Sadness is more or less like a head cold - with patience, it passes. Depression is like cancer.
Barbara KingsolverRead
Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It's the capacity to understand that every war is both won and lost. And that someone else's pain is as meaningful as your own.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Empathy involves recognizing the shared human experience of pain and victory, opposing selfishness.
In this quote, Barbara Kingsolver emphasizes the importance of empathy as a moral and spiritual principle that counters meanness of spirit. She suggests that true understanding of our collective suffering and triumphs fosters compassion, allowing us to appreciate the significance of others' experiences just as much as our own. This recognition not only encourages kindness but also highlights the interconnectedness of humanity amid conflicts and struggles.
Themes
EmpathyUnderstandingCompassionPainHumanity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about social justice, one could use this quote to emphasize the need for empathy in addressing inequality.
More from Barbara Kingsolver
All quotes βChildren can be your heartache. But that doesn't matter, you have to go on and have them . . . it works out.
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I'm of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who crosses my path, on behalf of the souls they never knew they saved.
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I did it to win love, and to prove myself capable. Not to move mountains. In my opinions, mountains don't move. They only look changed when you look down on them from great height.
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Memory is a complicated thing, a relative to truth, but not its twin.
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It's frightening when things you love appear suddenly changed from what you have always known.
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I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.
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Any law that takes hold of a mans daily life cannot prevail in a community, unless the vast majority of the community are actively in favor of it. The laws that are the most operative are the laws which protect life.
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Even in the mud and scum of things, something always, always sings.
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