the lowest that charity ought to be the greatest?

If someone does not smile at you, be generous and offer your own smile. Nobody needs a smile more than the one that cannot smile to others.

Man, through the cow, is enjoined to realize his identity with all that lives.

It is our enemies who provide us with the challenge we need to develop the qualities of tolerance, patience and compassion.

If you have knowledge and see a man weak, do not condemn him. Go to his level and help him if you can. He must grow.

If you become a helper of hearts, springs of wisdom will flow from your heart.

Sometimes it’s more noble to tell a small lie than to deliver a painful truth.

If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another. If you wish to know that you are safe, cause another to know that they are safe. If you wish to better understand seemingly incomprehensible things, help another to better understand. If you wish to heal your own sadness or anger, seek to heal the sadness or anger of another.

Every obnoxious act is a cry for help.

Compassion becomes an automatic reaction when you see all of humanity as one undivided and indivisible family.

The thinking (person) must oppose all cruel customs, no matter how deeply rooted in tradition and surrounded by a halo. When we have a choice, we must avoid bringing torment and injury into the life of another.

When we encounter suffering, it is important to respond w/ compassion rather than to question the politics of those we help.

The quality of mercy is not strained

If we can cultivate a concern for others, keeping in mind the oneness of humanity, we can build a more compassionate world.

People think of animals as if they were vegetables, and that is not right. We have to change the way people think about animals. I encourage the Tibetan people and all people to move toward a vegetarian diet that doesn’t cause suffering.

A loving heart is the truest wisdom.

I made your sorrow mine also, that you might have help in bearing it.

I can do no other than be reverent before everything that is called life. I can do no other than to have compassion for all that is called life. That is the beginning and the foundation of all ethics.

Take a month and show some kindness for the folks who thought that blindness was an illness that affected eyes alone.

With malice towards none; with charity for all.

A simple smile. That's the start ofopening your heart and beingcompassionate to others.

Truly, I would not hang a dog by my will, much more a man who hath any honesty in him.

There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.

When we are motivated by compassion and wisdom, the results of our actions benefit everyone, not just our individual selves.

We can only transform humanity and create a happier more compassionate world through education.

The world is filled with love-play, from animal lust to sublime compassion.

You already know I desire that neither Father or Mother shall be in want of any comfort either in health or sickness while they live.

Genuine happiness and compassion go hand in hand.

How could man rejoice in victory and delight in the slaughter of men?

I have always held firmly to the thought that each one of us can do a little to bring some portion of misery to an end.

Since we desire the true happiness that is brought about by a calm mind, and such peace of mind arises only from having a compassionate attitude, we need to make a concerted effort to develop compassion.

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.

Be kinder than necessary.

Her heart-is given him, with all its love and truth. She would joyfully die with him, or, better than that, die for him. She knows he has failings, but she thinks they have grown up through his being like one cast away, for the want of something to trust in, and care for, and think well of.

The motto of war is: "Let the strong survive; let the weak die." The motto of peace is: "Let the strong help the weak to survive."

How gentle and tender ought we to be with others who are foolish when we remember how foolish we are ourselves

Caring comes from being able to put yourself in the position of the other person.

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.

The most compassionate form of giving is done with no thought or expectation of reward, and grounded in genuine concern for others.

Every time I see documentaries or infomercials about little kids with cancer, I just freak out. It affects me on the highest emotional level... Anytime I think about it, it makes me sadder than anything I can think of.

People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed.

It is because I think so much of warm and sensitive hearts, that I would spare them from being wounded.

During my medical education at the University of Basle I found vivisection horrible, barbarous and above all unnecessary

Now that I understand that I'm an addict, I definitely have compassion for my mother. I get it.

For a practitioner of love and compassion, an enemy is one of the most important teachers. Without an enemy you cannot practice tolerance, and without tolerance you cannot build a sound basis of compassion.

I do not see any reason why animals should be slaughtered to serve as human diet when there are so many substitutes. After all, man can live without meat. It is only some carnivorous animals that have to subsist on flesh. Killing animals for sport, for pleasure, for adventures, and for hides and furs is a phenomenon which is at once disgusting and distressing. There is no justification in indulging in such acts of brutality . . . Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to a man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not to die, so do other creatures.

Although we are all the same in not wanting problems and wanting a peaceful life, we tend to create a lot of problems for ourselves. Encountering those problems, anger develops and overwhelms our mind, which leads to violence. A good way to counter this and to work for a more peaceful world is to develop concern for others. Then our anger, jealousy and other destructive emotions will naturally weaken and diminish.

I don't think you ever stop giving. I really don't. I think it's an on-going process. And it's not just about being able to write a check. It's being able to touch somebody's life.

cruelty to animals is contrary to man's duty to himself, because it deadens in him the feeling of sympathy for their sufferings, and thus a natural tendency that is very useful to morality in relation to other human beings is weakened.

A pity beyond all telling is hid in the heart of love.

Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.

See the Light in Others, and Treat Them as if That is All you See.

For a tear is quickly dried, especially when shed for the misfortunes of others.