Compassion is empathic or emotional understanding of the suffering and emotions of others. It is regarded as a fundamental aspect of human love, a cornerstone of social interconnection and humanism, and foundational to the highest principles of ethical philosophy, society, and personhood.
But whoever has the material possessions of this world and sees his brother in need and yet refuses to show him compassion, in what way does the love of God remain in him? Little children, we should love, not in word or with the tongue, but in deed and truth.
Richard Feynman, What Do You Care What Other People Think? (1988).
I have very strongly of late the wish that others may be as sensitive as myself and the fear that they will not be. Colleague Sir Frank Adcock stumped by the sunset-portent unheeding. And I can't arge that I gain, or that others would gain, anything for humanity by observing and recording what went on for a few moments in the sky on Boar Race evening. I sometimes pretend to myself that I am public-spirited. I am not. I am an hedonist who wants pleasant sensations. On the other hand I am not the usual type of hedonist, for I want sensations to be had – if not by myself, then by someone else. The show shouldn't end with my death, which becomes a minor boo-hoo.
E. M. Forster, Commonplace Book (1959), p. 211.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, as quoted in My Country Vol. 2, No. 3 (September 1968) by Litchfield Historical Society, p. 23.
A religious man is a person … whose greatest passion is compassion.
Abraham Joshua Heschel, in New York Journal-American (5 April 1963).
Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955), section 139.
[[Eric Hoffer}}, The Passionate Sate of Mind and Other Aphorisms (1955), section 140.
Men are only great as they are kind.
Thomas Merton, in his final address, during a conference on East-West monastic dialogue, delivered just two hours before his death (10 December 1968), quoted in Religious Education, Vol. 73 (1978), p. 292.
Alice Meynell, "Introductory Note" to The Poetry of Pathos & Delight: From the Works of Coventry Patmore; Passages Selected by Alice Meynell (London: William Heinemann, 1906), p. xi.
Compassion is when you care enough to help someone with their problem and take time to find out what's bothering 'em.
The heart of an Arhat is like the heart of Cosmos. The heart of an Arhat is like the fire of the Sun. Eternity and the motion of Cosmos fill the heart of the Arhat. Maitreya is coming, radiant with all fires. His Heart flames with compassion for destitute humanity.
Arthur Schopenhauer, On the Basis of Morality (1840), trans. Arthur Brodrick Bullock, London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1903, Part III, Ch. VIII, 4, pp. 213-214.
In the just and generous heart, the humble and the weak inspire compassion, and call for pity and forbearance.
William Davis Shipman, as quoted in the Worcester Aegis and Transcript; December 7, 1861; pg. 1, col. 6.
To become wholly compassionate requires us to open our eyes and hearts, to behold the pain and exploitation our culture obscures, to arouse deadened emotions, and to rise above our egos.
Joanne Stepaniak, Being Vegan: Living with Conscience, Conviction, and Compassion (Los Angeles: Lowell House, 2000), p. 52.
It is not sufficient to have compassion only for those who are cute.
Richard Summerbell, Abnormally Happy (1985).
I could see their woe and sadness, and I pledged to ease their pain; their suffering would not be in vain.
Compassion is when you see that someone needs help and you wanna help 'em.
There never was any heart truly great and generous that was not also tender and compassionate.
While we would have our young sisters imitate, as they cannot fail to love, the conduct of Ruth, will not their elders do well to ponder on, and imitate the tenderness of Naomi? Would we have our daughters Ruths, we must be Naomis.