c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
From my childhood I had heard read, and read the Bible myself. Morning and evening the sacred volume was opened and prayers were said. The Bible was my first history, the Jews were the first people, and the events narrated by Moses and the other inspired writers, and those predicted by prophets were the all important things. In other books were found the thoughts and dreams of men, but in the Bible were the sacred truths of God.Yet in spite of my surroundings, of my education, I had no love for God. He was so saving of mercy, so extravagant in murder, so anxious to kill, so ready to assassinate, that I hated him with all my heart. At his command, babes were butchered, women violated, and the white hair of trembling age stained with blood. This God visited the people with pestilence -- filled the houses and covered the streets with the dying and the dead -- saw babes starving on the empty breasts of pallid mothers, heard the sobs, saw the tears, the sunken cheeks, the sightless eyes, the new made graves, and remained as pitiless as the pestilence.This God withheld the rain -- caused the famine, saw the fierce eyes of hunger -- the wasted forms, the white lips, saw mothers eating babes, and remained ferocious as famine.
— Robert G. Ingersoll
If compassion and mercy are not compatible with politics," Ford said, "then something is the matter with politics.
— Nancy Gibbs, The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity
A simple truth delivered in kindness may be the impetus that ignites a passionate fire in another’s soul and goes on to become the source of motivation for positive change.
— Molly Friedenfeld, The Book of Simple Human Truths
Your pain is not prescribed by your creator, He is the healer thus not giver of misery.We are victims of others; lay the blame where it belongs.Mankind is responsible for its environment and culture, the earth was in its purest form when Adam arrived (blessing on our first prophet) Culture created by man for power. The day we take responsibility for our actions, will be the day God walks through the door smiling
— Zarina Bibi
Love is the ultimate creator.
— Molly Friedenfeld, The Book of Simple Human Truths
Kindness solves more problems than diplomacy, wealth, intelligence, clout, force, law, and dominion combined.
— Richelle E. Goodrich, Smile Anyway
He had strong, steady hands, and I could tell from looking at them there was little he couldn't do. Mossy always said you could tell everything you needed to know about a man from his hands. Some hands, she told me, were leaving hands. They were the wandering sort that slipped into places they shouldn't, and they would wander right off again because those hands just couldn't stay still. Some hands were worthless hands, fit only to hold a drink or flick ash from a cigar, and some were punishing hands that hit hard and didn't leave a mark and those were the ones you never stayed to see twice.But the best hands were knowing hands, Mossy told me with a slow smile. Knowing hands were capable; they could soothe a horse or woman. They could take things apart -- including your heart -- and put them back together better than before. Knowing hands were rare, but if you found them, they were worth holding, at least for a little while.
— Deanna Raybourn, A Spear of Summer Grass
But those who are incapable ofpitying animals are, as a matter of fact, incapable of pitying men.A physician who would cut a living rabbit in pieces -- laying barethe nerves, denuding them with knives, pulling them out withforceps -- would not hesitate to try experiments with men and womenfor the gratification of his curiosity.
— Robert G. Ingersoll
We can see Spirit made visible when people are kind to one another, especially when it's a really busy person, like you, taking care of a needy, annoying, neurotic person, like you.
— Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
Sometimes kindness is stepping aside, letting go of our need to be right & just being happy for someone.
— Sharon Salzberg, A Heart as Wide as the World: Stories on the Path of Lovingkindness
The sick person becomes very adept at distinguishing between compassion and pity. Compassion is someone else’s suffering flaring in your own nerves. Pity is a projection of, a lament for, the self. All those people weeping in the mirror of your misery? Their tears are real, but they are not for you.
— Christian Wiman
It is not the number of prayers that will give you happiness, but the number you answer for another person.
— Shannon L. Alder
He had the compassion of a vivisectionist.
— Storm Constantine, The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit
The solution to nearly every problem in the world comes down to greater awareness, compassion, and empathy.
— Bryant McGill, Voice of Reason
Let us subdue the ravages of the baser-self, and aspire to the higher calling of exalting joy through compassion, for that is the one true purpose of humanity.
— Bryant McGill, Voice of Reason
What laid me low was no mystical vision, no message from God, but a blow of compassion. In a wakeful mind, no force is more terrible, or precious.
— Scott Russell Sanders, A Private History of Awe
A person is loved for the risk he or she takes for someone else, be it a mother, a father, a child, a lover, or a friend. It takes courage to reach out and connect with another human being. It requires risk and hard work. It takes courage and compassion for a person to truly bond with another. Sometimes even bridges aren't enough.
— Buket Uzuner, Two Green Otters: Mothers, Fathers, Lovers and all the Others
I believe the vital ingredient is love—a state of caring and compassion that is so deep and genuine that the barriers we erect around the self are transcended.
— Larry Dossey, Reinventing Medicine: Beyond Mind-Body to a New Era of Healing
The key to cultivating confidence in ourselves is understanding our right to make the truth our own.
— Sharon Salzberg, A Heart as Wide as the World: Stories on the Path of Lovingkindness
While happiness is an end in itself, it is also the state of mind we can have right now.
