Top 100 Sympathy Quotes of All Time

A short, finished list rather than an endless feed: 100 of the best sympathy quotes ever written, picked out of the full sympathy archive on QuoteForever. You will find Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Jones, George Eliot and Friedrich Nietzsche among them.

Read the list top to bottom, or use it as a starting point - every author name links to everything else they said, and every quote has its own page you can share or turn into an image.

1

If your understanding of the divine made you kinder, more empathetic, and impelled you to express sympathy in concrete acts of loving-kindness, this was good theology. But if your notion of God made you unkind, belligerent, cruel, of self-righteous, or if it led you to kill in God's name, it was bad theology.

2

Peace of heart that is won by refusing to bear the common yoke of human sympathy is a peace unworthy of a Christian. To seek tranquility by stopping our ears to the cries of human pain is to make ourselves not Christian but a kind of degenerate stoic having no relation either to stoicism or Christianity.

3

When men are arrested without any legal basis and for political reasons, it's merely a routine, everyday occurrence in Russia, and hardly anyone has any sympathy.

4

Those who have never been ill are incapable of real sympathy for a great many misfortunes

5

A heart at leisure from itself, To soothe and sympathise

6

The delicate and infirm go for sympathy, not to the well and buoyant, but to those who have suffered like themselves.

7

Sympathy is especially a Christian duty.

8

Jesus, Thou art all compassion, pure unbounded love Thou art; Visit us with Thy salvation, enter every trembling heart.

9

I have a lot of sympathy for young people because I realize how disturbed I was. How would I deal with life in the future? What would I do for a living?

10

Shall I tell you what you have that other men don't?.... It's the courage of your own tenderness.

11

I have a theory because I was being beaten up a lot by people outside of school, it was almost like if I could make myself sick enough they'd take sympathy on me.

12

'Oh, poor, poor fellow!' said Mrs. Elliot with a remorse that was sincere, though her congratulations would not have been.

13

Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery.

14

One might expect that the families of murder victims would be showered with sympathy and support, embraced by their communities. But in reality they are far more likely to feel isolated, fearful, and ashamed, overwhelmed by grief and guilt, angry at the criminal-justice system, and shunned by their old friends.

15

The man who melts With social sympathy, though not allied, Is more worth than a thousand kinsmen.

16

Women have no sympathy and my experience of women is almost as large as Europe.

17

Those who show pity and are always ready to help during times of trouble are seldom the same ones who rejoice in our joy: when others are happy they have nothing to do, they become superfluous and lose their feeling of superiority, and so they easily show their displeasure.

18

We find nothing easier than being wise, patient, superior. We drip with the oil of forbearance and sympathy, we are absurdly just, we forgive everything. For that very reason we ought to discipline ourselves a little; for that very reason we ought to cultivate a little emotion, a little emotional vice, from time to time. It may be hard for us; and among ourselves we may perhaps laugh at the appearance we thus present. But what of that! We no longer have any other mode of self-overcoming available to us: this is our asceticism, our penance.

19

I joined the Party definitely in 1923 after having already been in sympathy with it before.

20

I would walk a thousand miles To feel your hugs and see your smiles But then one day we had to part The hardest day, it broke my heart But I still see you every day Because in my heart and mind you stay.

21

Marriage must be a relation either of sympathy or of conquest.

22

There is hardly any contact more depressing to a young ardent creature than that of a mind in which years full of knowledge seem to have issued in a blank absence of interest or sympathy.

23

Sympathetic people often don't communicate well, they back reflected images which hide their own depths.

24

The human heart finds nowhere shelter but in human kind.

25

When we are out of sympathy with the young, then I think our work in this world is over

26

If the terrorists have the sympathy of people, it's much harder to find them. So we need people on our side, and that leads us to be responsible leaders of the world, show some concern with the problems.

27

There is only one thing I hope to see before I die, and that is that my people should not need expressions of sympathy anymore.

28

In any combat between a rogue and a fool the sympathy of mankind is always with the rogue.

29

Any mind that is capable of real sorrow is capable of good.

30

Sweet souls around us watch us still, press nearer to our side; Into our thoughts, into our prayers, with gentle helpings glide.

31

It is only kindred griefs that draw forth our tears, and each weeps really for himself.

