132 Lovely Compassion Quotes to Find Empathy In The World

Life doesn’t always go according to plan and something which we recognize here at Execute Resources. Take 2020, for instance, which saw the world respond to a new disease and go through the toughest time in modern history. This calls for empathy for others and ourselves.

Feeling compassion is similar to love, kindless and empathy. You feel a need to resolve the suffering of another individual or group, if even for a few moments. The word comes from the Latin word “compati” which translates exactly as “to suffer with”, so in essence, to go through the same pain as another. The world really felt that in 2020.

We went on a quest to collect these quotes about compassion during the most challenging time in late 2020. It gave us a chance to reflect on the things which we took for granted and still have while understanding the plight of every single individual.

May these quotes, sayings and affirmations be your guiding light even as the world returns to normal.

1. We need the compassion and the courage to change the conditions that support our suffering. Those conditions are things like ignorance, bitterness, negligence, clinging, and holding on.

Sharon Salzberg

2.

3. The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.

Albert Schweitzer

4. I think compassion is important but love fizzles out eventually. But if there is compassion in a relationship, things can always be worked out.

Anushka Sharma

5. I’m hopeful for a world with more love, acceptance, and compassion for others.

Lily Alridge

6. Compassion is the wish to see others free from suffering.

Dalai Lama

7. Only the development of compassion and understanding for others can bring us the tranquility and happiness we all seek.

Dalai Lama

8. Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.

Plato

9. Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us.

Eric Hoffer

10. Compassion is loving others enough to say or do what is appropriate from an empowered heart without attachment to the outcome.

Gary Zukav

11. Compassion enables you to reach to the heavens and look through the heart of God.

Debbie Ford

12. One love, one heart, one destiny.

Bob Marley

13. A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal.

Steve Maraboli

14. Compassion is the basis of morality.

Arthur Schopenhauer

15. Let us unite the world through the compassion for our children.

Kailash Satyarthi

16. No one has ever become poor by giving.

Anne Frank

17. Compassion is a call, a demand of nature, to relieve the unhappy as hunger is a natural call for food.

Joseph Butler

18. If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

Mother Teresa

19. Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and it’s beauty.

Albert Einstein

20. It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.

Mahatma Gandhi

21. I work really hard at trying to see the big picture and not getting stuck in ego. I believe we’re all put on this planet for a purpose, and we all have a different purpose… When you connect with that love and that compassion, that’s when everything unfolds.

Ellen DeGeneres

22. I think that the greatest lesson I learned from my father is just having compassion towards people.

Laila Ali

23. Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.

Confucius

24. Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism.

Hubert H. Humphrey

25. Everyone deserves compassion.

Michael Sheen

26. We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

27. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

Dalai Lama

28. She has no imagination and that means no compassion.

Michael Foot

29. Compassion is contempt with a human face.

John McCarthy

30. Humanity’s collective mission in the cosmos lies in the practice of compassion.

Dalsaku Ikeda

31. Our compassion for one another, and our individual actions to help, is what makes our nation – and our community – great.

Kevin Brady

32. Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.

Dalai Lama

33. I find the best way to love someone is not to change them, but instead, help them reveal the greatest version of themselves.

Steve Maraboli

34. Drop the people who do not value you, respect you. Life has infinite horizons. Accept yourself, love yourself, and move forward.

Amit Ray

35. Compassion and empathy are anathema to sports.

Steve Rushin

36. In compassion, when we feel with the other, we dethrone ourselves from the center of our world and we put another person there.

Karen Armstrong

37. Compassion is a two way street.

Frank Capra

38. Taking time to relax every day, spending quality time with friends, and practicing mindfulness are some of the tried and tested ways of developing self-compassion.

Dr. Prem Jagyasi

39. Compassion will cure more sins than condemnation.

Henry Ward Beecher

40. Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It’s the capacity to understand that every war is both won and lost. And that someone else’s pain is as meaningful as your own.

Barbara Kingsolver

41. All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.

Dalai Lama

42. Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change.

