Compassion Quotes - 32 quotes

 Children should not be suffer'd to lose the consideration of human nature in the shufflings of outward conditions. The more they have, the better humor'd they should be taught to be, and the more compassionate and gentle to those of their brethren who are placed lower, and have scantier portions.

- John Locke

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 It is never a bad idea to lead with compassion when we approach one another.

- Madison

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 A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.

- Nelson Mandela

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 How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

- Anne Frank

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 Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness.

- Anne Frank

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 Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.

- Brené Brown

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 Empathy is simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of- you're not alone.

- Brené Brown

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 Joy is the reward of seeking to give joy to others. When you are caring, compassionate, more concerned about the welfare of others than of your own, you suddenly feel a warm glow in your heart because you have in fact wiped the tears from the eyes of another.

- Desmond Tutu

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 Do not doubt your own basic goodness. In spite of all confusion and fear, you are born with a heart that knows what is just, loving, and beautiful.

- Jack Kornfield

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 To live life is to make a succession of errors. Understanding this can bring us great ease and forgiveness for ourselves and others.

- Jack Kornfield

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 When we let go of our battles and open our heart to things as they are, then we come to rest in the present moment. This is the beginning and the end of spiritual practice. Only in this moment can we discover that which is timeless. Only here can we find the love that we seek. Love in the past is simply memory, and love in the future is fantasy. Only in the reality of the present can we love, can we awaken, can we find peace and understanding and connection with ourselves and the world.

- Jack Kornfield

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 When you notice destructive, unhealthy thoughts, pause & feel their pain. Take a breath; hold your pain with kindness. Then inwardly recite loving-kindness phrases, imagining each one is a seed of compassion you are planting into your mind. MAY I LOVE MYSELF JUST AS IAM. MAY I SENSE MY WORTHINESS. MAY I LIVE WITH DIGNITY. MAY I HOLD MYSELF IN COMPASSION.

- Jack Kornfield

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 The basic principle of spiritual life is that our problems become the very place to discover wisdom and love.

- Jack Kornfield

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 You hold in your hand an invitation: to remember the transforming power of forgiveness and loving kindness. To remember that no matter where you are and what you face, within your heart peace is possible.

- Jack Kornfield

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 Whatever makes you weep may it open your eyes to beauty Where your heart has hardened may it crack open and let the light flood in Whatever worry squirrel-cages in your mind may it animate your creativity Whatever pettiness worms through your door may it teach you to laugh gently at your very human self May all the wrong turns you’ve taken the fumbles, stumbles every epic screwup lead you to this meadow this river this beloved this work this burning bush that was waiting for you.

- Janice Steinberg

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 My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.

- Maya Angelou

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 Loving kindness towards ourselves doesn't mean getting rid of anything. It means we can still be crazy after all these years. We can still be angry after all these years. We can still be timid or jealous or full of feelings of unworthiness. The point is not to try to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we are already.

- Pema Chodron

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 We don’t set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people’s hearts.

- Pema Chodron

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 In a World Without Forgiveness evil begets evil, harm generates harm, and there is no way short of exhaustion or forgetfulness of breaking the sequence. Forgiveness breaks the chain. ...It represents a decision not to do what instinct and passion urge us to do. It answers hate with a refusal to hate, animosity with generosity. Few more daring ideas have ever entered the human situation.

- Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

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 Let the Good in me connect with the good in others, until the world is transformed through the compelling power of love.