32

I have a deep sympathy with war; it so apes the gait and bearing of the soul.

33

I believe that what so saddens the reformer is not his sympathy with his fellows in distress, but, though he be the holiest son of God, is his private ail. Let this be righted, let the spring come to him, the morning rise over his couch, and he will forsake his generous companions without apology.

34

It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature.

35

The philanthropist too often surrounds mankind with the remembrance of his own cast- off griefs as an atmosphere, and calls it sympathy. We should impart our courage, and not our despair, our health and ease, and not our disease, and take care that this does not spread by contagion.

36

Yet some can be patriotic who have no self-respect, and sacrifice the greater to the less. They love the soil which makes their graves, but have no sympathy with the spirit which may still animate their clay. Patriotism is a maggot in their heads.

37

Far better one unpurchased heart than glory's proudest name.

38

Death is only a launching into the region of the strange Untried; it is but the first salutation to the possibilities of the immense Remote, the Wild, the Watery, the Unshored.

39

Loss and possession, death and life are one, There falls no shadow where there shines no sun.

40

The humanitarian lays stress almost solely upon breadth of knowledge and sympathy.

41

Tshe suffering of adversity does not degrade you but exalts you. Human tribulation teaches you; it does not destroy you. The more we are afflicted in this world, the greater is our assurance for the next. The more we sorrow in the present, ..the greater will be our joy in the future.

42

To desire and expect nothing for oneself and to have profound sympathy for others is genuine holiness.

43

Actors who are lovers in real life are often incapable if playing the part of lovers to an audience. It is equally true that sympathy between actors who are not lovers may create a temporary emotion that is perfectly sincere.

44

It seemed to me that all things were possible on the island, all tyrannies and cruelties, though in small; and if, in despite of what was possible, we lived at peace with another, surely this was proof that certain laws unknown to us held sway, or else that we had been following the promptings of our hearts all this time, and our hearts had not betrayed us.

45

Ultimately, we'll help the people we discriminate against if we try to understand more about them; genetics will lead to a world where there is a sympathy for the underdog.

46

If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever.

47

Through watering the ground of affectionate love with cherishing love, And then sowing the seeds of wishing love and compassion, the medicinal tree of Bodhichitta will grow.

48

I nodded with genuine synthetic sympathy.

49

Certain it is, that as nothing can better do it; so there is nothing greater, for which God made our tongues, next to reciting His praises, than to minister comfort to a weary soul.

50

Tears will get you sympathy, sweat will get you change.

51

Manhattan's probably one of the bluest parts in the country, and Indiana's definitely one of the redder states. I have sympathy for both sides.

52

By peace we mean the capacity to transform conflicts with empathy, without violence, and creatively- a never-ending process

53

Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.

54

Whatever sympathy I feel towards religions, whatever admiration for some of their adherents, whatever historical or biological necessity I see in them, whatever metaphorical truth, I cannot accept them as credible explanations of reality; and they are incredible to me in proportion to the degree that they require my belief in positive human attributes and intervenient powers in their divinities.

55

And with the morn those angel faces smile Which I have loved long since and lost awhile.

56

Don't be afraid of showing affection. Be warm and tender, thoughtful and affectionate. Men are more helped by sympathy than by service. Love is more than money, and a kind word will give more pleasure than a present.

57

It's no good being nice and young and naive. There's no good in that at all. You've got to do it all yourself, and you've gotta learn quick. And you can't look for sympathy either.

58

In sorrow and suffering, go straight to God with confidence, and you will be strengthened, enlightened and instructed.

59

I will indulge my sorrows, and give way to all the pangs and fury of despair.

60

I was brought up to be sympathetic toward others.

61

The writer must be universal in sympathy and an outcast by nature: only then can he see clearly.

62

We Are So Sorry To Hear About The Loss Of Your Little One No One Can Know What You Are Going Through But We Are Thinking Of You At This Very Very Sad Time We Are Here Should You Need Help Or Support God Bless You And Your Little One And Let Him Take care Of Him Till You Meet Again

63

We can not imaging the pain, You must all be feeling At the loss of Your loving son But just to let you know You are in our thoughts, At this very sad time.

64

I sometimes get that wonderful sympathy between me and the audience, telling me I've reached their hearts. And when I do, the thrill is mine.

