110 Empathy Quotes to encourage compassion and kindness

Empathy, often referred to as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, stands as a fundamental cornerstone of human connection and understanding. It bridges the gap between individuals, transcending differences and fostering a sense of unity. Through the wisdom encapsulated in empathy quotes, we are reminded of the profound impact that empathy has on our lives and the world around us. In this article, we have curated best empathy quotes to encourage compassion and kindness.

Empathy Quotes

1. “By putting yourself in others’ shoes, you become more patient, considerate, and understanding.” ~ Invajy

2. “Empathy is listening the unsaid in between the lines and understand the feelings.” ~ Invajy

3. “Empathy is the gateway; compassion is the way.” ~ Scott Perry

4. “Through empathy you understand the pain and sufferings of others.” ~ Invajy

5. “Empathy is the thread that weaves humanity together.” ~ Anonymous

6. “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
7. “Empathy is like giving someone a psychological hug.” ~ Lawrence J. Cohen
8. “Empathy is a special way of coming to know another and yourself.” ~ Carl R. Rogers
9. “Let’s put “kind” back into “humankind”.” ~ John Mark Green
10. “If you want more kindness in the world, put some there.” ~ Zero Dean

Quotes about Empathy

11. “The seeds of care and empathy are built into every human being and a variety of soils and fertilizers will allow those same seeds to grow and flourish.” ~ Gudjon Bergmann
12. “The little things you do can be very significant to others.” ~ Wayne Gerard Trotman
13. “The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.” ~ Meryl Streep
14. “Like many things in life, your compassion is a skill that can be exercised.” ~ Simeon Lindstrom
15. “What you don’t realize is that the world does not need more perfection. It needs more compassion and empathy.” ~ Tessa Dare
16. “Empaths did not come into this world to be victims we came to be warriors.” ~ Anthon St. Maarten
17. “Empathy has no script. There is no right way or wrong way to do it. It’s simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of ‘You’re not alone.’” ~ Brene Brown
18. “Have compassion and empathy in your heart. Many people are suffering deep emotional anguish beneath the surface of their lives, and smile even as they hurt inside.” ~ Jim Palmer
19. “You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know when it will be too late.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
20. “Practicing kindness increases our ability to be empathetic. It helps keep our hearts open. And that, truly, is the best way to live.” ~ Kristi Bowman

Empathy Quote

21. “Our human compassion binds us the one to the other – not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learned how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.” ~ Nelson Mandela
22. “An empathic person is a good listener, patient, understanding, and kind.” ~ Laura Raskin
23. “When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That’s when you can get more creative in solving problems.” ~ Stephen Covey
24. “Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.” ~ Dalai Lama
25. “Feeling too much is a hell of a lot better than feeling nothing.” ~ Nora Roberts
26. “All I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being not just with my hands but with my heart.” ~ Tahereh Mafi
27. “To embrace suffering culminates in greater empathy, the capacity to feel what it is like for the other to suffer, which is the ground for unsentimental compassion and love.” ~ Stephen Batchelor
28. “We think we listen, but very rarely do we listen with real understanding, true empathy. Yet listening, of this very special kind, is one of the most potent forces for change that I know.” ~ Carl Rogers
29. “People need people who show that they care.” ~ Richelle E. Goodrich
30. “…treat people with understanding when you can, and fake it when you can’t until you do understand.” ~ Kim Harrison

Quotes on Empathy

31. “Empathy, sympathy, love, and justice create a place only in such character, where humanity fragrances and tongue stays sober.” ~ Ehsan Sehgal
32. “Compassion is about giving all the love that you’ve got.” ~ Cheryl Strayed
33. “Empathy is a skill like any other human skill. If you get a chance to practice, you can get better at it.” ~ Simon Baron Cohen
34. “Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life.” ~ Jackie Chan
35. “When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” ~ Ernest Hemingway
36. “Empathy is important, openness, honesty, and an understanding for others.” ~ Niko Kovac
37. “There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” ~ John Holmes
38. “There is no greater intelligence than kindness and empathy.” ~ Bryant H. McGill
39. “There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.” ~ Mary Anne Radmacher
40. “Sometimes all a person wants is an empathetic ear; all he or she needs is to talk it out. Just offering a listening ear and an understanding heart for his or her suffering can be a big comfort.” ~ Roy T. Bennett

Compassion and Empathy Quotes

41. “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
42. “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” ~ Dalai Lama
43. “Use your voice for kindness, your ears for compassion, your hands for charity, your mind for truth, and your heart for love.” ~ Anonymous
44. “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 a nobility in compassion, a beauty in empathy, a grace in forgiveness.” ~ John Connolly
45. “Looking at various means of developing compassion, I think empathy is an important factor: the ability to appreciate others’ suffering.” ~ Dalai Lama
46. “Kindness can manifest as compassion, as generosity, as paying attention.” ~ Sharon Salzberg
47. “Empathy is the language of compassion.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
48. “Empathy allows you to meet cruelty with compassion” ~ Toni Morrison
49. “Learning to give empathy to myself and others as often as I can each day has rendered astounding benefits….empathy leads to compassion and compassion to forgiveness and connection.” ~ Judith Hanson Lasater
50. “Compassion is an action word with no boundaries.” ~ Robert Frost

