Leo Szilard Quotes

We're really all alone. We can't ever get inside another person's spirit, and see the world they do. So we are alone in that sense. The only way we have to communicate feelings is through words.

If you're living completely on your own, break out of solitary confinement. Seek to understand others, and help them understand you.

I don't know what other people are like, I haven't been able to crawl inside anybody else.

There's only person in the world you can't see - yourself. But, God created - or whoever created us, we don't even have to argue that point - created us so perfect because we can actually see ourselves in other people.

I also have a different, softer side, and I want for people to hear that.

The more I traveled the more I realized that fear makes strangers of people who should be friends.

The more you allow yourself to be vulnerable, the more people will be able to relate and learn from you, because we're all human.

The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human.

I think being vulnerable to other humans is a form of strength.

When people approach me, it's a vulnerable moment for everybody. You can see that sometimes people don't quite know what to say to you, but they want to come up to you, and you can tell they're nervous, and it's really humbling and endearing.

Real listening is a willingness to let the other person change you.

Only in Relationship can you know yourself, not in abstraction and certainly not in isolation. The movement of behavior is the sure guide to yourself. It's the mirror of your consciousness; this mirror will reveal its content, the images, the attachments, the fears, the loneliness, the joy and sorrow. Poverty lies in running away from this, either in its sublimations or its identities.

The more personal you are willing to be and the more intimate you are willing to be about the details of your own life, the more universal you are. Everybody needs to be understood. And out of that comes every form of love.

I think it's easy to mistake understanding for empathy - we want empathy so badly. Maybe learning to make that distinction is part of growing up. It's hard and ugly to know somebody can understand you without even liking you.

A life without a lonely place, that is, a life without a quiet center, easily becomes destructive. When we cling to the results of our actions as our only way of self-identifiction, then we become possessive and defensive and tend to look at our fellow human beings more as enemies to be kept at a distance than as friends with whom we share the gifts of life.

Maybe if everyone walked around being in touch with each other's hidden pain it could work out and even be beautiful, but it doesn't feel safe to be the only compassionate person on the planet.

We need to have empathy. When we lose empathy, we lose our humanity.

In solitude we realize that nothing human is alien to us.

I aim to have meaningful, honest interactions with people and be open to their uniqueness.

The capacity to give one's attention to a sufferer is a very rare and difficult thing; it is almost a miracle; it is a miracle. Nearly all those who think they have the capacity do not possess it.

I believe empathy is the most essential quality of civilization.

You were one person alive and your brain was encased in a skull. There were other people out there. It took effort to be connected.

Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone.

Every moment of life brings an opportunity for being conscious of human feeling, in prosperity, in adversity, in all conditions. It costs very little; only a little thought is necessary. There is no greater religion than love. God is love; and the best form of love is to be conscientious regarding the feelings of those with whom we come in contact in everyday life.

Empathy takes time, and efficiency is for things, not people.