Compassion Quotes

Here are some quotes about compassion to help inspire you to be your most compassionate self. 

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” -Dalai Lama

“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

“The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.” -Albert Schweitzer

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.” -Dalai Lama

“Everyone suffers. This is unavoidable. But it is up to us whether we add to others’ suffering or act to relieve it.” -Matthew Vasko

“True compassion means not only feeling another’s pain but also being moved to help relieve it.” -Daniel Goleman

“Our human compassion binds us the one to the other – not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.” -Nelson Mandela

“Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.” -Henri J.M. Nouwen

“One of the great side effects of compassion is that it’s hard to feel compassionate and caring towards people and judge then harshly at the same time. Feeling compassionately generally leaves you with a greater sense of positivity and peacefulness.” -Matthew Vasko

“Suffering is inevitable… but how we respond to that suffering is our choice.” -Douglas Abrams

“Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the wrong. Sometime in life you will have been all of these.” -George Washington Carver

“Only the development of compassion and understanding for others can bring us the tranquility and happiness we all seek.” -Dalai Lama

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” -Elisabeth Kubler-Ross