— Sharon Salzberg, A Heart as Wide as the World: Stories on the Path of Lovingkindness
Mindfulness is the agent of our freedom. Through mindfulness we arrive at faith we grow in wisdom & we attain equanimity.
— Sharon Salzberg, A Heart as Wide as the World: Stories on the Path of Lovingkindness
Thinking we are only supposed to have loving & compassionate feelings can be a terrible obstacle to spiritual practice.
— Sharon Salzberg, A Heart as Wide as the World: Stories on the Path of Lovingkindness
In my own shire, if I was sadHomely comforters I had:The earth, because my heart was sore,Sorrowed for the son she bore;And standing hills, long to remain,Shared their short-lived comrade's pain.And bound for the same bourn as I,On every road I wandered by,Trod beside me, close and dear,The beautiful and death-struck year:Whether in the woodland brownI heard the beechnut rustle down,And saw the purple crocus paleFlower about the autumn dale;Or littering far the fields of MayLady-smocks a-bleaching lay,And like a skylit water stoodThe bluebells in the azured wood. Yonder, lightening other loads,The season range the country roads,But here in London streets I kenNo such helpmates, only men;And these are not in plight to bear,If they would, another's care.They have enough as 'tis: I seeIn many an eye that measures meThe mortal sickness of a mindToo unhappy to be kind.Undone with misery, all they canIs to hate their fellow man;And till they drop they needs must stillLook at you and wish you ill.
— A.E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad
Our God is known for His compassion for the needy
—  let us be known for it as well.
Compassion grows in us when we know how the energy of love is available all around us.
— Sharon Salzberg, A Heart as Wide as the World: Stories on the Path of Lovingkindness
We can discover the capacity of the mind to be aware, to love, to begin again
— Sharon Salzberg, A Heart as Wide as the World: Stories on the Path of Lovingkindness
Etymologically, "compassion" means to suffer together. "Together," however, is different from "identically." Compassion is not the same as selflessness, and not really the opposite of selfishness. Rather, it provides a basis for helping other people that is materially disinterested but emotionally self-regarding. As Rousseau wrote in Emile, "When the strength of an expansive soul makes me identify myself with my fellow, and I feel that I am, so to speak, in him, it is in order not to suffer that I do not want him to suffer. I am interested in him for love of myself..." Or, as Jean Bethke Elshtain has said, "Pity is about how deeply I can feel. And in order to feel this way, to experience the rush of my own pious reaction, I need victims the way an addict needs drugs.
— William Voegeli, Never Enough: America's Limitless Welfare State
The Gelaming regarded themselves as a force for good, and in many ways they were, but they were also inexorable and their compassion could often feel like oppression.
— Storm Constantine
Does affirmative action place minority students in colleges where they're likely to fail while depriving other applicants of the chance to attend the most challenging schools where they are capable of succeeding? Does rent control drive up the cost of housing, depriving property owners of the same opportunity to profit as any other investor while driving down the quality and quantity of the housing stock? Do minimum wage laws reduce the number of entry-level jobs, making it harder to escape from poverty? Because compassion, by its nature, subordinates doing good to feeling good, these are questions the warm-hearted rarely pursue.
— William Voegeli, Never Enough: America's Limitless Welfare State
It is when we experience God most closely that our hearts burn most passionately to show his compassion to others.
— Dillon Burroughs
Simplicity, patience, compassion.These three are your greatest treasures.Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.Patient with both friends and enemies,you accord with the way things are.Compassionate toward yourself,you reconcile all beings in the world."…"There is no greater misfortunethan underestimating your enemy.Underestimating your enemymeans thinking that he is evil.Thus you destroy your three treasuresand become an enemy yourself.When two great forces oppose each other,the victory will goto the one that knows how to yield.
— Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
But compassion isn't about solutions. It's about giving all the love that you've got.
— Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
It is compassion rather than the principle of justice which can guard us against being unjust to our fellow men.
— Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do
I could really use someone else's smile today.
— Richelle E. Goodrich, Smile Anyway
We must quit thinking we know everything, and quit placing "knowledge" over kindness and compassion.
— Bryant McGill, Voice of Reason
Trouble makes us one with every human being in the world - and unless we touch others, we're out of touch with life.
— Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
And I realized a wondrous truth: that knowledge could be our treasure, that there were things humankind knew that we did not, that our conquest need not comprise taking and killing, but could consist of our mutual conquest of ignorance and distrust.
— Rachel Hartman, Seraphina
I feel the capacity to care is the thing which gives life its deepest significance.
— Pablo Casals
In our hearts... there must abide some pity for those people who have always felt themselves to be separate from even their most familiar surroundings, those people who either are foreigners or who suffer a singular point of view that makes them feel as if they’re foreigners - even in their native lands. In our hearts... there also abides a certain suspicion that such people need to feel set apart from their society. But people who initiate loneliness are no less lonely than those who are suddenly surprised by loneliness, nor are they undeserving of our pity.
— John Irving, A Son of the Circus
Success follows those who champion a cause greater than themselves.
— George Alexiou
I’m sick of hearing it. I don’t think it’s right to stand by while innocent people are being tortured. I feel like that’s how most horrible things continue to happen. It’s because other people don’t step in to stop it.
