"But it's hard to explain, Mitch. Now that I'm suffering, I feel closer to people who suffer than I ever did before. The other night, on TV, I saw people in Bosnia running across the street, getting fired upon, killed, innocent victims... and I just started to cry. I feel their anguish as if it were my own. I don't know any of these people. But--how can I put this?--I'm almost... drawn to them."

Empathy, Suffering, Connection, War

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"But it's hard to explain, Mitch. Now that I'm suffering, I feel closer to people who suffer than I ever did before. The other night, on TV, I saw people in Bosnia running across the street, getting fired upon, killed, innocent victims... and I just started to cry. I feel their anguish as if it were my own. I don't know any of these people. But--how can I put this?--I'm almost... drawn to them."

Exlpore more Empathy quotes

"There are some great positive quotes out there that I can't quite share as I wonder how a victim in a war torn country could be expected to see from their perspective?"

Jay Woodman, British Motivational Speaker

Empathy, Perspective, War, Reality

"But what we can do, as flawed as we are, is still see God in other people, and do our best to help them find their own grace. That's what I strive to do, that's what I pray to do every day."

Barack Obama, American President

Empathy, God, People, Day, Grace

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."

Martin Luther King, Jr., American Leader

Empathy, Humanity, Living

"Maybe we have shoes so we can learn to walk in another's oath before judging their footsteps?"

Nikki Rowe, American Writer

Empathy, Understanding, Judgment, Life

"If all of us acted in unison as I act individually there would be no wars and no poverty. I have made myself personally responsible for the fate of every human being who has come my way."

Anais Nin, American Author

Empathy, Act, Being, Fate, Poverty

"Still, this was on the order of a minor miracle, running across someone to whom you can express your feeling so clearly, so completely. Most people go their entire lives without meeting a person like that. It would have been mistake to label this "love". It was more like total empathy."

Haruki Murakami, Japanese Writer

Empathy, Connection, Love, Understanding

"The pain of humanity's most maltreated victims echoes deep within each of us, in the form of our shame or ignorance."

Bryant McGill, American Poet

Empathy, Pain, Truth, Happiness, Inspirational

"Because no one is walking in your shoes, only you feel the sores on your feet."

Matshona Dhliwayo, Zimbabwean Philosopher

Empathy, Shoes, Sores, Individuality

"Embrace love and compassion with all your spirit. Understand that they never hurt or offend, they just heal and empower."

Steve Maraboli, American Author

Empathy, Love, Compassion, Healing, Spirit

"The idea that I can't share my problems with other people makes me not give a shit about their problems."

Chuck Palahniuk, American Novelist

Empathy, Problem, Indifference, Selfishness

Explore more quotes by Mitch Albom

"One must indeed test the strings to this life, bounce the bow, wet the mouthpiece, prepare for the deeper music that follows."

Music, Preparation, Performance, Art

"Because, from the beginning , God said, 'I'm gonna put this world into your hands. If I run everything, then that's not you.' So we were created with a piece of divinity inside us, but with this thing called free will, and I think God watches us everyday, lovingly, praying we will make the right choices."

Faith, God, Divinity, Choice, Creation

"None of us can undo what we've done, or relive a life already recorded. But, ... there is no such thing as "too late" in life."

Renewal, Redemption, Hope, Change, Life

"I earned a mater's degree in journalism and took the first job offered, as a sports writer. Instead of chasing my own fame, I wrote about famous athletes chasing theirs."

Career, Success, Writing, Fame

"If you don't respect the other person, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don't know how to compromise, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can't talk openly about what goes on between you, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you have different set of values in life, you're gonna have a lot of trouble.Your values must be alike. And the biggest of those values... the belief in the importance of your marriage."

Marriage, Respect, Compromise, Values

"Heaven . . . is the same feeling. . . . No fear. No dark. When you know you are loved . . . that's the light."

Heaven, Love, Light, Comfort

"We really don't experience the world fully, because we're half-asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do.And facing death changes that?"Oh, yes. You strip away all that stuff and you focus on the essentials."

Awareness, Life, Change, Focus

"Some things you endure for a reason."

Endurance, Reason, Sacrifice, Purpose, Struggle

"This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun."

Dying, End, Man, Sun

"Then why do we do so many bad things?He sighed. "Because one thing God gave us-and I'm afraid it's at times a little too much-is free will. Freedom to choose. I believe he gave us everything needed to build a beautiful world, if we choose wisely."

Choice, Evil, Creation, Responsibility