Barack Obama Quotes

I believe if people understood each other more, if people took the time and realize it's not 'all about me' and I'm on a big planet with a lot of other people and concerns, maybe we can learn how to get along with each other.

Tolerance, compromise, understanding, acceptance, patience - I want those all to be very sharp tools in my shed.

Ultimately, being open and respectful towards each other is much more powerful as a way to diffuse hatred and anger than, you know, layering on, you know, big walls and oppressive policies.

The practice of patience toward one another, the overlooking of one another's defects, and the bearing of one another's burdens is the most elementary condition of all human and social activity in the family, in the professions, and in society.

Each time we enter imaginatively into the life of another, it's a small step upwards in the elevation of the human race.

It has been said that love is a function of communication. I believe that to be true. I believe, by extension, that human understanding is a function of communication. And the better human beings understand one another, the higher the level of functioning.

I have always worked from that place, that if you are going to inhabit someone and get under their eyes, you need to have empathy.

A man, to be greatly good, must imagine intensely and comprehensively; he must put himself in the place of another and of many others; the pains and pleasures of his species must become his own.

When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That's when you can get more creative in solving problems.

You just always do what will make the other fellow feel comfortable, at ease, and then everything else will be all right.

For me, empathy is an existential question - it's about the survival of the human race. That is, it's imperative for us to overcome the challenges we face.

When we interact with others from a place of compassion without expectations, things are set up to go pretty smoothly.

This country is not going to progress if we can't have decent civil conversations and be respectful to one another.

I never want any problems with anybody in this world.

I believe that people should believe people around them, they should treat each other with kindness.

We have to listen and learn from each other to lift each other up, so we can all live the life we deserve.

What a great thing is understanding! It is priceless. No man can give greater pleasure to his fellow man than by understanding him.

It is one thing to lack a heart and another to possess eyes and a just imagination.

Understanding, love and tolerance are the highest forms of interest on out small and interdependent planet.

I think we should have understanding and love and peace. I mean, peace and love has been my situation. You hear that in the song. I'm trying to promote that now: peace and love and understanding.

Our collective future depends on opening channels of compassion, acceptance, and understanding of others.

I think that people are still trying to understand each other and overcome prejudices. And people are still, most important, loving each other. And that is today as it was yesterday and will be for another 200 years.

Compassion is very important, especially right now in America. We all need to strive as human beings to understand each other and ourselves better.

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.

In order to have understanding, you need forgiveness, compassion, and empathy.