Elizabeth Moon Quotes

We think empathy is innate, but it's not. It's a muscle you're working.

I find my own pain and others' difficult to tolerate, so I always want to try to shift things so they'll be better. But in doing that, if I am coming from a place of ego, I often cause harm. So it's a struggle for me to set my ego outside and find a softer and more compassionate way of approaching things.

Some girl asked me for an autograph and I asked her why, she said because she admires me. I said she should see a shrink. Then she started crying and I started laughing.

Changing your attitude from self-centerdness to understanding requires desire and commitment to always try to see things from the other persons point of view.

People just tell me I'm supposed to be sensitive, and I'm not. But I think I'm very emotional. I'm very caring.

We can't love our neighbors till we know how crooked their hearts are.

Vanity calculates but poorly on the vanity of others; what a virtue we should distil from frailty, what a world of pain we should save our brethren, if we would suffer our own weakness to be the measure of theirs.

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.

It's one of the ironies of human nature that the most sensitive people are generally insensitive to the feelings of others.

Compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use, and the regular exercise of choosing kindness over cruelty would change us.

Now, we don't really believe these things - intellectually we know better - but we believe them viscerally, and live by them, and they cause us to prioritize our own needs over the needs of others, even though what we really want, in our hearts, is to be less selfish, more aware of what's actually happening in the present moment, more open, and more loving.

When you try rescuing someone and discover they can't be reached, why would you ever throw that back in their face?

pity me that the heart is slow to learn what the swift mind beholds at every turn.

Each of us in our own way can try to spread compassion into people's hearts. Western civilizations these days place great importance on filling the human brain with knowledge, but no one seems to care about filling the human heart with compassion. This is what the real role of religion is.

Man becomes man only by his intelligence, but he is man only by his heart.

When you handle yourself, use your head; when you handle others, use your heart.

It's important to determine not just the quality of your mind but the fullness of your heart.

The idea of faking empathy to take a step forward to understanding - it's a really powerful idea.

Not all those who know their minds know their hearts as well.

It's kind of funny that I've been branded as the empathy lady when, really, what I'm doing is questioning and interrogating empathy.

I approach these people from a standpoint of love. How were they loved? How do they love? What's going on in their heart? There's that that I think about with every role.

If acting has any meaning, it is so that we can have greater empathy for other people.

I love my ability to generate empathy and compassion within myself and others.

I understand and I don't understand human beings.

It's not a very nice thing to not have empathy. I would like to have empathy. In the past I haven't been very empathetic with other people.