— Kris Noel, The Serenity Compound
In after-years he would tell of an incident that took place at one of their encampments: "We were with the Prophet when a Companion brought in a fledgling that he had caught, and one of the parent birds came and threw itself into the hands of him who had taken its young. I saw men's faces full of wonderment, and the Prophet said: 'Do ye wonder at this bird? Ye have taken its young, and it hath thrown itself down in merciful tenderness unto its young. Yet I swear by God, Your Lord is more merciful unto you than is this bird unto its fledgling. And he told the man to put back the young bird where he had found it. He also said: "God hath a hundred mercies,and one of them hath He sent down amongst jinn and men and cattle and beasts of prey. Thereby they are kind and merciful unto one another, and thereby the wild creature inclineth in tenderness unto her offspring. And ninety-nine mercies hath God reserved unto Himself, that therewith He may show mercy unto His slaves on the day of the Resurrection.
— Martin Lings, Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources
Don't always use PAIN that you receive as an excuse to GIVE PAIN...
— Tsem Tulku Rinpoche, 108 Ways to Grab My Apples
There’s often a reason why people and dogs bite. It’s about self-protection. If we respect what we may not know about the suffering of others and look at them compassionately, we open the door that can lead to understanding.
— Jennifer Skiff, The Divinity of Dogs: True Stories of Miracles Inspired by Man's Best Friend
We must empower our weak to be strong, and teach our strong to be compassionate. This will open a door to oneness.
— Gary   Hopkins
The true test of faith is how we treat those who can do nothing for us in return.
— Dillon Burroughs
There is no problem that greater consciousness and compassion, enjoined with positive resolve of will cannot solve.
— Bryant McGill, Voice of Reason
He told me that while he was in a Chinese Communist gulag for almost eighteen years, he faced danger on a few occasions. I thought he was referencing a threat to his own life. But when I asked, "What danger?" he answered, "Losing compassion toward the Chinese.
— Dalai Lama XIV, How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life
True compassion sees each person as a brother or sister and acts accordingly.
— Dillon Burroughs
Without love and compassion, nothing is sacred.
— Bryant McGill, Voice of Reason
Avoid the man without compassion, because he ain’t a man surely!
— Mehmet Murat ildan
Interestingly, one mate of mine, a proper leftie, in his heyday all Red Wedge and right-on punch-ups, was melancholy. "I thought I'd be overjoyed, but really it's just … another one bites the dust …" This demonstrates, I suppose, that if you opposed Thatcher's ideas it was likely because of their lack of compassion, which is really just a word for love. If love is something you cherish, it is hard to glean much joy from death, even in one's enemies.
— Russell Brand
Jesus tells us: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Mk 12:31). How can we love our neighbor if we can’t or won’t love ourselves, at least a little? When we hold ourselves to unrealistic standards, that perfectionist attitude can’t help but trickle down. It becomes harder to have compassion for others if we have no compassion for ourselves.
— Mary DeTurris Poust, Cravings: A Catholic Wrestles with Food, Self-Image, and God
The authentic human has the might of compassion and the creative power to do any manner of good.
— Bryant McGill, Voice of Reason
Once we are able to combine a feeling of empathy for others with a profound understanding of the suffering they experience, we become able to generate genuine compassion for them. We must work at this continually.
— Dalai Lama XIV
One-time rival and subsequent usurper Secretary of State Seward finally settled into an assessment of Lincoln that, "His confidence and compassion increase every day.
— Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Spread your happiness to others and let them spread theirs to you.
— Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
Compassion is not a virtue -- it is a commitment. It's not something we have or don't have -- it's something we choose to practice.
— Brené Brown, I Thought It Was Just Me: Women Reclaiming Power and Courage in a Culture of Shame
My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more intelligent and more educated than college professors.
— Maya Angelou
Ecclesiastes names thee Almighty, the Maccabees name thee Creator, the Epistle to the Ephesians names thee Liberty, Baruch names thee Immensity, the Psalms name thee Wisdom and Truth, John names thee Light, the Book of Kings names thee Lord, Exodus names thee Providence, Leviticus Sanctity, Esdras Justice, creation names thee God, man names thee Father; but Solomon names thee Compassion, which is the most beautiful of all thy names.
— Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
It is not what you leave to your children that matters, but what you leave in them.
— Shannon L. Alder, 300 Questions to Ask Your Parents Before It's Too Late
Those who say life is knocking them down and giving them a tough time are usually the first to beat themselves up. Be on your own side.
— Rasheed Ogunlaru
Tolstoy said, 'The antagonism between life and conscience may be removed either by a change of life or by a change of conscience.' Many of us have elected to adjust our consciences rather than our lives. Our powers of rationalization are unlimited. They allow us to live in luxury and indifference while others, whom we could help if we chose to, starve and go to hell.
— Randy Alcorn, Money, Possessions and Eternity
Familiarity is the gateway drug to empathy.
— iO Tillett Wright
God's people are not to accumulate stuff for tomorrow but to share indiscriminately with the scandalous and holy confidence that God will provide for tomorrow. Then we need not stockpile stuff in barns or a 401(k), especially when there is someone in need.
— Shane Claiborne, Red Letter Revolution: What If Jesus Really Meant What He Said?
