Thomas a Kempis Quotes

Vanity calculates but poorly on the vanity of others; what a virtue we should distil from frailty, what a world of pain we should save our brethren, if we would suffer our own weakness to be the measure of theirs.

Never to blend our pleasure or our pride With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels.

I used to believe that hurting would make you more alive to the hurting of others. I used to believe in feeling bad because somebody else did. Now I'm not so sure of either.

How easy it is to deny the pain of someone else's suffering.

Most of your suffering comes from the lack of understanding of yourself and others.

What thou avoidest suffering thyself seek not to impose on others.

Only when the sense of the pain of others begins does man begin.

Being sensitive means caring for your own feelings as well as those of others.

He who, by causing pain to others, wishes to obtain pleasure for himself, he, entangled in the bonds of hatred, will never be free from hatred.

I would like to explain the meaning of compassion, which is often misunderstood. Genuine compassion is based not on our own projections and expectations, but rather on the rights of the other: irrespective of whether another person is a close friend

Oh, Celie, unbelief is a terrible thing. And so is the hurt we cause others unknowingly.

Always stop to think whether your fun may be the cause of another's unhappiness

A casual attitude toward human hurt and pain is the surest sign of educational failure.

If it hurts me, it must hurt the other ones twice as much.

When one is innocent of pain, of the havoc it can wreak, one is never cruel. Cruelty is born of pain, of a need to hurt in turn.

Unless a man has pity he is not truly a man. If a man has not wept at the worlds pain he is only half a man, and there will always be pain in the world, knowing this does not mean that a man shall dispair. A good man will seek to take pain out of things. A foolish man will not even notice it, except in himself, and the poor unfortunate evil man will drive pain deeper into things and spread it about wherever he goes.

Real love amounts to withholding the truth, even when you're offered the perfect opportunity to hurt someone's feelings.

It's important to be aware of how we treat others. Even though someone appears to shrug off a sideways comment or to not be affected by a rumor, it's impossible to know everything else going on in that person's life, how we might be adding to his/her pain. People do have an impact on the lives of others; that's undeniable.

I'm not cruel, sir, I won't shoot you in the guts, but I will make you realize how much you took your toes for granted.

Remorse presupposes enough self-forgetfulness to feel the pain ofothers.

The ability to understand the cause of your own suffering gives you the ability to understand ours.

Without an awareness of our feelings we cannot experience compassion. How can we share the sufferings and the joys of others if we cannot experience our own?

Sometimes I forget that I can hurt you. That you are capable of being hurt

It's the hardest thing in the world to go on being aware of someone else's pain.

I don't want to hurt people's feelings if I can help it. I don't want anyone unnecessarily humiliated, but I say whatever stands between you and justice must give way; and if you have to walk over reputations — and if they become pavement you cannot help it.