Dalai Lama Quotes

Empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking action. It's the impetus for creating change.

When something needs to be done in the world to rectify the wrongs, if one is really concerned with benefiting others, one needs to be engaged, involved. This is action out of compassion.

Philanthropy and social change work are at their best when they are driven by your values and connected to what you care about most.

We accept the world in order to change it. If you do not accept, then what are you going to change?

You cannot contribute anything to the ideal condition of mind and heart known as Brotherhood, however much you preach, posture, or agree, unless you live it.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.

The primary thing I should do, apart from being a good husband, brother, son, and friend, is to be a citizen activist. But I'm afraid it takes away from the writing. Not that anything depends on whether I put an essay in 'The Nation' or not. But you want to participate.

There's a gap somehow between empathy and activism. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of 'soul force' - something that emanates from a deep truth inside of us and empowers us to act. Once you identify your inner genius, you will be able to take action, whether it's writing a check or digging a well.

I found out that people are incredibly compassionate and kind. It really changed my view of the world.

Let me emphatically point out that … sympathy is useless unless it is accompanied by indignation, and indignation is useless if it exhausts itself in words instead of taking shape in deeds.

I love people. When you're engaged with society and trying to make it a better society, you're an optimist.

I want society to feel they are part of a process of change.

I don't believe people are moved to action when they see horror. They're moved to action when they see courage in the face of horror.

You must not hate those who do wrong or harmful things; but with compassion, you must do what you can to stop them — for they are harming themselves, as well as those who suffer from their actions.

How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

Action for Happiness encourages each of us to live more compassionately and put the happiness of others at the centre of our lives. This is the path to lasting peace and happiness

True charity consists in doing good to those who do us evil, and in thus winning them over.

I am a person of action. If I see I can bring a positive change, I will go for it, never mind that something might be hard to achieve.

Action, as distinguished from fabrication, is never possible in isolation; to be isolated is to be deprived of the capacity to act.

To know is to care, to care is to act, to act is to make a difference.

Compassion allows us to bear witness to suffering, whether it is in ourselves or others, without fear; it allows us to name injustice without hesitation, to act strongly, with all the skill at our disposal.

The root of the matter is a very simple and old fashioned thing... love or compassion. If you feel this, you have a motive for existence, a guide for action, a reason for courage, an imperative necessity for intellectual honesty.

Your every act can open hearts and minds.

My work as a human being is to quiet my mind, open my heart and do what I can to relieve the suffering with as much wisdom, skill, whatever I got.

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