Here are some lovely quotes about empathy to help motivate your empathetic response. Being empathetic is a wonderful way to make connections with others, even with people who might at first seem very different from ourselves.
“Empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking action. It’s the impetus for creating change.” -Max Carver
“We need to teach our children empathy and care and love and communication and social responsibility in preparation for adulthood.” -Maya Soetoro-Ng
“I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.” -Maya Angelou
“Empathy begins with understanding life from another person’s perspective. Nobody has an objective experience of reality. It’s all through our own individual prisms.” -Sterling K. Brown
“The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.” -Meryl Streep
“All advocacy is, at its core, an exercise in empathy.” -Samantha Power
“When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet, if we have problems with our friends or family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and argument. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change.” -Thich Nhat Hanh
Century of Compassion 