121 Empathy Quotes to Inspire Your Day

Looking for the perfect words to understand empathy better? Or maybe you need inspiration to be more understanding with others? You’re in the right place.

I’ve gathered 121 powerful quotes about empathy from people who truly get it – from writers and leaders to everyday heroes who’ve shown what it means to walk in someone else’s shoes.

Whether you’re a teacher looking to help students understand empathy, someone wanting to build stronger relationships or need a reminder to be kinder today – these quotes will give you the push you need.

Let’s explore what some of the wisest minds have said about seeing the world through others’ eyes.

Famous Empathy Quotes

1. “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mahatma Gandhi
2. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'” – Martin Luther King Jr.
3. “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” – Mother Teresa
4. “No one has ever become poor by giving.” – Anne Frank
5. “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” – Mother Teresa
6. “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.
7. “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” – Maya Angelou
8. “Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.” – Dalai Lama
9. “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
10. “I call him religious who understands the suffering of others.” – Mahatma Gandhi
11. “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” – Leo Buscaglia
12. “The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.” – Mahatma Gandhi
13. “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” – Dalai Lama
14. “Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another.” – Alfred Adler
15. “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” – Dalai Lama
16. “There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” – John Holmes
17. “Kindness can transform someone’s dark moment with a blaze of light. You’ll never know how much your caring matters. Make a difference for another today.” – Amy Leigh Mercree
18. “Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.” – Mohsin Hamid
19. “When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” – Ernest Hemingway
20. “The greatest gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.” – Meryl Streep

Short and Powerful Empathy Quotes

21. “Empathy is the bridge to understanding.” – Unknown
22. “Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness.” – Seneca
23. “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” – Plato
24. “Empathy begins with understanding life from another person’s perspective.” – Sterling K. Brown
25. “The only way to change someone’s mind is to connect with them from the heart.” – Rasheed Ogunlaru
26. “Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” – Mark Twain
27. “To listen with empathy is the most important human skill.” – Stephen Covey
28. “We rise by lifting others.” – Robert Ingersoll
29. “The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.” – Oscar Wilde
30. “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” – Theodore Roosevelt
31. “Understanding comes from listening, and listening comes from empathy.” – Unknown
32. “A little more kindness, a little less judgment.” – Unknown
33. “The highest form of knowledge is empathy.” – Bill Bullard
34. “Empathy is the key to human connection.” – Unknown
35. “Compassion is empathy in action.” – Unknown
36. “See the world through the eyes of others; that is empathy.” – Unknown
37. “Sometimes we just need someone to simply be there.” – Unknown
38. “One kind word can change someone’s entire day.” – Unknown
39. “Treat people with understanding when you can, and fake it when you can’t until you do understand.” – Kim Harrison
40. “Lead with empathy, always.” – Unknown

Quotes on Empathy in Relationships

41. “When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you.” – Susan Sarandon
42. “Empathy is about standing in someone else’s shoes, feeling with their heart, and seeing with their eyes.” – Daniel H. Pink
43. “A great relationship is about two things: First, appreciating the similarities, and second, respecting the differences.” – Unknown
44. “Love and empathy are what make a relationship strong, not perfection.” – Unknown
45. “Empathy is not about fixing. It’s about listening, holding space, withholding judgment, and emotionally connecting.” – Brené Brown
46. “The greatest gift you can give someone is your attention.” – Unknown
47. “When we truly listen to someone, we give them space to be seen and heard. That is where healing begins.” – Unknown
48. “We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known.” – Brené Brown
49. “A loving heart is the truest wisdom.” – Charles Dickens
50. “To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved deeply gives you courage.” – Lao Tzu
51. “The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.” – Audrey Hepburn
52. “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” – Lao Tzu
53. “Empathy means both understanding and being understood.” – Unknown
54. “If you look for the good in people, you will find it. If you listen with an open heart, you will hear it.” – Unknown
55. “Relationships grow stronger when both people practice kindness, patience, and understanding.” – Unknown
56. “To love someone is to learn the song in their heart and sing it to them when they have forgotten.” – Arne Garborg
57. “Sometimes, just being there for someone is enough.” – Unknown
58. “Real love is built on a foundation of trust, empathy, and understanding.” – Unknown
59. “Empathy is the soul of a relationship. Without it, there is no real connection.” – Unknown
60. “Love is not about how much you say ‘I love you,’ but how much you prove that it’s true.” – Unknown