We become neighbors when we are willing to cross the road for one another. (...) There is a lot of road crossing to do. We are all very busy in our own circles. We have our own people to go to and our own affairs to take care of. But if we could cross the road once in a while and pay attention to what is happening on the other side, we might indeed become neighbors.
— Henri J.M. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith
Imagine you saw a colour in your dream, which you have never seen before. It doesn't consist of any colours or shades that you know. Trying to describe that colour would be as difficult as trying to belive that there is enough love & compassion in the world so every human can feel happiness.
— Egor Kraft
Pity. What a useless emotion when you don't act on it. Pity is supposed to trigger compassion.
— Lish McBride, Heads Will Roll
...writers, like priests, should have compassion...and a sensitivity to pain...
— John Geddes, A Familiar Rain
Life has two choices: create or destruct. These choices are the backbone for all, within oneself and outside oneself. Too many ways of thinking are described by too many people that have no idea. If you're attached to your ways then detach, so you can change. Use this detachment in your writing, relationships, and understanding of life. Our future as individuals, as nations, and as mankind can only go one way. It's our choice whether we want the painful path or the peaceful path.
— Mark  Donnelly, Silent Prophet
If they had had a different neighbour, one less sel-absorbed and more concerned for others, a man of normal, charitable instincts, their desperate state would not have gone unnoticed, their distress-signals would have been heard, and perhaps they would have been rescued by now. Certainly they appeared utterly depraved, corrupt, vile and odious; but it is rare for those who have sunk so low not to be degraded in the process, and there comes a point, moreover, where the unfortunate and the infamous are grouped together, merged in a single, fateful world. They are les misérables - the outcasts, the underdogs. And who is to blame? Is it not the most fallen who have most need for charity?
— Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
No tear, is a wasted tear, if it spills out for love, whether in good times or bad.
— Anthony Liccione
There are men who dig for gold
—  [Monseigneur Bienvenu] dug for compassion.
Mindful of not thanking their benefactors, in case, like wights, they took offense, she added, "Your kindness is gratefully acknowledged. May your trees be forever fruitful.
— Cecilia Dart-Thornton, The Battle of Evernight
She had seen what it cost him and her heart quickened with compassion. For that alone, she might have loved him almost.
— Cecilia Dart-Thornton, The Battle of Evernight
We can all benefit by learning to express and meet out physical needs in a loving, caressing and compassionate way
— David Bresler
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams
— W.B. Yeats
Since my arrival in Rome, I have had many opportunities to wonder if compassion’s opposite is cruelty, or to reflect whether or not indifference would serve as a better black to its white.
— Andrew Levkoff, A Mixture of Madness
I was grateful to Ben the way you are grateful to someone who is unexpectedly kind.
— Cheryl Drake Harris, Lily's Ghost
True kindness ennobles the giver
— Jocelyn  Murray
SANSHO THE BAILIFF (1954) 'Without compassion a man is no longer human.' So states Taira.
— Steven Jay Schneider, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
LOVE is measured in GAUGE TWENTY- specifically, love pressure in the surrounding area. If it drops below four percent, though, you may have trouble-the VW might get sad, slow down, or even stop altogether. If this occurs, you have to immediately find/write a story that somehow convinces him that there is more love, caring or compassion in the area than he thinks there is. I can’t tell you how many times this has been a problem for us- how many trips were interrupted because I had to head into the nearest populated town to see if we could find examples of kindness.
— Christopher Boucher, How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Novel
Why are...poor people more ready to share their goods than rich people? The answer is easy: The poor have little to lose; the rich have more to lose and they are more attached to their possessions. Poverty provides a deeper motivation for understanding your neighbors, welcoming others and attending to those who are suffering. I would go so far as to say that poverty helps you understand what happiness is, what serenity is in life.
— Piero Gheddo
Compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism, for it announces that the hurt is to be taken seriously, that the hurt is not to be accepted as normal and natural but is an abnormal and unacceptable condition for humanness.
— Walter Brueggemann
Love is my decision to make your problem my problem.
— Robert A. Schuller
Her own misery filled her heart—there was no room in it for other people's sorrow.
— George Eliot, Adam Bede
God is not glorified when we keep for ourselves (no matter how thankfully) what we ought to be using to alleviate the misery of unevangelized, uneducated, unmedicated, and unfed millions. The evidence that many professing Christians have been deceived by this doctrine is how little they give and how much they own. God has prospered them. And by an almost irresistible law of consumer culture (baptized by a doctrine of health, wealth, and prosperity) they have bought bigger (and more) houses, newer (and more) cars, fancier (and more) clothes, better (and more) meat, and all manner of trinkets and gadgets and containers and devices and equipment to make life more fun. They will object: Does not the Old Testament promise that God will prosper his people? Indeed! God increases our yield, so that by giving we can prove our yield is not our god. God does not prosper a man's business so that he can move from a Ford to a Cadillac. God prospers a business so that 17,000 unreached people can be reached with the gospel. He prospers the business so that 12 percent of the world's population can move a step back from the precipice of starvation.
— John Piper, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist
Awakening self-compassion is often the greatest challenge people face on the spiritual path.
