Karen Armstrong Quotes

Never reach out your hand unless you're willing to extend an arm.

Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.

To help, to continually help and share, that is the sum of all knowledge; that is the meaning of art.

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. Imagine how different the world would be if, in fact, that were 'reading, writing, arithmetic, empathy.'

No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure.

The humanitarian lays stress almost solely upon breadth of knowledge and sympathy.

Compassion, loyalty, and respect sum up love for me - it's a mix that's very rare to find and even harder to imbibe.

I think we're all trying our hardest, and a lot of times we do bad things and need to do more good things. We need to be more caring, more forgiving, more loving.

I will try and become a very empathetic person because I do think that's a nice trait.

Deliberately seek opportunities for kindness, sympathy, and patience.

Personally, I think humility is a prerequisite to being a truly empathic person.

Compassion automatically invites you to relate with people because you no longer regard people as a drain on your energy.

I don't really have a lot of appropriate feelings for people on an individual basis, but I've always wanted to make people happy.

To be a teacher you have to have a very giving, selfless personality. I don't think I'm that selfless and giving.

Ultimately, knowing God and reading the Word, it helps with patience with people, understanding, empathy and sympathy that they might not have that I have. If God gave it to me, why not exercise it?

Compassion may be defined as the capacity to be attentive to the experience of others, to wish the best for others, and to sense what will truly serve others.

Developing our capacity for compassion makes it possible for us to help others in a more skillful and effective way. And compassion helps us as well.

Having family responsibilities and concerns just has to make you a more understanding person.

To love with the spirit is to pity, and he who pities most loves most.

The more sympathy you give, the less you need.

What is it that distinguishes you and me from the lower animals - from the beasts? More, I say, than anything else, human sympathy - human sympathy.

But I'm trying to play into this role as much as possible and be a nicer person in real life.

There would be no supporting life were we to feel quite as poignantly for others as we do for ourselves.

All you'd have to do is get a sad look, and he'd try to do something for you.

The human capacity for compassion is not a reflex that is triggered automatically by the presence of another living thing.