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The Death of Empathy
The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.
— Hannah Arendt
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Every time we make the decision to love someone, we open ourselves to great suffering, because those we most love cause us not only great joy but also great pain. The greatest pain comes from leaving. When the child leaves home, when the husband or wife leaves for a long period of time or for good, when the beloved friend departs to another country or dies … the pain of the leaving can tear us apart.
Still, if we want to avoid the suffering of leaving, we will never experience the joy of loving. And love is stronger than fear, life stronger than death, hope stronger than despair. We have to trust that the risk of loving is always worth taking.
― Henri Nouwen
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Compassionate listening is a very deep practice. You listen not to judge or to blame. You listen just because you want the other person to suffer less.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
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My psychoanalyst warned me not to date you, but you’re so pretty that I switched psychoanalysts.
— Woody Allen
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