— Tara Brach, True Refuge: Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart
The bread which you hold back belongs to the hungry; the coat, which you guard in your locked storage-chests, belongs to the naked; the footwear mouldering in your closet belongs to those without shoes. The silver that you keep hidden in a safe place belongs to the one in need. Thus, however many are those whom you could have provided for, so many are those whom you wrong.
— Basil the Great
Bragging about your compassion is the first step towards feeling a genuine emotion.
— Bauvard, Some Inspiration for the Overenthusiastic
They looked at me, and were so full of delight in the pleasure they were giving me that some final thread of resistance gave way and I understood not only how entirely generous they were but also that generosity might be the greatest pleasure there is.
— William Maxwell, So Long, See You Tomorrow
It is always so, when we are unhappy we feel more strongly the unhappiness of others; our feeling is not shattered, but becomes concentrated...
— Fyodor Dostoyevsky
If people can live through genocide and retain compassion, if they can take strength in pain, if they are able, still, to laugh, then certainly we can learn something from them.
— Eric Greitens, The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL
I always try to share with others the idea that in order to become compassionate it is not necessary to become religious.
— Dalai Lama XIV
A visitor asked Lincoln what good news he could take home from an audience with the august executive. The president spun a story about a machine that baffled a chess champion by beating him thrice. The stunned champ cried while inspecting the machine, "There's a man in there!"Lincoln's good news, he confided from the heights of leadership, was that there was in fact a man in there.
— Shelby Foote, The Civil War, Vol. 1: Fort Sumter to Perryville
There is a kind of virtue that lies not in extraordinary actions, not in saving poor orphans from burning buildings, but in steadfastly working for a world where orphans are not poor and buildings comply with decent fire codes.
— Randy Cohen
This is the shade of difference: the door of the physician should never be shut, the door of the priest should always be open.
— Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
The news can be poison to your soul, don't let it kill your joy, be compassionate but not consumed. Be empathetic not enraged.
— Rob Liano
Compassion is born from the imagination. To have the desire to be compassionate, you have to imagine a world that’s better than the one you live in.
— Ryan Henry Ward Artist
The problem with churches of all sorts,” he continued, “is that so often they ignore the key teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, like the doctrine of love. So often we ask God to be on our side instead of asking that we be blessed enough to be on his. That said, the wheat and the tares must grow up together, and in the days of harvest they will be separated properly.
— David  Holdsworth, Angelos
Oh, Hank," Susan whispered, "their wings are furry.""Oh, James," Harriet whispered, "their hands are kind.
— Ursula K. Le Guin, Catwings
(...) I let go, crying and unable to stop because God was such a dirty crook, contemptible skunk, that's what he was for doing that thing to that woman. Come down out of the skies, you God, come on down and I'll hammer your face all over the city of Los Angeles, you miserable unpardonable prankster. If it wasn't for you, this woman would not have been so maimed, and neither would the world, (...)
— John Fante, Ask the Dust
If you see your brother in need, it doesn't matter if you already gave somewhere else. You should be open to the idea of God using you to meet your brother's unexpected need.
— Andy Stanley, Fields Of Gold
You can not hope to arrive at harmony in your life while stirring up disturbances in anothers...
— Rasheed Ogunlaru
Now there are many, many people in the world, but relatively few with whom we interact, and even fewer who cause us problems. So when you come across such a chance for practicing patience and tolerance, you should treat it with gratitude. It is rare. Just as having unexpectedly found a treasure in your own house, you should be happy and grateful toward your enemy for providing you that precious opportunity. Because if you are ever to be successful in your practice of patience and tolerance, which are critical factors in counteracting negative emotions, it is due to your own efforts and also the opportunity provided by your enemy.
— Dalai Lama XIV
We're merely one tree with various types, shapes and sizes of leaves that all wave differently in the breeze
— Rasheed Ogunlaru
To me, empathy and compassion are among the bravest of emotions ... and faith, the bravest of convictions.
— Gerard de Marigny, Rise to the Call
There are ultimately two choices in life: to fight it or to embrace it. If you fight it you will lose - if you embrace it you become one with it and you'll be lived.
— Rasheed Ogunlaru
Am I ever angry or frustrated? I only feel angry sometimes when I see waste, when things that we waste are what people need, things that would save them from dying. Frustrated? No, never.
— Mother Teresa, The Joy in Loving: A Guide to Daily Living
Tomorrow's leaders will not lead dictating from the front, nor pushing from the back. They will lead from the centre - from the heart
— Rasheed Ogunlaru, Soul Trader: Putting the Heart Back into Your Business
Need' now means wanting someone else's money. 'Greed' means wanting to keep your own. 'Compassion' is when a politician arranges the transfer.
— Joseph Sobran
Among other things, neuroplasticity means that emotions such as happiness and compassion can be cultivated in much the same way that a person can learn through repetition to play golf and basketball or master a musical instrument, and that such practice changes the activity and physical aspects of specific brain areas.
— Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Healing
The universe is not for man alone, but is a theater of evolution for all living beings. Live and let live is its guiding principle. 'Ahimsa Paramo Dharmah' - Non-injury is the highest religion.
