Jonathan Groff Quotes

Empathy is the most mysterious transaction that the human soul can have, and it's accessible to all of us, but we have to give ourselves the opportunity to identify, to plunge ourselves in a story where we see the world from the bottom up or through another's eyes or heart.

Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.

Well, I was a big fan of the book and therein a huge fan of the girl Precious. And so I felt like I knew this girl. I felt like I'd grown up alongside her. I felt like she was in my family. She was my friend and she was like people I didn't want to be friends with.

I love that idea that if you know someone's story, it's impossible not to love them. This is potentially hokey but incredibly true, as far as I'm concerned.

Once you allow yourself to identify with the people in a story, then you might begin to see yourself in that story even if on the surface it's far removed from your situation. This is what I try to tell my students: this is one great thing that literature can do - it can make us identify with situations and people far away.

You can't tell stories and really walk in someone's shoes and not have a love for them, even if they're doing horrible things.

Above all, I try to create an emotion to which others can respond.

You have a little bit of feeling for everyone you play.

As human beings, what makes us able to empathize with people is a connection that is not necessarily understood mentally.

Writing is weaponized empathy. It's putting yourself in someone else's head. It's finding what's in them that relates to you.

Stories teach us empathy. They reveal to us ourselves in the skins of others.

There's nobody you can't love once you know their story. I believe that to be, in the majority, true.

When you relate to a disease, you're afraid. When you relate to a person, there is compassion. You see someone that is like you, that could be like you. You can see yourself in that same situation.

I just try to put myself in the minds of all the characters.

A lot of people can relate to me.

All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.

With my writing, what I want to do is humanize the young people I write about.

The story is a machine for empathy. In contrast to logic or reason, a story is about emotion that gets staged over a sequence of dramatic moments, so you empathize with the characters without really thinking about it too much. It is a really powerful tool for imagining yourself in other people's situations.

On 'Awkward,' we really like to send the message out that we're relatable, and that we get what people are going through.

I think that no matter how dark a person is, the more you learn about them, the more you understand about their life, the more you can sympathize with them or even root for them.

How can you expect a man who's warm to understand one who's cold?

I chose to present myself as one who comes from among the people, and I can be touched by their pain because I have my own.

I think it's all about how much you love, understand and can relate to the material you are given.

Once you allow yourself to identify with the people in a story, then you might begin to see yourself in that story even if on the surface it's far removed from your situation.

I can spend 10 to 15 minutes with someone, and they can tell me what they're going through. I may never have gone through that, but I get it on a really deep level.