Marlo Thomas Quotes

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.

Compassion without wisdom is dangerous. It's what enables people to support the 'underdog,' even if the underdog is evil

You know, I really do have some morals. I do actually care about people. And I do have a political standpoint.

I don't understand why people aren't a little more generous with each other.

I think of compassion as the fundamental religious experience and, unless that is there, you have nothing.

How you treat the helpless is the real test of morality. Lots of people are flunking that test big time.

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

When we are devoted to the development of kindness, it becomes our ready response, so that reacting from compassion, from caring, is not a question of giving ourselves a lecture: 'I don't really feel like it, but I'd better be helpful, or what would people think?'

I don't think I should accept other people's suffering because I suffered. Just the opposite, because I suffered I don't want others to suffer.

I'm quite shocked and have been for quite a while as for the way people are treating each other. That's why I go out and I speak for the hungry, and if I see somebody needs a hug during the day, I'll go and give them a hug, and I think we should all use a little bit more of that.

Compassion has to become a discipline. It's something that you do. It's no good thinking that you agree with compassion or not, you've just got to do it. Just like it's no good agreeing that it's possible to float, you just have to get into the pool and then you learn that it's possible.

The problem is whether we are determined to go in the direction of compassion or not. If we are, then can we reduce the suffering to a minimum? If I lose my direction, I have to look for the North Star, and I go to the north. That does not mean I expect to arrive at the North Star. I just want to go in that direction.

It's such a simple thing, really. It's an awareness that the other people in the world are other people, and that you are one of them. That every time you have a chance to help somebody out, to do what's right instead of what you think you're supposed to do, you should do it.

Instead of closing our eyes and bowing our heads, sometimes God wants us to keep our eyes open for people in need, do something about it, and bow our whole lives to Him instead.

I think we should really discourage this sort of empathic engagement when it comes to making moral decisions. I think we should focus on something like compassion, on getting people to care more for others without putting ourselves in their shoes.

The compass of compassion asks not what is good for me? but what is good? Not what is best for me but what is best. Not what is right for me but what is right. Not how much can we take? but How much ought we leave? and how much might we give? Not what is easy but what is worthy. Not what is practical but what is moral.

I do not know how to love God except by loving the poor. I do not know how to serve God except by serving the poor.... Here, within this great city of nine million people, we must, in this neighborhood, on this street, in this parish, regain a sense of community which is the basis for peace in the world.

Most people, no matter what they do, they don't think they're a bad person. The place where their actions are coming from is a complicated place and a whole personal history. I definitely think that it helped me to look at the world a little less judgmentally.

I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people.

I think I have an obligation to be kind to people in general, otherwise I'll feel crappy about myself.

To treat others ethically is to act out of concern for their happiness and suffering.

Genuine happiness and compassion go hand in hand.

Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him.

I can't stand what people do to each other. I think we're brilliant as a species. I think we are amazing. I think that God is incredible, that He just gave us everything. Everything in our face. Everything for us to use. And sometimes we're such shitheads. And it makes me crazy.

Why do you treat me as they do, as though I were exactly what I want to be. Why do we treat people that way?