Animals can communicate quite well. And they do. And generally speaking, they are ignored
Alice WalkerRead
Be compassionate to everyone. Don't just search for whatever it is that annoys and frightens you-see beyond those things to the basic human being. Especially see the child in the man or woman. Even if they are destroying you, allow a moment to see how lost in their own delusion and suffering they are.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Be empathetic towards others, understanding their struggles rather than focusing on their flaws.
This quote by Alice Walker emphasizes the importance of compassion and understanding in our interactions with others. It encourages us to look past the negative behaviors that may disturb or frighten us and to recognize the deeper humanity and suffering within everyone, suggesting that even those who seem to harm us are often struggling with their own issues and delusions. By seeing the 'child' within each person, we can foster a greater sense of empathy and connection.
Themes
CompassionEmpathyUnderstandingHumanitySuffering
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about forgiveness and empathy during a workshop.
More from Alice Walker
All quotes →June Jordan, who died of cancer in 2002, was a brilliant, fierce, radical, and frequently furious poet. We were friends for thirty years. Not once in that time did she step back from what was transpiring politically and morally in the world. She spoke up, and led her students, whom she adored, to do the same.
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On a spiritual level, it's as though with my sighted eye I see what's before me, and with my unsighted eye I see what's hidden. It's illuminated life more than darkened it.
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I think 'The Color Purple' is so bursting with love, the need for connection, the showing of the need for connection around the globe.
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How long will it take the citizens of the United States, one wonders, to recognize that the house their country bombed in Iraq is the same one they were living in until it was foreclosed?
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One white man on the platform in South Carolina asked us where we were going--we had got off the train to get some fresh air and to dust the grit and dust out of our clothes. When we said Africa he looked offended and tickled too. Niggers going to Africa, he said to his wife. Now I have seen everything.
Alice WalkerRead
Similar quotes
At every moment in our lives we need compassion, but what more urgent moment could there be than when we are dying? What more wonderful and consoling gift could you give to dying people than the knowledge that they are being prayed for, and that you are taking on their suffering and purifying their negative karma through your practice for them?
Sogyal RinpocheRead
What is called generosity is really compassion. In the Shin'ei it is written "Seen from the eye of compassion, there is noone to be disliked. One who has sinned is to be pitied all the more." There is no limit to the breadth and depth of ones heart. There is room enough for all. That we still worship the sages of the three ancient kingdoms is because their compassion reaches us yet today.
Yamamoto TsunetomoRead
Compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use, and the regular exercise of choosing kindness over cruelty would change us.
Jonathan Safran FoerRead
If you have a sick or lonely person at home, be there. Maybe just to hold a hand, maybe just to give a smile, that is the greatest, the most beautiful work.
Mother TeresaRead
One does not ask of one who suffers: What is your country and what is your religion? One merely says: You suffer, that is enough for me.
Louis PasteurRead
The compassion we feel normally is biased and mixed with attachment. Genuine compassion flows towards all living beings, particularly your enemies. If I try to develop compassion towards my enemy, it may not benefit him directly, he may not even be aware of it. But it will immediately benefit me by calming my mind. On the other hand, if I dwell on how awful everything is, I immediately lose my peace of mind.
Dalai LamaRead