Compassion quotes
2.4K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside compassion — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"I have to say, as much I am respectful of people's faith and the idea of it being necessary for them, but when it comes to the Catholic church as an organization I don't have one scintilla of compassion, understanding, anything. I just think they're the most heinous, corrupt, separatingly vile organization that's ever been on the planet."
"Like a cube of ice, anger cannot be eliminated by applying force, only by applying warmth, compassion and kindness."
"We can actually accelerate the process through meditation, through the ability to find stillness through loving actions, through compassion and sharing, through understanding the nature of the creative process in the universe and having a sense of connection to it. So, that's conscious evolution."
"Our collective future depends on opening channels of compassion, acceptance, and understanding of others."
"God is the evolutionary impulse of the universe. God is infinite creativity, infinite love, infinite compassion, infinite caring."
"Compassion is the feeling of shared suffering. When you feel someone else's suffering, there is the birth of understanding."
"The highest intention comes from love and compassion ... when our intentions come from a place of love and compassion then we have the power of the universe."
"There is a need for everyone's brain to be imprinted with more self-enhancing impulses: the impulse to peace over violence, love over fear, compassion over selfishness."
"But compassion isn't about solutions. It's about giving all the love that you've got."
"Spiritual energy brings compassion into the world."
"If you're deeply engaged in an event, you're part of it. But if you're outside of it, disinterested, you are the regard that registers history. And that disinterestedness is different from objectivity. The objective view sees only the event, while the disinterested one participates as well as views by creating that link to history. It's a type of viewing that's both inside and out of the event, that brings to the viewing the capacity for human emotion, for compassion, but holds it openly. And objectivity excludes the human element, and is therefore not a point of view open to humans."
"For me the prophetic has to do with mustering the courage to love, to empathize, to exercise compassion, and to be committed to justice."
"There are certain things that our age needs, and certain things that it should avoid. It needs compassion and a wish that mankind should be happy; it needs the desire for knowledge and the determination to eschew pleasant myths; it needs, above all, courageous hope and the impulse to creativeness."
"Both my wife and I have a lot of compassion for animals in general."
"If you can't lend a hand, then get out of the way."
"Because animals seem to dwell in the present moment, because their own presence is so instinctive, their attention so unwavering, the offer us a different kind of compassion than humans do. Anyone is lucky to have both human and animal comfort in their lives."
"The doctrines contained in the Bible will lift to a superior condition all who observe them; they will impart to them knowledge, wisdom, charity, fill them with compassion and cause them to feel after the wants of those who are in distress."
"Let go of who you think you should be in order to be who you are. Be imperfect and have compassion for yourself. Connection is the result of authenticity."
"We cannot ignore our pain and feel compassion for it at the same time."
"It's hard to practice compassion when we're struggling with our authenticity or when our own worthiness is off-balance."