Bob Kerrey

43. The Lord will give you, if you ask, the feelings of the compassion He feels for those in need.

Henry B. Eyring

44. I think we learn the most from imperfect relationships – things like forgiveness and compassion.

Andrea Thompson

45. One of the secrets of inner peace is the practice of compassion.

Dalai Lama

46. Let our hearts be stretched out in compassion toward others, for everyone is walking his or her own difficult path.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

47. The mind is no match with the heart in persuasion; constitutionality is no match with compassion.

Everett Dirksen

48. Look for a way to lift someone up. And if that’s all you do, that’s enough.

Elizabeth Lesser

49. At the end of the day, love and compassion will win.

Terry Waite

50. Compassion does not just happen. Pity does, but compassion is not pity. It’s not a feeling. Compassion is a viewpoint, a way of life, a perspective, a habit that becomes a discipline – and more than anything else, compassion is a choice we make that love is more important than comfort or convenience.

Glennon Doyle Melton

51. True compassion means not only feeling another’s pain but also being moved to help relieve it.

Daniel Goleman

52. The church must always show compassion, always.

Rick Warren

53. Compassion is so pure, I don’t think there is any way to taint it.

Chade-Meng Tan

54. A true gentleman is one that apologizes anyways, even though he has not offended a lady intentionally. He is in a class all of his own because he knows the value of a woman’s heart.

Shannon Alder

55. I know what real courage is, and I understand true compassion.

Mo Yan

56. Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.

Princess Diana

57. There is a nobility in compassion, a beauty in empathy, a grace in forgiveness.

John Connolly

58. With compassion one becomes courageous. Compassion brings triumph when attacked; it brings security when maintained.

Tao Te Ching

59. Compassion automatically invites you to relate with people because you no longer regard people as a drain on your energy.

Chogyam Trungpa

60. Everything I do as a mother builds on a foundation of love and compassion.

Amy Chua

61. It’s hard to practice compassion when we’re struggling with our authenticity or when our own worthiness is off-balance.

Brené Brown

62. Even suffering when wrapped in love, seems tolerable.

Bangambiki Habyarimana

63. As I get older, the more I stay focused on the acceptance of myself and others, and choose compassion over judgment and curiosity over fear.

Tracee Ellis Ross

64. 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

65. The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.

Thomas Merton

66. Let us fill our hearts with our own compassion – towards ourselves and towards all living beings.

Thich Nhat Hanh

67. Instead of putting others in their place, put yourself in their place.

Amish Proverb

68. Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.

Dalai Lama

69. No matter who we are, no matter how successful, no matter what our situation, compassion is something we all need to receive and give.

Catherine Pulsifer

70. I think compassion is an important quality in people in general.

Shannon Elizabeth

71. I love this life and even if to be taken from me, I will love that you have yours. Cherish all life, for life, is worth cherishing.

Tom Althouse

72. Compassion may be defined as the capacity to be attentive to the experience of others, to wish the best for others, and to sense what will truly serve others.

Joan Halifax

73. You have to have empathy, knowledge and compassion for your characters if you’re a writer.

Paul Haggis

74. This idea of compassion comes to us because we’re made in the image of God, who is ultimately the compassionate one.

Jackie Tabick

75. When we match compassion with purpose, we being to conquer the world.

Zachariah Thompson

76. Compassion is more important than intellect in calling forth the love that the work of peace needs, and intuition can often be a far more powerful searchlight than cold reason.

Betty Williams

77. Make no judgements where you have no compassion.

Anne McCaffrey

78. Compassion has enemies, and those enemies are things like pity, moral outrage, fear.

Joan Halifax

79. Having compassion starts and ends with having compassion for all those unwanted parts of ourselves.

Pema Chodron

80. There never was any heart truly great and generous, that was not also tender and compassionate.

Bishop Robert South

81. Compassion is about giving all the love that you’ve got.

Cheryl Strayed

82. Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.