— Virchand Gandhi
You ought not to love the individuals of your domestic circle less, but to love those who exist beyond it more. Once make the feelings of confidence and of affection universal, and the distinctions of property and power will vanish; nor are they to be abolished without substituting something equivalent in mischief to them, until all mankind shall acknowledge an entire community of rights.
— Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Necessity of Atheism and Other Essays
I can’t hope to convey the full effect of the embraces and avowals, but I can perhaps offer a crumb of counsel. If there is anybody known to you who might benefit from a letter or a visit, do not on any account postpone the writing or the making of it. The difference made will almost certainly be more than you have calculated
— Christopher Hitchens
Love is the only answer to every question
— Rasheed Ogunlaru
It made Daniel think. The people who had the least were the most willing to share. He outlined a dictum that he would believe the rest of his life: the more people have, the less the give. Similarly, generous cultures produce less waste because excess is shared, whereas stingy nations fill their landfills with leftovers.
— Mark Sundeen, The Man Who Quit Money
The master demon Screwtape identifies elitist humanity's tendency toward "an ingrained habit of belittling anything that concerns the great mass of their fellow men.
— C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters: Also Includes "Screwtape Proposes a Toast"
Since the state must necessarily provide subsistence for the criminal poor while undergoing punishment, not to do the same for the poor who have not offended is to give a premium on crime.
— John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy
Who are we to make such a decision? To allow another living being - any living being - to die, when ours is the power to prevent it? - Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic)
— John Byrne, The Fantastic Four: The Trial of Galactus
Dare we care at all about current fashions if that means reducing our ability to help hungry neighbors? How many more luxuries should we buy for ourselves and our children when others are dying for lack of bread?
— Ronald J. Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity
Lately it's started to seem to me that here in America our fetishization of self-reliance has taken a wrong turn and has helped enable us to jettison compassion as a national value while still maintaining a vision of ourselves as essentially well-meaning. It hasn't taken a whole lot of common sense, given the evidence of the last few years, to puzzle out the heartlessness of unregulated capitalism, and yet our political class has embraced even more fervently the notion of every man for himself, even given the ever-growing numbers such a philosophy leaves behind.
— Jim Shepard
John has a narrow mind. For him, neither the beauty nor the prosperity of the city of Ephesus is worth a second glance. Ephesus was situated at the end of the Silk Road from China and the caravan route from India which used to pass through the Parthian Empire en route to the West. But the prophet is quite unaware that this particular world exists at all. Even culture means absolutely nothing to him; for example, in 18:22 he rejoices that not only song but also the sound of the flute have disappeared. The world which he knows is limited to the seven churches whose Christianity corresponded with his own; and that in but a single province of the Roman Empire, namely Asia. As to the rest, he is only familiar with the mother church in Jerusalem and the sister church in Rome.John is utterly obsessed by Rome. The fact that this particular metropolis had bestowed both law and peace upon no less than one-half of the world never got through to him at all. He is also quite oblivious of the fact that Rome oppresses nations and exploits slaves. He could not care less about national or social considerations. He abominates the "whore on the seven hills" simply because Rome is persecuting Christians. This is precisely what the Apocalypse is all about: innocent suffering.
— Gilles Quispel, The Secret Book of Revelation: The Apocalypse of St John the Divine
While there is Ego, you will never be one with the universe... Or love your fellow man.
— Solange nicole
Really good writing has purpose and that purpose should be to shape other minds to desire truth and a more noble purpose in life and to become more thoughtful and knowledgable about important things like being kind and loving towards all living beings on our planet and not just humans but all animals.
— Susan Waterfield
No daylight to separate us.Only kinship. Inching ourselves closer to creating a community of kinship such that God might recognize it. Soon we imagine, with God, this circle of compassion. Then we imagine no one standing outside of that circle, moving ourselves closer to the margins so that the margins themselves will be erased. We stand there with those whose dignity has been denied. We locate ourselves with the poor and the powerless and the voiceless. At the edges, we join the easily despised and the readily left out. We stand with the demonized so that the demonizing will stop. We situate ourselves right next to the disposable so that the day will come when we stop throwing people away.
— Gregory J. Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion
There are those who do not hold that there is any innate goodness to mankind. To them I say, had you lived my life, you would not believe it. I have known the depths to which mortals are capable of descending, and I have seen the heights. I have seen how kindness and compassion may grow in the unlikeliest of places, as the mountain flower forces its way through the stern rock.
— Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Dart
Positivity can be a negative," I tell her, "if it's used to diminish events that should be cause for concern. Saying 'bad things happen to good people' or "God doesn't give anyone more than they can handle', for instance, isn't necessarily helpful to the person to whom something bad happened--it is much more beneficial to those who wish to be dismissive- who don't really care to think about the why or how or who. And if we cease to see the real human part in events--if instead, we relegate human experiences to some sort of mystical concept like karma, destiny or everything happens for a reason, and consider more realistic views to be negative--then we diminish compassion and empathy, as well as the possibility of positive change.
— Jane Devin, Elephant Girl: A Human Story
Don't be afraid to make corrections," Picchu said. "Don't be afraid to lend a hand." She fell silent, seeming to think for a moment. "And don't look down.
