quotations about sympathy
Men are more helped by sympathy than by service.
JOHN LUBBOCK
The Use of Life
Sympathy is the first great lesson which man should learn; it will be ill for him if he proceeds no farther; if his emotions are but excited to roll back on his heart, and to be fostered in luxurious quiet; but unless he learns to feel for things in which he has no personal interest, he can achieve nothing generous or noble.
SIR THOMAS NOON TALFOURD
Critical and Miscellaneous Writings of T. Noon Talfourd
Even a witch wants sympathy.
FRANNY BILLINGSLEY
Chime
It is terribly rude to tell people that their troubles are boring.
LEMONY SNICKET
The Blank Book
If you're looking for sympathy you'll find it between shit and syphilis in the dictionary.
DAVID SEDARIS
Barrel Fever: Stories and Essays
How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people -- first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
Mein Weltbild
Individual sympathy is good and virtuous, but it doesn't necessarily change the social, economic, and political structures that unfairly victimize some people and unduly privilege others. We need to be fair and good of heart, but we also need to have fair and good policies.
RON ROLHEISER
"Being Good-Hearted Is Not Enough", Boston Pilot, June 21, 2017
You can't save others from themselves because those who make a perpetual muddle of their lives don't appreciate your interfering with the drama they've created. They want your poor-sweet-baby sympathy, but they don't want to change.
SUE GRAFTON
T is for Trespass
And all the country echoeth with the moan,
And poureth many a tear
For that magnific power
Of ancient days far-seen that thou didst share
With those of one blood sprung;
And all the mortal men who hold the plain
Of holy Asia as their land of sojourn,
They grieve in sympathy
For thy woes lamentable.
AESCHYLUS
Prometheus Bound