Buddha

83. Compassion has no place in the natural order of the world which operates on the basis of necessity. Compassion opposes this order and is therefore best thought of as being in some way supernatural.

John Berger

84. We can’t heal the world today but we can begin with a voice of compassion, a heart of love, an act of kindness.

Mary Davis

85. Human it is to have compassion on the unhappy.

Giovanni Boccaccio

86. When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.

Maya Angelou

87. Compassion, not passion, keeps a marriage together.

Betty Wright

88. It is my intention to live an authentic life of compassion and integrity and action.

Zachary Quinto

89. Compassion is a practically acquired knowledge, like dancing. You must do it and practice diligently day by day.

Karen Armstrong

90. Compassion is not a popular virtue.

Karen Armstrong

91. Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion.

Jack Kornfield

92. Some people are filled by compassion and a desire to do good, and some simply don’t think anything’s going to make a difference.

Meryl Streep

93. Compassion knows that choosing the higher road in any situation is the most loving option for you.

Debbie Ford

94. Make no judgments where you have no compassion.

Anne McCaffrey

95. Compassion in evangelical churches is out of balance. When I talk about it, I get a lot of glazed expressions.

Max Lucado

96. Having compassion for yourself means that you honor and accept your humanness.

Kristen Neff

97. Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things.

Thomas Merton

98. All I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being not just with my hands but with my heart.

Tahereh Mafi

99. 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.

Pema Chödrön

100. Some people seem to see compassion as being mushy.

Laura Schlessinger

101. People need to have compassion for others.

Frank Bruno

102. Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.

Albert Einstein

103. God’s dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, and for compassion.

Desmond Tutu

104. When you have learned compassion for yourself, compassion for others is automatic.

Henepola Gunaratana

105. You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.

John Bunyan

106. Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.

Albert Schweitzer

107. We need more kindness, more compassion, more joy, more laughter. I definitely want to contribute to that.

Ellen DeGeneres

108. Compassion brings us to a stop, and for a moment we rise above ourselves.

Mason Cooley

109. When we’re looking for compassion, we need someone who is deeply rooted, is able to bend and, most of all, embraces us for our strengths and struggles.

Brene Brown

110. Compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves.

Pema Chodron

111. I have mental illness in my family. I have a lot of compassion for those people.

Mark Ruffalo

112. When we give ourselves compassion, we are opening our hearts in a way that can transform our lives.

Kristin Neff

113. Compassion is to look beyond your own pain, to see the pain of others.

Yasmin Mogahed

114. And as I’ve gotten older, I’ve had more of a tendency to look for people who live by kindness, tolerance, compassion, a gentler way of looking at things.

Martin Scorsese

115. Man may dismiss compassion from his heart, but God never will.

William Cowper

116. Compassion isn’t morose; it’s something replenishing and opening; that’s why it makes us happy.

Sharon Salzberg

117. I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.

Lao Tzu

118. Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life.

Jackie Chan

119. Honesty is the quality I value most in a friend. Not bluntness, but honesty with compassion.

Brooke Shields

120. It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers.

Thomas Merton

121. Compassion is the greatest form of love humans have to offer.

Rachel Joy Scott

122. Until you have real compassion, you can not recognize love.

Bob Thurman

123.

124. It is sometimes difficult to view compassion and loving kindness as the strengths they are.

Sharon Salzberg

125. It is not until you become a mother that your judgment slowly turns to compassion and understanding.

Erma Bombeck

126. Kindness begins with the understanding that we all struggle.

Charles Glassman

127. There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.

John Holmes

128. All religions try to benefit people, with the same basic message of the need for love and compassion, for justice and honesty, for contentment.

Dalai Lama

129. Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

Leo Buscaglia

130. When compassion wakes up in us, we find ourselves more willing to become vulnerable, to take the risk of entering the pain of others.

Sue Monk Kidd

131. A kind and compassionate act is often its own reward.

William John Bennett

132. Compassion is the key to living outside the confines of your lower self.

Debbie Ford