When the people become involved in their government, government becomes more accountable, and our society is stronger, more compassionate, and better prepared for the challenges of the future.

What do you regard as most humane? To spare someone shame.

Breathe in deeply to bring your mind home to your body. Then look at, or think of, the person triggering this emotion: With mindfulness, you can see that she is unhappy, that she is suffering. You can see her wrong perceptions. You can see that she is not beautiful when she says things that are unkind.

Compassion is the basis of morality.

We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne.

We can continue to learn generation after generation and now is time to begin to learn how to love in a non-discriminatory way because we are intelligent enough, but we are not loving enough as a species.

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.

We pity in others only the those evils which we ourselves have experienced.

The wretched have no compassion, they can do good only from strong principles of duty.

The year 2100 will see eugenics universally established. In past ages, the law governing the survival of the fittest roughly weeded out the less desirable strains. Then man’s new sense of pity began to interfere with the ruthless workings of nature. As a result, we continue to keep alive and to breed the unfit.

Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life.

Today we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation’s promise through civility, courage, compassion and character.

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

When you are young, you cannot imagine being disabled. You imagine you would conquer it somehow. As I’ve got older, I can imagine it; I can see how life narrows in. I feel compassion for my mother now.

Anyone who is practicing understanding and compassion can exemplify true power. Anyone can be a Buddha.

Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do… but how much love we put in that action.

The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.

I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.

One of the most pervasive political visions of our time is the vision of liberals as compassionate and conservatives as less caring.

Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.

Hell is yourself and the only redemption is when a person puts himself aside to feel deeply for another person.

What is the appropriate behavior for a man or a woman in the midst of this world, where each person is clinging to his piece of debris? What’s the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood?

Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone.

It’s good to remember that in crises, natural crises, human beings forget for awhile their ignorances, their biases, their prejudices. For a little while, neighbors help neighbors and strangers help strangers.

He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.

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

The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

Technology is unlocking the innate compassion we have for our fellow human beings.

Whoever is spared personal pain must feel himself called to help in diminishing the pain of others. We must all carry our share of the misery which lies upon the world.

We hand folks over to God’s mercy, and show none ourselves.

There are people who can do all fine and heroic things but one – keep from telling their happiness to the unhappy.

To all those who have suffered as a consequence of our troubled past I extend my sincere thoughts and deep sympathy. With the benefit of historical hindsight we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all.

The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.

Charity bestowed upon those who are worthy of it is like good seed sown on a good soil that yields an abundance of fruits. But alms given to those who are yet under the tyrannical yoke of the passions are like seed deposited in a bad soil. The passions of the receiver of the alms choke, as it were, the growth of merits.

Real magic in relationships means an absence of judgment of others.

Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.

A real Christian is a person who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip.

What really raises one’s indignation against suffering is not suffering intrinsically, but the senselessness of suffering.

We need to, you know, restore people. We need to show mercy. I mean, because as much mercy as you show people, that’s the mercy you’re going to be receiving.

In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge. The young they keep out of mischief; to the old they are a comfort and aid in their weakness, and those in the prime of life they incite to noble deeds.

Love… it surrounds every being and extends slowly to embrace all that shall be.

Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.

Now that I understand that I’m an addict, I definitely have compassion for my mother. I get it.

The real power of the Buddha was that he had so much love. He saw people trapped in their notions of small separate self, feeling guilty or proud of that self, and he offered revolutionary teachings that resounded like a lion’s roar, like a great rising tide, helping people to wake up and break free from the prison of ignorance.

Do not do unto others as you expect they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.

Whether a person is straight or gay, Republican, Democrat, good person, not a good person, they’re all welcome, because to me, church is a place you’re supposed to get healed and whole and loved.

I just don’t like killing creatures.

Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind.

I believe in the spirit of equality and the spirit of this country as one of love and compassion and kindness.

We just cannot worry about ourselves.

The just is close to the people’s heart, but the merciful is close to the heart of God.

I just really believe people have to get hungry. I think maybe what we need to do, instead of trying to stuff our beliefs down people’s throats, is just pray for them to really be hungry and to see their neediness.

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

One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.

Instead of judging people, we need to pray.

A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: ‚Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?‘ We must always consider the person.

Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.

You may be rich, but there is one thing you can’t afford – that is, if you are a good sort – you can’t afford to spend money on your own luxuries while there are people around you wanting the necessaries of life.

If thy brother wrongs thee, remember not so much his wrong-doing, but more than ever that he is thy brother.