To forgive is not to forget. The merit lies in loving in spite of the vivid knowledge that one that must be loved is not a friend. There is not merit in loving an enemy when you forget him for a friend.
Sympathy is what you have for someone after they die, pity you have for someone when they don't have a date to the biggest dance of the year. Empathy is what I do to you when you judge me. Envy is having pity on yourself. Can you discern the rest for yourself?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote contrasts different emotional responses to human experiences, emphasizing the complexity of feelings in various situations.
Mahatma Gandhi's quote highlights the nuanced nature of human emotions, contrasting sympathy, pity, empathy, and envy. Sympathy is reserved for ultimate tragedies like death, while pity is often superficial, felt towards someone lacking a social experience like a date. Empathy relates to deeper interpersonal feelings and is tied to individual judgment, whereas envy represents self-pity. The closing invitation to discern suggests the importance of understanding these emotions in broader contexts.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on understanding human emotions during a psychology course.
More from Mahatma Gandhi
All quotes →Love never claims, it ever gives. Love ever suffers, never resents never revenges itself.
Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
The real test of nonviolence lies in its being brought in contact with those who have contempt for it.
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
The devotion of such titans of spirit as Lenin to an Ideal must bear fruit. The nobility of his selflessness will be an example through centuries to come, and his Ideal will reach perfection.
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maybe she had become tired of being the girlfriend of a condemned man. It also occured to me that maybe she was sick, or dead. These things happen. [...] Anyway, after that, remembering Marie meant nothing to me. That seemed perfectly normal to me, since I understood very well that people would forget me when I was dead.
Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.