65

Oh heart, if one should say to you that the soul perishes like the body, answer that the flower withers, but the seed remains.

66

When you are sorrowful, look again.

67

Remember me with smiles and laughter, for that is how I'll remember you all. If you can only remember me with tears, then don't remember me at all.

68

Sympathy is in great degree a result of the mood we are in at the moment; anger forbids the emotion. On the other hand, it is easiest taken on when we are in a state of most absolute self-satisfaction.

69

I learnt pity, sympathy, and what it was like to be at the other end of the stick. Such lessons can't be learnt in lecture halls.

70

All the best of the monsters played for sympathy. That goes for my father, Karloff, myself and all the others. They all won the audience's sympathy. The Wolf Man didn't want to do all those bad things. He was forced into them.

71

Sympathy is a sweet thing.

72

The gods conceal from men the happiness of death, that they may endure life

73

It seems to me that we become more dear one to the other, in together admiring works of art, which speak to the soul by their true grandeur.

74

It is the duty of every cultured man or woman to read sympathetically the scriptures of the world. If we are to respect others' religions as we would have them respect our own, a friendly study of the world's religions is a sacred duty.

75

Memory nourishes the heart, and grief abates.

76

There is some danger lest there be no real religion in the heart which craves too much daily sympathy.

77

Words cannot ease the pain you are feeling right now But just wanted to let you know that we are thinking about you And praying for your pain to ease And for you to find sunshine when the dark clouds have passed.

78

This comes with my/our deepest sympathy, and the hope that the dear memories of your loved one and the passing of time will ease your sorrow.

79

We are so sorry to hear the sad news. He(She) will be Always in our thoughts, Forever in our prayers Eternally in our memories

80

When you need someone To talk to Or just to be with you Remember there is someone close by That someone is me

81

Sending you sincere condolences and the wish that the passing of time eases your sorrow.

82

While it may not heighten our sympathy, wit widens our horizons by its flashes, revealing remote hidden affiliations and drawing laughter from far afield; humor, in contrast, strikes up fellow feeling, and though it does not leap so much across time and space, enriches our insight into the universal in familiar things, lending it a local habitation and a name.

83

The sympathy of most people consists of a mixture of good-humour, curiosity, and self-importance.

84

Okay, so, sometimes in life, I can be a score-keeper - someone who keeps track of what he gives and what he gets in return. An annoying quality, to say the least, and I'm sure my wife has your sympathy, but it's made me highly attuned to when and where credit is due.

85

I think loss of loved ones is the hardest blow in life.

86

The most reliable sign, the most universal behavior of unscrupulous people is not directed, as one might imagine, at our fearfulness. It is, perversely, an appeal to our sympathy.

87

Pity may represent little more than the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one's soul.

88

True sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one's soul.

89

The reminder that there are people who have worse troubles than you is not an effective pain-killer.

90

A sympathetic look always makes me feel sorry for myself.

91

To Remember Is Painful, To Forget Is Impossible.

92

You will find that the woman who is really kind to dogs is always one who has failed to inspire sympathy in men.

93

Each one of us has lived through some devastation, some loneliness, some weather superstorm or spiritual superstorm, when we look at each other we must say, I understand. I understand how you feel because I have been there myself. We must support each other and empathize with each other because each of us is more alike than we are unalike.

94

A great soul serves everyone all the time. A great soul never dies. It brings us together again and again.

95

Learning a foreign language, and the culture that goes with it, is one of the most useful things we can do to broaden the empathy and imaginative sympathy and cultural outlook of children.

96

We all have to announce our full solidarity with the struggle of those seeking freedom and justice in Syria, and translate this sympathy into a clear political vision that supports a peaceful transition to a democratic system of rule that reflects the demands of the Syrian people for freedom.

97

If you suppress grief too much, it can well redouble.

98

Grieve and mourn for yourself not once or twice, but again and again.

99

There is poetry and there is beauty in real sympathy; but there is more - there is action. The noblest and most powerful form of sympathy is not merely the responsive tear, the echoed sigh, the answering look; it is the embodiment of the sentiment in actual help.

100

He watched and wept and prayed and felt for all

More Sympathy quotes

This is the short list. The full sympathy quotes collection holds every quote on the subject in the archive, and the picture quotes are ready to share as images.

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