- Rabbi Nachman of Breslov

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 The Practice: Accept Them As They Are. Pick someone who is important to you. (You can do this practice with multiple people.) In your mind, out loud, or in writing, say things like these and see how you feel: ""I accept you completely. Countless causes, large and small, have led you to think, speak, and act the way you do. You are who you are. I let it be. You are a fact and I accept the facts in my life. You and I are part of a larger whole that is what it is, and I accept it, too."" If you like, be more specific, naming aspects of this person that particularly bother you, such as: ""I accept that you . . . snore . . . leave your clothes on the floor . . . are still angry with me . . . have little natural interest in sex . . .. . . don't really understand me . . . are not a good teacher for my child . . . break the law . . . hurt people on a large scale . . ."" (And remember that you can still disagree with, make requests of, or stand up to other people – while accepting them fully.) See if you can tolerate what comes up for you when you soften into acceptance. Often, we avoid accepting other people as a way to avoid the feelings we'd have if we opened wide to everything they are and everything they're not. Consider how you have gotten tangled up with this other person, struggling to change them. When I do this myself, I become aware of my own rightness, positionality, judgments, pushiness, irritability, narrow views, hurts, longings, grievances, or remorse. See if you can let go of some, even all of these entanglements. Open to the easing, relief, and peace that can come when you do. Also consider how much you like it when you feel that another person accepts you completely. It's a beautiful gift – and we can give it ourselves to others when we accept them. Imagine how it might improve your relationship with someone if that person felt you accepted him or her fully. Acceptance is a gift that gives back.

- Rick Hanson

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 In what ways do you wish that people were different? Think about the people close to you – friends, family, mates – as well co-workers, drivers on the highway, business-people, media types, politicians, and world leaders. Think about people who are not doing their share of housework, not getting you the healthcare you need, promoting political policies that you dislike if not despise, etc., etc. It's normal to wish that others were different, just like it's normal to wish that you, yourself, were different (e.g., thinner, richer, wiser). It's fine to try to influence others in skillful, ethical ways.But problems come when we tip into righteousness, resistance, anger, fault-finding, badgering, or any other kind of struggle. Instead, we could accept them for who they are and for who they are not. Accepting people does not itself mean agreeing with them, approving of them, waiving your own rights, or downplaying their impact upon you. You can still take appropriate actions to protect or support yourself or others. Or you can simply let people be. Either way, you accept the reality of the other person. You may not like it, you may not prefer it, you may feel sad or angry about it, but at a deeper level, you are at peace with it. That alone is a blessing. And sometimes, your shift to acceptance can help things get better. Activity/Reflection Pick someone who is important to you. (You can do this practice with multiple people.) In your mind, out loud, or in writing, say things like these and see how you feel: ""I accept you completely. Countless causes, large and small, have led you to think, speak, and act the way you do. You are who you are. I let it be. You are a fact and I accept the facts in my life. You and I are part of a larger whole that is what it is, and I accept it, too."" If you like, be more specific, naming aspects of this person that particularly bother you, such as: ""I accept that you . . . snore . . . leave your clothes on the floor . . . are still angry with me . . . have little natural interest in sex . . . are fighting me tooth-and-nail in this divorce . . . don’t really understand me . . . are not a good teacher for my child . . . break the law . . . hurt people on a large scale . . ."" (And remember that you can still disagree with, make requests of, or stand up to other people – while accepting them fully.) See if you can tolerate what comes up for you when you soften into acceptance. Often we avoid accepting other people as a way to avoid the feelings we’d have if we opened wide to everything they are and everything they’re not. Consider how you have gotten tangled up with this other person, struggling to change them. When I do this myself, I become aware of my own rightness, positionality, judgments, pushiness, irritability, narrow views, hurts, longings, grievances, or remorse. See if you can let go of some, even all of these entanglements. Open to the easing, relief, and peace that can come when you do. Also consider how much you like it when you feel that another person accepts you completely. It’s a beautiful gift – and we can give it ourselves to others when we accept them. Imagine how it might improve your relationship with someone if that person felt you accepted him or her fully. Acceptance is a gift that gives back.

- Rick Hanson, Ph.D.

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 So I can't save the world— can't save even myself, can't wrap my arms around every frightened child, can’t foster peace among nations, can’t bring love to all who feel unlovable. So I practice opening my heart right here in this room and being gentle with my insufficiency. I practice walking down the street heart first. And if it is insufficient to share love, I will practice loving anyway. I want to converse about truth, about trust. I want to invite compassion into every interaction. One willing heart can’t stop a war. One willing heart can’t feed all the hungry. And sometimes, daunted by a task too big, I tell myself what’s the use of trying? But today, the invitation is clear: to be ridiculously courageous in love. To open the heart like a lilac in May, knowing freeze is possible and opening anyway. To take love seriously. To give love wildly. To race up to the world as if I were a puppy, adoring and unjaded, stumbling on my own exuberance. To feel the shock of indifference, of anger, of cruelty, of fear, and stay open. To love as if it matters, as if the world depends on it.

- Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

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 Feeling compassion for ourselves in no way releases us from responsibility for our actions. Rather, it releases us from the self-hatred that prevents us from responding to our life with clarity and balance.

- Tara Brach

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 Most of us need to be reminded that we are good, that we are lovable, that we belong. If we knew just how powerfully our thoughts, words, and actions affected the hearts of those around us, we’d reach out and join hands again and again. Our relationships have the potential to be a sacred refuge, a place of healing and awakening. With each person we meet, we can learn to look behind the mask and see the one who longs to love and be loved.

- Tara Brach

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 One of the stories that most struck me about the power of the recognizing and allowing, the ground level of RAIN, was a man that I met with at a retreat years ago, who was in the early stages of Alzheimer's. He was a psychologist, and he was an experienced meditator. So it's quite interesting to hear him speak about what he was going through. And he described an experience in the early onset, where he was giving a talk that included about meditation to about 100 people. And he was just about to begin, when he went completely blank. He had no idea, not only what he was supposed to say, but where he was, why all these expectant eyes were on him. So here's what he did. Actually, he didn't do anything. He paused, and then he just put his palms together, and he started naming what was coming up in him. So he would say, ""Confused,"" and then he'd just bow. ""Embarrassed,"" bow. ""Afraid,"" bow. ""Heart pounding,"" bow. He took a breath and he'd go, ""Breathing, breathing,"" bow. ""Relaxing."" He started settling. He looked around and he said, ""I'm sorry."" And as you might imagine, there a lot of people with tears in their eyes. One of the men in the group said, ""No one has ever given us the teachings in this way."" And what had he done? Instead of kind of tumbling into what might have been a habitual reactivity to a difficult situation, he paused, which is the beginning of all healing practices-- to stop. And then he began to recognize, just name what was happening. And his way of allowing was that simple bow that Jack has described in a number of examples and can-- it's the energy of a bow. It's respecting the actuality of what's right here, that life is like this right now. This is how it is. So sometimes when we recognize and allow what's going on, when we name it and let it be there, it loses its power. The identification or energy sort of dissolves, and we're and we've arrived back again. We've remembered presence. But often, if Mara has got a lot of juice-- if Mara is revved-- recognizing and allowing begins to wake up a healing attention, but there's still some energy there. And sometimes, when you name what's there and you allow it-- and I often use the word yes. So when you kind of say, ""Yes, this is the life,"" let it be here, it actually gives it permission to get stronger.

- Tara Brach

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 When we see others as separate, they become a threat. When we see others as part of us, as connected, as interdependent, then there is no challenge we cannot face-together.

- The Dalai Lama

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 The highest form of wisdom is kindness.

- The Talmud

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 If you pour a handful of salt into a cup of water, the water becomes undrinkable. But if you pour the salt into a river, people can continue to draw the water to cook, wash, and drink. The river is immense, and it has the capacity to receive, embrace, and transform. When our hearts are small, our understanding and compassion are limited, and we suffer. We can’t accept or tolerate others and their shortcomings, and we demand that they change. But when our hearts expand, these same things don’t make us suffer anymore. We have a lot of understanding and compassion and can embrace others. We accept others as they are, and then they have a chance to transform.

- Thich Nhat Hanh

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 We have a lamp inside us. The oil of that lamp is our breathing, Our steps, and our peaceful smile. Our practice is to light up the lamp.

- Thich Nhat Hanh

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 Go and love someone exactly as they are and watch how quickly they transform into the greatest, truest version of themselves. When one feels seen and appreciated in their own essence, one is instantly empowered.

- Wes Angelozzi

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 True power is living the realization that you are your own healer, hero, and leader. It is when you share your truth with compassion and peace. Your power grows when you make progress in your own freedom and wisdom. Those who are truly powerful do not harm themselves or others; instead, they use their energy to enrich all they know with love.

- Yung Pueblo

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