Herman Melville Quotes

Peace of heart that is won by refusing to bear the common yoke of human sympathy is a peace unworthy of a Christian. To seek tranquility by stopping our ears to the cries of human pain is to make ourselves not Christian but a kind of degenerate stoic having no relation either to stoicism or Christianity.

Now that another is suffering pain at thy hand, trust not that thy heart shall be exempt from affliction.

I know what it's like to feel distraught as I am an incredibly sensitive guy and feel for anything and everyone in pain, particularly my own sister.

Seeing other people in pain causes me pain.

Pity aims just as little at the pleasure of others as malice at the pain of others Per-Se.

I do not know of a better cure for sorrow than to pity somebody else.

I can bear pain myself, he said softly, but I couldna bear yours. That would take more strength than I have.

Pity makes suffering contagious.

Compassion is the wish to see others free from suffering.

I know the compassion of others is a relief at first. I don't despise it. But it can't quench pain, it slips through your soul as through a sieve. And when our suffering has been dragged from one pity to another, as from one mouth to another, we can no longer respect or love it.

Nothing helps us build our perspective more than developing compassion for others. Compassion is a sympathetic feeling. It involves the willingness to put yourself in someone else's shoes, to take the focus off yourself and to imagine what it's like to be in someone else's predicament, and simultaneously, to feel love for that person. It's the recognition that other people's problems, their pain and frustrations, are every bit as real as our own-often far worse. In recognizing this fact and trying to offer some assistance, we open our own hearts and greatly enhance our sense of gratitude.

If the people who hurt us have anger or desperation within them then they suffer. When you see that someone suffers, you might be motivated by a desire to help him not to suffer anymore.

It hurts to see anybody in pain, if you've got any kind of heart.

When someone you love is hurting, if it was possible, you'd want to take their pain for them. But do I really want cramps and sore boobs?

What breaks my heart is suffering of any kind.

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

It's a terrible thing wishing that it can be someone else's tragedy.

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

I'm very, very sensitive to pain and to people who suffer.

To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is Godlike.

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

Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one's soul.

What we really need is compassion of the mind - compassion for others that is directed intelligently and produces truly compassionate results.

However, without considering this connection, there is no doubt but that more good than evil, more delight than sorrow, arises from compassion itself; there being so many things which balance the sorrow of it.

When compassion wakes up in us, we find ourselves more willing to become vulnerable, to take the risk of entering the pain of others.