Quotes on Empathy and Leadership

61. “Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge.” – Simon Sinek
62. “Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.” – Mohsin Hamid
63. “A boss has the title. A leader has the people.” – Simon Sinek
64. “The highest type of ruler is one of whose existence the people are barely aware.” – Lao Tzu
65. “The greatest leaders are those who inspire others by showing that they care.” – John Maxwell
66. “Leadership is not about being the best. It is about making everyone else better.” – Unknown
67. “The best leaders lead with both their head and their heart.” – Unknown
68. “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – Theodore Roosevelt
69. “To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
70. “Leadership is not about control but about inspiring people to do great things.” – Unknown
71. “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become what they are capable of being.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
72. “Listening is an art that requires attention over talent, spirit over ego, and others over self.” – Dean Jackson
73. “The most powerful leadership tool you have is your own personal example.” – John Wooden
74. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams
75. “Leadership means making the people around you feel safe, valued, and heard.” – Unknown
76. “Successful leaders see the opportunities in every difficulty rather than the difficulty in every opportunity.” – Reed Markham
77. “A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.” – John Maxwell
78. “Empathy is not just about understanding others, it’s about taking action to help them succeed.” – Satya Nadella
79. “The best way to lead people into the future is to connect with them deeply in the present.” – James Kouzes
80. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John C. Maxwel

Quotes on Empathy and Kindness

81. “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop
82. “Empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking action. It’s the impetus for creating change.” – Max Carver
83. “Kindness begins with the understanding that we all struggle.” – Charles Glassman
84. “When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.” – Maya Angelou
85. “A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.” – Amelia Earhart
86. “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” – Leo Buscaglia
87. “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.” – Unknown
88. “We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.” – Ronald Reagan
89. “You can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness!” – Anne Frank
90. “One kind word can warm three winter months.” – Japanese Proverb
91. “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” – Mother Teresa
92. “Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” – Princess Diana
93. “A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money.” – John Ruskin
94. “What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
95. “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” – Mark Twain
96. “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mahatma Gandhi
97. “To err on the side of kindness is never an error.” – Unknown
98. “Act with kindness, but do not expect gratitude.” – Confucius
99. “Compassion and kindness make the world a better place—one small act at a time.” – Unknown
100. “Empathy is about stepping into someone else’s shoes, being kind is about walking beside them.” – Unknown

Thought-Provoking Empathy Quotes

101. “Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” – Henry David Thoreau
102. “The opposite of anger is not calmness, it’s empathy.” – Mehmet Oz
103. “We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.” – Anaïs Nin
104. “Empathy is about holding space for someone else’s pain, even when you can’t relate to it.” – Unknown
105. “An empathetic heart is a magnet for miracles.” – Unknown
106. “Empathy is the greatest virtue. From it, all virtues flow. Without it, all virtues are an act.” – Eric Zorn
107. “The struggle of my neighbor is my struggle. Their suffering is my suffering. This is the essence of empathy.” – Unknown
108. “We are all connected. If you hurt, I hurt. If you heal, I heal. If you love, I love.” – Unknown
109. “Real empathy is sometimes not insisting that it will be okay, but acknowledging that it is not.” – Sheryl Sandberg
110. “There is no greater loan than a sympathetic ear.” – Frank Tyger
111. “Empathy isn’t just listening, it’s asking the questions whose answers need to be listened to.” – Unknown
112. “We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.” – Herman Melville
113. “Empathy is an invitation to vulnerability, both in ourselves and in others.” – Brené Brown
114. “When we see the humanity in others, we elevate our own.” – Unknown
115. “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” – Stephen R. Covey
116. “Your pain is not a burden. It is an opportunity for someone to show you kindness.” – Unknown
117. “Empathy is giving someone a psychological hug.” – Lawrence J. Bookbinder
118. “What is done to another, we do to ourselves.” – Buddha
119. “There is a nobility in compassion, a beauty in empathy, and a grace in forgiveness.” – John Connolly
120. “It is not enough to have compassion. You must act.” – Dalai Lama
121. “To understand another person, you must swim in the same waters that drowned them.” – Unknown

Wrapping It Up!

These 121 quotes aren’t just words on a screen – they’re tools for real change in how we connect with others.

Remember, empathy isn’t about being perfect. It’s about trying to understand, even when it’s hard. Start small.

Maybe use one quote each day as your focus. Share them with friends. Write them down. Most importantly, put them into action.

The world needs more understanding right now. These quotes show us it’s possible to bridge gaps and build stronger connections, one conversation at a time.

Which quote resonated with you the most? Take it with you today. Let it guide how you listen, how you respond, and how you treat others. After all, empathy isn’t just something we feel – it’s something we Do.

Ready to make a difference? The next time someone’s struggling, remember these words and take that first step toward understanding.