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50 Quotes That Will Inspire You to Practice Compassion
It’s easy to get caught up in your own world, but these words of wisdom will encourage you to focus on the well-being of others.
The words compassion and kindness are sometimes used interchangeably, but the two words have distinctive meanings. Kindness is defined as “the quality or state of being kind,” or “a kind deed,” according to Merriam-Webster. Compassion, on the other hand, is a “sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it,” according to Merriam-Webster.
For many people, trying to support or alleviate the problems of others when they are dealing with their own busy lives may feel impossible. But once someone has practiced self-preservation and self-care, it’s important to look outward and focus on others. It may seem like we’re all living in our own little worlds, but at the end of the day, we are all connected and directly impacted by the choices of others.
When we take an interest in the plights and struggles of others and act compassionately, we are often not only helping other people but also helping ourselves. A simple act of compassion can make a positive impact on someone else's day. As Oprah wrote in our “The Life You Want” Planner: “Extending yourself in compassion to another human being changes the nature of your relationship—the acknowledgment of one human being to another is what bonds, strengthens, and expands the human connection.”
To inspire all of us to live a life full of compassion, we sourced the best quotes, words of wisdom, and remarks on the topic from writers, scholars, and other notable names. These 50 quotes will encourage you to make compassion part of your everyday life.
Oprah Winfrey
"A stranger’s compassion can make a world of difference," Oprah Winfrey wrote in “The Life You Want” Planner.
Roy T. Bennett
"We are all different. Don’t judge, understand instead," Bennett wrote in his book The Light in the Heart.
Roy T. Bennett
"More smiling, less worrying. More compassion, less judgment. More blessed, less stressed. More love, less hate," Bennett wrote in The Light in the Heart.
Dalai Lama XIV
"Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive," the Dalai Lama wrote in The Art of Happiness.
Dalai Lama XIV
"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion," the Dalai Lama wrote in The Art of Happiness.
Albert Camus
"I have no idea what's awaiting me, or what will happen when this all ends. For the moment I know this: There are sick people and they need curing," Camus wrote in The Plague.
Steve Maraboli
"A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal," Maraboli wrote in Life, the Truth, and Being Free.
Arthur Schopenhauer
"The assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality," Schopenhauer wrote in On the Basis of Morality.
Pema Chödrön
"Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity," Chödrön wrote in The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times.
Kristin Neff
In Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself Neff wrote: "Compassion is, by definition, relational. Compassion literally means 'to suffer with,' which implies a basic mutuality in the experience of suffering. The emotion of compassion springs from the recognition that the human experience is imperfect."
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa wrote: "I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness," in A Gift for God: Prayers and Meditations.
Steve Maraboli
"It only takes a split second to smile and forget, yet to someone that needed it, it can last a lifetime," Maraboli wrote in Life, the Truth, and Being Free.
Amit Ray
Ray wrote: "Compassion is all-inclusive. Compassion knows no boundaries. Compassion comes with awareness, and awareness breaks all narrow territories," in Nonviolence: The Transforming Power.
Susan Sontag
Sontag wrote "Compassion is an unstable emotion. It needs to be translated into action, or it withers," in Regarding the Pain of Others.
Curtis Sittenfeld
"We have to make mistakes; it's how we learn compassion for others," Sittenfeld wrote in American Wife.
Karen Armstrong
"If it is not tempered by compassion, and empathy, reason can lead men and women into a moral void," Armstrong wrote in Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life.
Amit Ray
"The light of compassion opens the petals of the heart. When the petals of the heart unfold fragrance spreads across the valley," Ray wrote in Nonviolence: The Transforming Power.
Richelle E. Goodrich
"Walk with me for a while, my friend—you in my shoes, I in yours—and then let us talk," Goodrich wrote in Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, and Grumblings for Every Day of the Year.
Steve Maraboli
"Love and compassion are the mother and father of a smile. We need to create more smiles in our world today. Smiles, after all, pave the way to a happy world," Maraboli wrote in Life, the Truth, and Being Free.
Jack Kornfield
"If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete," Kornfield wrote in Buddha's Little Instruction Book.
Cailey Griffin (She/Her) is the Editorial Assistant to Oprah Daily’s General Manager. In addition to assisting the GM, she also writes for Oprah Daily. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Columbia University. She has interned at 60 Minutes, NBC News, and her work has appeared in Foreign Policy magazine. Outside of Oprah Daily, she can be found running around Harlem or listening to the Wicked soundtrack on repeat.
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