Lord, how can I relate to these people in a way that encourages them and honors You?

If you contemplate the Golden Rule, it turns out to be an injunction to live by grace rather than by what you think other people deserve.

It is easier to take a position in the abstract than when it hits home.

Who hears me, who understands me, becomes mine, a possession for all time.

The lesson I was learning involved the idea that I could feel compassion for people without acting on it.

Learning softeneth the heart and breedeth gentleness and charity.

We must all learn a good lesson - how to live together. That is the new challenge of the new world... learning to co-exist and not co-annihilate.

But at the bottom of all the gloom, there is a sense that we are responsible for each other -- if not for each other's happiness. There is empathy, admiration, respect for the other's intelligence and honesty.

No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.

Well-written novels make you more empathetic towards other people. You can identify with someone who isn't you. You can change your identity. A 14-year-old boy can become Anna Karenina. It is a miracle.

This precious thing of empathy and love and understanding is something we have to hold and appreciate and protect.

How do I act so well? What I do is I pretend to be the person I'm portraying in the film or play.