Steven Pinker Quotes

People aren't inherently sympathetic.

As human beings we're so cynical, so uncompassionate.

I don't really have a lot of appropriate feelings for people on an individual basis, but I've always wanted to make people happy.

Compassion may be defined as the capacity to be attentive to the experience of others, to wish the best for others, and to sense what will truly serve others.

To love with the spirit is to pity, and he who pities most loves most.

There would be no supporting life were we to feel quite as poignantly for others as we do for ourselves.

The problem with compassion is that it is not photogenic.

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

A tear dries quickly when it is shed for troubles of others.

There is no verb for compassion, but you have an adverb for compassion. That's interesting to me. You act compassionately. But then, how to act compassionately if you don't have compassion? That is where you fake. You fake it and make it. This is the mantra of the United States of America.

Some public officials are blessed - you can't acquire this, but you are blessed with the gift of empathy, being able to empathize with those who are suffering.

What separates humans from other animals is our empathy. With the possible exception of bonobos, we are the most empathetic animal on the planet.

Everybody has a heart. Except some people.

Deliberately seek opportunities for kindness, sympathy, and patience.

Why does God endow us with compassion?

For a tear is quickly dried, especially when shed for the misfortunes of others.

Altruism is innate, but it's not instinctual. Everybody's wired for it, but a switch has to be flipped.

Compassion automatically invites you to relate with people because you no longer regard people as a drain on your energy.

Developing our capacity for compassion makes it possible for us to help others in a more skillful and effective way. And compassion helps us as well.

Compassion is a call, a demand of nature, to relieve the unhappy as hunger is a natural call for food.

The more sympathy you give, the less you need.

Everyone responds to kindness.

Compassion is so pure, I don't think there is any way to taint it.

What is it that distinguishes you and me from the lower animals - from the beasts? More, I say, than anything else, human sympathy - human sympathy.

The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others.