Judy Collins Quotes

In order to deserve, we must pay our dues and steadily work for perfection. We must relish in struggle, and relinquish pride. We must dispel fear and seek enlightenment. We must shun division and honor love. We must know our hearts and seek to understand others. We must try, live, create, feel, grow and love.

I've become more empathetic, and my capacity to understand and be patient - to give people a break - has enlarged over the years.

The wise are wise only because they love.

You learn to love by loving.

You will learn a lot about yourself if you stretch in the direction of goodness, of bigness, of kindness, of forgiveness, of emotional bravery. Be a warrior for love.

I was a self-centered bore. I was masochistic, and only thought I was happy. When I woke up and said, "there must be something wrong with me", I grew up. Because I never understood myself, how could I hope to understand anyone else? That's why I can truly say that now I can give a woman love for the first time in my life, because I can understand her.

I could tell her from personal experience that when people we love make choices we don't always understand them. But we can go on loving them, just the same. It isn't a matter of comprehension. It's forgiveness. But all this took me a lifetime to discover, and where has it gotten me?... Some lessons can't be taught, they simply have to be learned.

A man doesn't have to have all the answers; children will teach him how to parent them, and in the process will teach him everything he needs to know about life.

I think that the greatest lesson I learned from my father is just having compassion towards people.

All we will ever know and share about love, humility, compassion, and sacrifice - the secrets that will reveal and then resolve old sorrows - awaits us within ourselves.

Like everybody, I've had a lot of pain in my life and I'm a work in progress. You must have a true desire to see the world from a different point of view, and that comes with growing up.

Compassion is the key to living outside the confines of your lower self.

I've grown so much, not just as an actor, but as a human being.

Caring - about people, about things, about life - is an act of maturity.

Life experience is what defines our character, even if it means getting your heart broken or being lied to. You know, you need the downs to appreciate the ups. Going on the adventure or taking that risk is important.

A mature person is one who does not think only in absolutes, who is able to be objective even when deeply stirred emotionally, who has learned that there is both good and bad in all people and all things, and who walks humbly and deals charitably with the circumstances of life, knowing that in this world no one is all-knowing and therefore all of us need both love and charity.

I don't know whether your heart ever necessarily changes, but time changes the way that you perceive the world. And you just hope it gives you more empathy and all those other things.

Never too late to change your relationship with somebody in your life.

The heart of who I am as a person and as a man is forgiveness, after forgiving my father for a lot of things that were done when I was child.

It always surprises me when people say, 'I don't regret one thing about my life. I wouldn't change anything because it's all led me to where I am today.' I would want to change certain things that have caused others pain.

If someone is misrepresenting my playing career, I try to correct them. If they say something mean about me I'll let them know it hurts my feelings. But I've noticed that the best thing for me is to show love back to them and show positivity and by doing that you gain a fan.

I was the 'no one understands me' teenager. But I think truly I've realized now that I didn't understand a thing myself. So I just had some livin' to do.

I do have a bit of empathy I suppose, but it has come more recently as I'm knocking on 30's door and I think I'm getting there.

I have come to a point where I have accepted that not everyone is meant to be friends.

I love everything about the human experience.