Jennifer Beals Quotes

It is human nature to imagine, to put yourself in another's shoes. The past may be another country. But the only passport required is empathy.

Compassion is concern of others' well being.

I would like to explain the meaning of compassion, which is often misunderstood. Genuine compassion is based not on our own projections and expectations, but rather on the rights of the other: irrespective of whether another person is a close friend

I don't have to be an expert. I just have to care.

Much of the insensibility and hardness of the world is due to the lack of imagination which prevents a realization of the experiences of other people.

Compassion is the chief law of human existence.

True kindness presupposes the faculty of imagining as one's own the suffering and joys of others.

Nothing helps us build our perspective more than developing compassion for others. Compassion is a sympathetic feeling. It involves the willingness to put yourself in someone else's shoes, to take the focus off yourself and to imagine what it's like to be in someone else's predicament, and simultaneously, to feel love for that person. It's the recognition that other people's problems, their pain and frustrations, are every bit as real as our own-often far worse. In recognizing this fact and trying to offer some assistance, we open our own hearts and greatly enhance our sense of gratitude.

How can you build something for someone else if you don't have enough familiarity with them to imagine the world through their eyes?

I believe compassion to be one of the few things we can practice that will bring immediate and long-term happiness to our lives.

Character is revealed in the power to discern the suffering of other people when we ourselves are suffering; in the ability to detect the hunger of others when we are hungry; and in the power to reach out and extend compassion for the spiritual agony of others when we are in the midst of our own spiritual distress.

Compassion is our most important practice. Understanding brings compassion. Understanding the suffering that living beings undergo helps liberate the energy of compassion. And with that energy you know what to do.

The greatest gift given to man by God - is the ability to empathize.

All people are endowed with the faculty of compassion, and for this reason can develop the humanitarian spirit.

I truly believe that compassion provides the basis of human survival.

Compassion is an act of tolerance where kindness and forgiveness reign. When we make the compassionate choice, we enhance the dignity of each individual, which is the very essence of loving them.

Compassion is the ultimate expression of your highest self

Caring comes from being able to put yourself in the position of the other person.

Compassion is the wish to see others free from suffering.

Some people think that without that spark of empathy we would do nothing, but that's just flat-out wrong. You could feel compassion for somebody without the spark of empathy.

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the other.... The whole purpose of life is to live by love.

Only the development of compassion and understanding for others can bring us the tranquility and happiness we all seek.

Never to blend our pleasure or our pride With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels.

No one can deal with the hearts of men unless he has the sympathy which is given by love.

The ability to understand the cause of your own suffering gives you the ability to understand ours.