#empathy

It can be very dangerous to see things from somebody else's point of view without the proper training. ↗

— Douglas Adams

#novel

The heart of an Irishman is nothing but his imagination ↗

— George Bernard Shaw

#imagination #ireland #love #soul #imagination

The use of imaginative fiction is to deepen your understanding of your world, and your fellow men, and your own feelings, and your destiny. ↗

— Ursula K. Le Guin

#novel #reading #imagination

One reason we rush so quickly to the vulgar satisfactions of judgment, and love to revel in our righteous outrage, is that it spares us from the impotent pain of empathy, and the harder, messier work of understanding. ↗

— Tim Kreider

#judgment #understanding #love

Be me a little. ↗

— John Ajvide Lindqvist

#love #love

Such lonely, lost things you find on your way. It would be easier, if you were the only one lost. But lost children always find each other, in the dark, in the cold. It is as though they are magnetized and can only attract their like. How I would like to lead you to brave, stalwart friends who would protect you and play games with dice and teach you delightful songs that have no sad endings. If you would only leave cages locked and turn away from unloved Wyverns, you could stay Heartless. ↗

— Catherynne M. Valente

#empathy #friends #friendship #lost #friendship

This is where the will to grapple with our hard and pressing environmental problems begins: in relationship to something other that you love beyond any utility, beyond any logic. ↗

— Susan Freinkel

#empathy #environment #death

Familiarity is the gateway drug to empathy. ↗

— iO Tillett Wright

#empathy #inspirational #inspirational

Understanding did not provide solace or make the pain go away; in many ways, understanding was just more salt in the emotional wound. Ignorance allowed one to fight back with unfettered cruelty. Understanding inspired empathy, which led to guilt, as well as suffering. She looked at Gavin, supine, unconcerned, contented, and thought that perhaps there was something to being a sociopath. If you didn't have a heart, it couldn't be broken. ↗

— Nenia Campbell

#empathy #feelings #feelings-of-weakness #heartbreak #sympathy

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

#empathy #selfishness #social-intelligence #intelligence