Dalai Lama Quotes

Rejecting joy to stand in solidarity with the suffering doesn't rescue the suffering.

They learned no compassion from their own anguish. thus their suffering was wasted.

It is only possible through the fact that sympathy for the general life and suffering of mankind is very weakly developed in the individual.

We bear, all of us, the misfortunes of other people with heroic constancy.

Compassion is the wish to see others free from suffering.

I have known sorrow and learned to aid the wretched.

The consideration of human suffering is not one which enters into the calculations of primitive man.

There is in Aristotle an almost complete absence of what may be called benevolence or philanthropy. The sufferings of mankind . . . there is no evidence that they cause him unhappiness except when the sufferers happen to be his friends.

Is there anything more true than human pain? Is there anything more sincere than the cry for help from those who suffer? Only a great wave of mankind's pity can surmount an immense wave of human misery?

It is thus only this personal feeling of misery that we get rid of by acts of pity.

Looking at various means of developing compassion, I think empathy is an important factor: the ability to appreciate others' suffering.

Ever since I was a child, I would start crying seeing anyone in pain.

Only the artists interest me whose hearts beat in unison with the poignant misery of the world. If you have not felt that, you have not lived. Pity is essential.

Compassion doesn't, of course, mean feeling sorry for people, or pity, which is how the word has become emasculated in a way.

Pain and sorrow and misery have a right to our assistance: compassion puts us in mind of the debt, and that we owe it to ourselves as well as to the distressed.

Pity addresses the perceived suffering, not the whole individual.

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.

It is selfish to concern oneself with tragedies.

I have empathy; I am humane. I understand human misery.

Whether or not one has won the Nobel Prize, each of us living in contact with our fellowmen feels a joint responsibility for all forms of suffering, both physical and moral.

We all need to realize that there are people out there who may be suffering and we all need to try to do our part to relieve that suffering when we can.

True compassion is universal in scope. It is accompanied by a feeling of responsibility.

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.

It is when suffering finds a voice and sets our nerves quivering that this pity comes troubling us.

You can feel compassion for others without feeling victimized yourself.