Cornel West Quotes

We have gotten to the point where we're more like [Donald] Trump than Trump. Trump is hateful. Now you have liberals hating on love. Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. There's nothing wrong with that. But sometimes you have to fight fire with water. I'm happy to fight it either way.

On many issues, empathy can pull us in the wrong direction. The outrage that comes from adopting the perspective of a victim can drive an appetite for retribution.

I'm definitely a crier. I get really emotional if someone's being rude or says something mean about me.

Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.

When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.

When you assume negative intent, you're angry. If you take away that anger and assume positive intent, you will be amazed. Your emotional quotient goes up because you are no longer almost random in your response.

Emotions are one of the main things that derail communication. Once people get upset at one another, rational thinking goes out of the window.

It is challenging when you are dealing with people's emotions.

We have to remember that disagreeing with people is fine; it is dehumanizing people that is not, and when that happens, we have to be ready to speak up.

When you're frustrated with people, when they've made you angry, it just may be because you haven't given them enough time.

Whenever encountering a troublesome person, do not identify him as being cruel or stupid or rude or anything else like that. Instead, see him as a frightened person.

Once someone appears to us primarily as an object, kindness has no place to root.

Revenge may not be a particularly high consciousness-oriented activity.

No matter how many weapons you have, no matter how great your technology might be, the world cannot live without love.

Being hurt inevitably breeds feelings of hatred towards your attacker. But when we hurt others, we have to deal with their hatred for us, and our own feelings of guilt. But knowing what it feels like to be hurt is exactly why we try to be kind to others. That's what makes us human.

Without love, violence will change the world; it will change it into a more violent one.

I like to be nice to people, but sometimes people aren't nice to me.

I fear that we are living in a society, living in a world where forgiving people is becoming more and more difficult to do.

Hate does not produce love, and by hate one cannot remake the world.

Hatred does not cease in this world by hating, but by not hating; this is an eternal truth.

I just find in our world that forgiveness is becoming more and more a difficult thing for us to do.

He gave her an indulgent look. "I'll forgive these rash words for now." She sputtered, "Forgive? Let's talk about who should be forgiving who.""Whom," he corrected."Shut up! I'm in the right here. Remember all those things you did to me?"

Those who behave in ways that displease you are sending out their disharmony toward you because that is what they have to give away. Hating them is akin to hating moss for growing on a tree.

You're punishing him over and over for things that are out of his control. Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't have a fully loaded weapon next to you round the clock. But I think it's time you flipped this little scenario in your head. If you'd been taken by the Capitol, and hijacked, and then tried to kill Peeta, is this the way he would be treating you?" demands Haymitch. I fall silent. It isn't. It isn't how he would be treating me at all. He would be trying to get me back at any cost. Not shutting me out, abandoning me, greeting me with hostility at every turn.

I wouldn't say that I have overcome opposition so much as I have tried to understand it. The lash of judgment carries a wounding sting, and there's a deeply instinctual tendency to want to respond in kind. I am not proud that my thoughts were blackened with vile opinions about the nature of those who were attacking me.