quotations about sympathy
We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him.
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
The Table Talk and Opinions of Napoleon Bonaparte
Sympathy is a currency for losers.
MIKE FREEMAN
"As Rumors Swirl, the Browns' Pick at No. 1 Has NFL and Other Teams Concerned", Bleacher Report, April 14, 2017
Sympathy is when you feel sorry for someone. Compassion is when you do something about it.
JONAH GOLDBERG
"The Dangers of Empathy", National Review, May 5, 2017
Trade in all our words for tea and sympathy
Wonder why we tried for things that could never be
Play our hearts lament like an unrehearsed symphony
JARS OF CLAY
"Tea and Sympathy"
It is said that the wounded deer sheds tears; but it belongs to man only, to "weep with them that weep," and by sympathy to divide another's sorrows, and double another's joys.
THOMAS GUTHRIE
Gems of Illustration from the Sermons and Other Writings of Thomas Guthrie
Never elated while one man's oppress'd;
Never dejected while another's blessed.
ALEXANDER POPE
An Essay on Man
The greatest pleasures of which the human mind is susceptible are the pleasures of consciousness and sympathy.
WILLIAM GODWIN
The Enquirer
Sympathy is bliss; in it is revealed the highest, purest blessedness. It is divine, for in its reciprocal light all thought of self is lost, and there remains only the pure joy of oneness with others.
JAMES ALLEN
Byways to Blessedness
Sympathy is as lightning; it is quick as thought; it waits not to make its selections; it is irrespective of considerations, and of partialities, and of tastes, and of cold prudence.
ISAAC TAYLOR
attributed, Day's Collacon
There are some men and women whose sympathies for others' pains are as quick as the consciousness of their own; who feel a personal relief from suffering when others are relieved; and to whose ear the song of the captive ransomed from guilt is sweeter than a thousand-voiced chorus, pealing their own praises. These are the god-like.
HORACE MANN
Thoughts
The man who melts
With social sympathy, though not allied,
Is of more worth than a thousand kinsmen.
EURIPIDES
Orestes
Once you take the time to consider the other person's perspective, you will become sympathetic to his feelings and ideas. You will be able to authentically and honestly say, "I don't blame you for feeling as you do. If I were in your position, I would feel just as you do."
DALE CARNEGIE
How to Win Friends and Influence People
For if sympathy is seen as an aspect of human intelligence, derived from an emotional experience, which is in turn based on evaluating and appraising objects, one can deduce that it is a state which can be changed, developed, augmented, or manipulated.
SOPHIE RATCLIFFE
On Sympathy
Human sympathy is a dear bargain. God waits outside till our company has gone.
DANIEL CONSIDINE
"God is Shy: Waiting and wanting in Advent", America: The Jesuit Review, December 3, 2015
Though sympathy can't alter facts, it can help to make them more bearable.
BRAM STOKER
Dracula
One advantage gained by calamities, is to know how to sympathize with others in the like troubles.
WELLINS CALCOTT
Thoughts Moral and Divine
He watch'd and wept, he pray'd and felt for all.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH
The Deserted Village
There is poetry and there is beauty in real sympathy; but there is more -- there is action. The noblest and most powerful form of sympathy is not merely the responsive tear, the echoed sigh, the answering look; it is the embodiment of the sentiment in actual help.
OCTAVIUS WINSLOW
attributed, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers
For I no sooner in my heart divin'd,
My heart, which by a secret harmony
Still moves with thine, joined in connection sweet.
JOHN MILTON
Paradise Lost
The tear of sympathy never falls in vain; it waters and fertilizes the soil of the most sterile heart and causes it to flourish with the beautiful flowers of gratitude and love.
ELIZA COOK
Diamond Dust