— Diane Duane, So You Want to Be a Wizard
Unfortunately we treat others as we treat ourselves. We should try being genuinely kind to ourselves and the rest will come naturally, like a Platinum Rule.
— Erica Goros, The Daisy Chain
Most of us care about one another. Human beings have considerably more in common with one another than they do differences. One’s religion, political persuasion, family, financial and social status, or vocation does not hamper the common thread of personal decency running through most of humankind.
— Jon M. Huntsman Sr., Essential Lessons on Leadership
All beings seek for happiness
—  so let your compassion extend itself to all.
he's not a piece of meat you can job off the market by the pound. because, if you do,maish, if you do, you'll rot in hell.
— Rod Serling, Requiem for a Heavyweight and Other Plays - Tragedy in a Temporary Town, The White Cane and The Elevator
As I crawled out of the abyss of combat and over the rail of the Sea Runner, I realized that compassion for the sufferings of others is a burden to those who have it. As Wilfred Owen's poem "Insensibility" puts it so well, those who feel most of others suffer most in war.
— Eugene B. Sledge
Be a nonbeliever, but never forget to believe in yourself.
— Debasish Mridha
Poetry happens when there is nothing to say but you have a volcano hidden inside you waiting to erupt.
— Debasish Mridha
Be a great writer when you write your life's song.
— Debasish Mridha
Let the waves of ocean teach you how to love and dance.
— Debasish Mridha
Strive to be value oriented rather than success oriented.
— Debasish Mridha
We come to this world with an abundance of hope, a deep desire to love, and a longing to belong.
— Debasish Mridha
Remember, every failure makes you stronger and wiser.
— Debasish Mridha
Time never changes—only we change. We measure the changes of our lives and think that we are measuring time. We are just measuring the movement of the earth.
— Debasish Mridha
The best gifts in life are the memories of love that we have given away.
— Debasish Mridha
In your heart, create a world full of flowers and love.
— Debasish Mridha
In a world full of cruelty and hatred, be loving and kind so that you may transform the perception of life.
— Debasish Mridha
You belong to everything andeverything belongs to you.You are in the beauty of a flower.You are also in the nourishing spring shower.Then why do you fear to change?You just lose your nameand your inner beauty remains the same.
— Debasish Mridha
Adversity often defines dignity.
— Debasish Mridha
The easiest way to make life beautiful is to always believe that it is beautiful.
— Debasish Mridha
Dance as if you got lost in the mystery and beauty of life.
— Debasish Mridha
Only with the wings of lovecan you fly.Only with the light of lovecan you see the starIn a moonlit sky.
— Debasish Mridha
He who lives in love enjoys life.
— Debasish Mridha
Be wise enough to forgive
—  be kind enough to love.
You may fall many times, but you must keep going.
— Debasish Mridha
Take me to the land of lovers where flowers bloom with love, birds sing with love, and hearts long for hearts.
— Debasish Mridha
The universe is inside you
—  you are the cosmic power.
Love is the bridge that crosses over the river of hate.
— Debasish Mridha
You are where you always wanted to be
—  so enjoy the beauty of life.
Take every opportunity to express kindness.
— Debasish Mridha
Try your best
—  forget the rest.
Stay in love.
— Debasish Mridha
Take me to a land where love never ends.
— Debasish Mridha
Let us be the wind of love that touches every heart and blows away all of the misery and sadness.
— Debasish Mridha
Like a child, always enjoy the world.
— Debasish Mridha
If you know how blessed you are, you will never ever complain.
— Debasish Mridha
A thinker can truly think only when there is true freedom of thought.
— Debasish Mridha
Morality is often very immoral.
— Debasish Mridha
You cannot truly enjoy a flower until you can see her inner beauty and feel her purpose of life.
— Debasish Mridha
Our teaching systems mostly teach us how to conform but not how to reform.
— Debasish Mridha
Not knowing about the ultimate purpose of our lives causes tremendous amounts of suffering.
— Debasish Mridha
Every human being is a reflection of this universe.
— Debasish Mridha
The language of love is not words but feelings.
— Debasish Mridha
The power of our subconscious thoughts and desires attracts good luck.
— Debasish Mridha
You create your own masterpiece as your actions draw pictures of your life canvas.
— Debasish Mridha
Kindness is the language of eternal consciousness.
— Debasish Mridha
The most effective weapon is love.
— Debasish Mridha
The most attractive force is a smile.
— Debasish Mridha
Failure is an opportunity to reflect and realize.
— Debasish Mridha
Live earnestly and respond consciously with love.
— Debasish Mridha
For all of the blessings of your life, be always grateful.
— Debasish Mridha
When computers are able to imagine, then humanity will get its death notice.
— Debasish Mridha
The mind uses the power of thought to win the world.
— Debasish Mridha
Smile! Accept hatred with love.
— Debasish Mridha
Some writers write about love
—  some writers write with love.
Remember, today’s truth could be tomorrow’s absurdity.
— Debasish Mridha
Greatness always inspires you to be great.
— Debasish Mridha
The best way to be happy is to be kind to someone.
— Debasish Mridha
I love the sweet sound of my name when you say it with love.
