Saturday 13 October 2012

Empathy - Quotes

Empathy is a powerful behaviour of nurturing. When it is given properly, the receiver can feel that the giver really cares about them, and that what they are going through is not trivial. - William E. Krill

Empathy is akin to sympathy, but whereas sympathy says, "I feel as you do," empathy says, "I know how you feel." In other words, empathy enables us to use our heads more than our hearts, and allows us to appreciate another person's feelings without becoming emotionally involved with him. - R. W. Armstrong

Empathy is always guesswork. We cannot know how the other person feels. However, we do attempt to imagine feelings, which we presume are connected with the issues in the story we have been told. - Piet Draiby & Kirsten Seidenfaden

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

Empathy is the creation of holograms of a view of the other's whole from a small portion of their speech and non-verbal expression. The consequence is that the view of any self is inter-twined with the view of others in such a way that even the tiniest hints and mentions of what others experience, for the most part, make instantaneous sense for listeners. When listening carefully, and attending closely to how people speak, what is understood is far in excess of the manner of speech and the logical content of what is said. Empathy is being momentarily and subtly transported out of oneself – and into the perspective, self-experiences and view of the world of others. - Ian Rory Owen

Empathy is the feeling that "I might be you" or "I am you," but it is more than just an intellectual identification; empathy must be accompanied by feeling. Sympathy brings compassion, "I want to help you," but empathy brings emotion. Without feeling there is no empathy. - Howard M. Spiro

Forging the kind of alliance between reason and emotion that produces empathy is always a work in progress, but it is an achievement worth striving for. - Barry Schwrtz & Kenneth Sharpe

Humans aren’t as good as we should be in our capacity to empathize with feelings and thoughts of others, be they humans or other animals on Earth. So maybe part of our formal education should be training in empathy. - Neil deGrasse Tyson

In the currency of friendship, empathy is more valuable than accuracy. - Erica Bauermeister

Loss of empathy might well be the most enduring and deep-cutting scar of all, the silent blade of an unseen enemy, tearing at our hearts and stealing more than our strength. - R. S. Salvatore

Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion. When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands. Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection – or compassionate action. - Daniel Goleman

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

True empathy is always welcomed, compared with sympathy which may be rejected, because of an implicit or deliberate act of movement 'towards', rather than 'being with' and almost 'being one with'. - Murray Cox

When your own life is threatened, your sense of empathy is blunted by a terrible, selfish hunger for survival. - Yann Martel

Without exception, empathy is always appropriate. - Stephen R. Covey

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