Quotes about Empathy

Giving is more joyous than receiving, not because it is a deprivation, but because in the act of giving lies the expression of my aliveness.

True Christlikeness, true companionship with Christ, comes at the point where it is hard not to respond as he would.

The truth of the matter is that people are obsessed with themselves. This is often caused by the wounds they have received. When you hit your thumb with a hammer, what happens in the following days? You are very mindful of your thumb. The same is true when we are hurt; we become conscious of ourselves to such an extent that we are imprisoned in that consciousness.

It helps to have some idea of what it would be like to go through a day with Jesus.

From Jesus' perspective, there is no greater calling than to be a servant.

And we can't all just get along. Rather, we have to become the kinds of persons who can get along. As a major part of this, our epidermal responses have to be changed in such a way that the fire and the fight doesn't start almost immediately when we are "rubbed the wrong way." Solitude and silence give us a place to begin the necessary changes, though they are not a place to stop.

Tolerance is not indifference, but a generous regard and even provision for those who differ from us on points we deeply care about.

And we and the public are constantly confronted with professing Christians who, to say the least, do not love one another, but may clearly hate and despise or be indifferent to those around them.

Most families would be healthier and happier if their members treated one another with the respect they would give to a perfect stranger. C. S. Lewis's discussion of storage, familial love, is endlessly instructive on this point and is required reading for all who intend to have a decent family life. He notes that he has been far more impressed by the bad manners of parents to children than by those of children to parent.

To be simple, humble, and thoughtful as we listen to others and help them come to faith in the One who has given us life.

There is a distinctive emphasis by Jesus on loving your neighbor, your "near dweller," not upon loving "humanity" or "everyone."19 What this means is that our duty and our virtue is to love those with whom we are in effectual contact—those we can really do something about.

The other idea is, "I love you, and I will serve you by doing what is good for you, whether you want it or not.