— Debasish Mridha
I have learned to be happy by calming my ego.
— Debasish Mridha
A beautiful heart finds beauty in everything.
— Debasish Mridha
To beautify the world, let your love bloom like a flower.
— Debasish Mridha
Love without reason—bloom without season.
— Debasish Mridha
Smile because you are amazing.
— Debasish Mridha
Every woman is beautiful. Every woman is amazing because every woman’s heart is filled with the motherly instinct of unconditional love.
— Debasish Mridha
True beauty does not shine
—  it attracts.
Kindness is the prettiest makeup.
— Debasish Mridha
Love is the ultimate style.
— Debasish Mridha
Love just for love—not for a reason.
— Debasish Mridha
Fall in love to find the beauty of life.
— Debasish Mridha
To be beautiful, love is the best makeup to wear.
— Debasish Mridha
Your smile has magic in it.
— Debasish Mridha
Believe that you are not only beautiful, but you are amazing and wonderful.
— Debasish Mridha
Be the love that you are always looking for.
— Debasish Mridha
Knowing why you are is your purpose.Knowing who you are is your style.Knowing what you are is your character
— Debasish Mridha
To be beautiful, be the person who helps others to reveal their own beauty.
— Debasish Mridha
This world is full of kind and compassionate people just like you.
— Debasish Mridha
Every woman has a distinctive sense of beauty which is uniquely charming and euphoric.
— Debasish Mridha
A smile is the most beautiful dance of a woman's heart.
— Debasish Mridha
Let it be love that you are living in.
— Debasish Mridha
A fundamental shift of our perceptions and consciousness are necessary for any great improvements for mankind.
— Debasish Mridha
To make your life beautiful, impregnate your thoughts with beauty.
— Debasish Mridha
You can only depend on one person and that is you.
— Debasish Mridha
Every sunrise gives you an opportunity to begin again.
— Debasish Mridha
Sometimes failing gives you the opportunity to build a better foundation.
— Debasish Mridha
You can't fail when it is not an option.
— Debasish Mridha
We may not remember life, but we never forget touches of love.
— Debasish Mridha
You are my universe! I am longing to belong!
— Debasish Mridha
Even in the cloudy sky, the sun never forgets to rise.
— Debasish Mridha
Can you imagine what will happen if just for one day the sun forgot to rise?
— Debasish Mridha
With every sunrise our hearts sing with joy, our minds dance with love, and our lives get new meaning
— Debasish Mridha
The best things in life are not things, but they are our beautiful loving thoughts.
— Debasish Mridha
Don’t use your words to criticize, condemn, or complain; us your words to appreciate, inspire, and empower.
— Debasish Mridha
The universe created us to be happy.
— Debasish Mridha
Most often simplicity defines the true beauty of a great life.
— Debasish Mridha
To feel the joy of life, sell your pride and get lost in the simplicity and humility.
— Debasish Mridha
Suffering is never wasted. Most often those who suffer the most will learn the most.
— Debasish Mridha
To expect more, be more.
— Debasish Mridha
Never forget to express your gratitude for your blessings.
— Debasish Mridha
Do not get depressed because of your condition
—  think and act courageously to change your situation.
Love and care can transform the impossible to possible and ugliness into beauty.
— Debasish Mridha
Don’t conform. Don’t live in a small dirty pond when the ocean of life is lovingly inviting you.
— Debasish Mridha
Forgive and forget ugliness. Look around to find beauty and focus on it.
— Debasish Mridha
To refresh our lives, let us forget and forgive and begin anew.
— Debasish Mridha
You cannot fill your life with happiness when you insist on living a stressful life.
— Debasish Mridha
Just change your attitude and perception to change your life.
— Debasish Mridha
Laughter enlightens our hearts and lightens life’s burdens.
— Debasish Mridha
Shine like a candle of love to enlighten the world like the moon.
— Debasish Mridha
Faith activates inner strength and universal power to help you in your endeavors.
— Debasish Mridha
Make every person feel special. Let them feel loved.
— Debasish Mridha
Tie everyone you meet today with your garland of love and kindness.
— Debasish Mridha
Be brave enough to be simple and humble.
— Debasish Mridha
A smile is a subliminal way of saying, “Hi dear, You are beautiful!
— Debasish Mridha
Let me be an ocean and let me kiss you as many times as the ocean kisses the shore.
— Debasish Mridha
If love is the music of the heart, then philosophy should be the music of the mind.
— Debasish Mridha
In this complex modern world, it is impossible to be simple.
— Debasish Mridha
Time is standing still like the sun. We are the ones moving around time like planets orbiting the sun.
— Debasish Mridha
We often try to understand the world without understanding ourselves.
— Debasish Mridha
Isn’t it true that philosophy is a barrier? For sure it screens and modifies every bit of information that the mind allows to enter.
— Debasish Mridha
We have to change our thoughts before things can change.
— Debasish Mridha
What you love loves you back.
— Debasish Mridha
The best things in life are simple, abundant, and free.
— Debasish Mridha
I am not a philosopher
—  my life is my philosophy.
Believe in your purposes. Define yourself endlessly.
— Debasish Mridha
Love deeply to live profoundly.
— Debasish Mridha