Bell Hooks Quotes

There are those moments when you shake someone's hand, have a conversation with someone, and suddenly your all bound together because you share your humanity in one simple moment.

The measure of a conversation is how much mutual recognition there is in it; how much shared there is in it. If you're talking about what's in your own head, or without thought to what people looking and listening will feel, you might as well be in a room talking to yourself.

When I understand myself, I understand you, and out of that understanding comes love.

The portal into people's hearts is being interested in them.

It is easier to speak to those who have had similar experiences than to those who are as yet ignorant.

I feel like I'm kind of a bit of a sponge in a way. Like, if people around me are going through things, I find it very hard not to be empathetic.

I want my boys to have an understanding of people's emotions, their insecurities, people's distress, and their hopes and dreams.

Men are fair, and they have learned not to personalize anger - they can disagree with you and argue to the bone, but afterward they still consider you a nice person with whom the underlying human relationship need not be altered.

What differentiates us from animals is the fact that we can listen to other people's dreams, fears, joys, sorrows, desires and defeats - and they in turn can listen to ours.

If we learn to understand each other, we will have a better understanding of ourselves.

If you have an ongoing relationship with a person, think of everything positive about that person that you possibly can and enter your interaction from that space. Ignore all the crap that used to drive you up the wall before. You will be amazed at what a change this attitude shift brings about.

The most special relationships, in my experience, are based on a combination of trust and mutual respect.

When I was growing up, I wasn't taught how to feel or communicate feelings.

I am a human being; nothing human can be alien to me.

I have to be in tune. All the time. I have to be in tune with my husband, where he is, how he's feeling. I have to be in tune with where my family is.

I feel compassion is so important to develop in ourselves. It's one of the most important elements of being a human being.

I want everyone to know what they deserve in relationships: that they can demand equality and kindness. Because everyone will have a relationship at some point in their life. It's what we all do, every day, and we need to know how to do it.

When two people talk with mutual respect and listen with a real interest in understanding another point of view, when they try to put themselves in the place of another, to get inside their skin, they change the world, even if it is only by a minute amount, because they are establishing equality between two human beings.

Sympathy relies on a common experience. If you're clumsy, you might have sympathy for others who tend to bump into things. Empathy, on the other hand, is the ability to understand another person's feelings even if you've never experienced them yourself.

I think that the more of us who take the time to understand how someone else is feeling, the more likely we are to resist alongside them.

Empathy is one of our greatest tools of business that is most underused.

Any relationship, I'm talking about even with your kids, when you got something they can relate to - both of y'all - it helps.

Family is just the people you care about. We can bond with people that we have nothing in common with, even if it's just for a moment.

I'm interested in roles that are human, that have some sort of empathic quality.

We need more light about each other. Light creates understanding, understanding creates love, love creates patience, and patience creates unity.