Empathy Quotes

51. “Empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking action. It’s the impetus for creating change.” ~ Max Carver
52. “One friend, one person who is truly understanding, who takes the trouble to listen to us as we consider a problem, can change our whole outlook on the world.” ~ E. H. Mayoli
53. “Look for a way to lift someone up. And if that’s all you do, that’s enough.” ~ Elizabeth Lesser
54. “Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you do criticize him, you’ll be a mile away and have his shoes.” ~ Steve Martin
55. “If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from his angle as well as your own.” ~ Henry Ford
56. “Life is the first gift, love is the second, and understanding the third.” ~ Marge Piercy
57. “Empathy is the love fire of sweet remembrance and shared understanding” ~ John Eaton
58. “We have to teach empathy as we do literacy.” ~ Bill Drayton
59. “The most important thing is that we need to be understood. We need someone to be able to listen to us and to understand us. Then we will suffer less.” ~ Nhat Hanh
60. “Empathy takes time, and efficiency is for things, not people.” ~ Stephen Covey

Best Empathy Quotes

61. “Real empathy is sometimes not insisting that it will be okay, but acknowledging that it is not.” ~ Sheryl Sandberg
62. “Empathy requires knowing that you know nothing.” ~ Leslie Jamison
63. “Empathy is the key to great stories. The characters’ feelings are your feelings. You’ve got to feel what they feel, think what they think, do what they do.” ~ George R.R. Martin
64. “Empathy depends not only on one’s ability to identify someone else’s emotions but also on one’s capacity to put oneself in the other person’s place and to experience an appropriate emotional response.” ~ Charles G. Morris
65. “Empathy is a choice that we can make to step out of our own egos and into the shoes of another person” ~ Ronald Rolheiser
66. “One doesn’t have to operate with great malice to do great harm. The absence of empathy and understanding are sufficient.” ~ Charles M. Blow
67. “If you look into someone’s face long enough, eventually you’re going to feel that you’re looking at yourself.” ~ Paul Auster
68. “Empathy allows us to treat others as we would like to be treated” ~ Stephen Covey
69. “An exchange of empathy provides an entry point for a lot of people to see what healing feels like.” ~ Tarana Burke
70. “Empathy is like a bridge that connects one mind to another” ~ Kevin Breel

Quotes from Empaths

71. “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
72. “Emotional empathy is what motivates us to help others.” ~ Brian Goldman
73. “The struggle of my life created empathy – I could relate to pain, being abandoned, having people not love me.” ~ Oprah Winfrey
74. “See the light in each other. Be the light for each other.” ~ Anonymous
75. “Empathetic presence involves listening to someone’s pain with what I call the five A’s: attention, acceptance, appreciation, affection, and allowing.” ~ David Richo
76. “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.” ~ Dolly Parton
77. “I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person.” ~ Walt Whitman
78. “Learning to stand in somebody 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
79. “Empathy begins with understanding life from another person’s perspective. Nobody has an objective experience of reality. It’s all through our own individual prisms.” ~ Sterling K. Brown
80. “One of the most important things you can do on this earth is to let people know they are not alone.” ~ Shannon L. Alder

Empathy Quotes

81. “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” ~ Albert Einstein
82. “If you share in a heart-felt sorrow, you can lighten the load of a friend. Sometimes facing the burden together can mend two broken hearts in the end.” ~ Wes Fessler
83. “Empathy is the ability to step outside of your own bubble and into the bubbles of other people.” ~ C. Joy Bell
84. “If we can’t see eye to eye lets try heart to heart.” ~ Anonymous
85. “We rise by lifting others.” ~ Robert Ingersoll
86. “Empathy is the bridge that connects us to other people, regardless of background, culture, or circumstances.” ~ Melanie Beattie
87. “Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another and feeling with the heart of another.” ~ Alfred Adler
88. “I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.” ~ Maya Angelou
89. “Proactive responding is the ability to listen to the other person’s feelings and empathize without taking responsibility for those feelings.” ~ Clive Harman
90. “Anyone who has experienced a certain amount of loss in their life has empathy for those who have experienced loss.” ~ Anderson Cooper

Great Empathy Quotes

91. “You can only understand people if you feel them in yourself.” ~ John Steinbeck
92. “I believe empathy is the most essential quality of civilization.” ~ Roger Ebert
93. “Listening has the ability of the wizard’s alchemy. It has the power to melt the armor and to produce beauty in the midst of hatred.” ~ Brian Muldoon
94. “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
95. “The opposite of anger is not calmness, its empathy.” ~ Mehmet Oz
96. “Empathy is the antidote to many of the world’s ills.” ~ Anonymous
97. “Change begins with understanding and understanding begins by identifying oneself with another person. In a word empathy. The arts enable us to put ourselves in the minds, eyes, ears and hearts of other human beings.” ~ Richard Eyre
98. “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
99. “Empathy is connection; it’s a ladder out of the shame hole.” ~ Brene Brown
100. “Empathy is one of humankind’s prized possessions. Acts of consideration and kindness are inevitable when a person can mentally step into someone else’s shoes. Even if it’s just for a moment.” ~ Izey Victoria Odiase

Love and Empathy Quotes

101. “Empathy is a respectful understanding of what others are experiencing.” ~ Marshall B. Rosenberg
102. “A prerequisite to empathy is simply paying attention to the person in pain.” ~ Daniel Goleman
103. “Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping him up.” ~ Jesse Jackson
104. “Exposure promotes understanding, understanding promotes empathy, and empathy promotes compromise.” ~ F. Allen Davis
105. “Give Compassion: Every day the average person fights epic battles never told just to survive.” ~ Ken Poirot
106. “Empathy is about standing in someone else’s shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes. Not only is empathy hard to outsource and automate, but it makes the world a better place.” ~ Daniel H. Pink

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