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Empaths are people highly sensitive to the feelings of others. It’s this increased sensitivity that allows them to assimilate emotions more easily than the average person. These highly sensitive people have a natural ability absorb and reflect back others’ feelings.
Only 1-2 percent of people are highly sensitive, and while HSPs can make outstanding friends and partners, the ease with which they internalize the feelings of others can be emotionally draining.
An empath is an emotional sponge. They absorb the stress and also the positive emotions into their own bodies from other people.
Dr. Judith Orloff, The Empath’s Survival Guide
The world has benefited significantly from the existence of highly sensitive people. History tends to be rife with stories of conflict, but the truth is that our society has been able to work in large part due to HSPs skilled in working across both sides of feeling.
Below we’ve collected the most empowering quotes about highly sensitive people. Like affirmations, quotes can make for a powerful input into the process of writing your personal manifesto and guiding your journey of self discovery.
Quotes About Empathy
The word empathy refers to the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
Still, you may find it a difficult concept to understand fully without having experienced it firsthand. This is true of almost anything in the world, but since each of us manifest how we feel in different ways, it isn’t always easy to know what is in the heart of those around us.
Below are some quotes we love about this elusive emotion and those of us gifted enough to see it in all of us:
Empathy is about standing in someone else’s shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes. Not only is empathy hard to outsource and automate, but it makes the world a better place. — Daniel H. Pink
Empathy is simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of you’re not alone. ― Brené Brown
The Chinese philosopher Chuang-Tzu stated that true empathy requires listening with the whole being: The hearing that is only in the ears is one thing. The hearing of the understanding is another. But the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty, to the ear, or to the mind. Hence, it demands the emptiness of all the faculties. And when the faculties are empty, then the whole being listens. There is then a direct grasp of what is right there before you that can never be heard with the ear or understood with the mind. ― Marshall B. Rosenberg
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. ― Barbara Kingsolver
Empathy is a respectful understanding of what others are experiencing. ― Marshall B. Rosenberg
We all are born with a certain package. We are who we are: where we were born, who we were born as, how we were raised. We’re kind of stuck inside that person, and the purpose of civilization and growth is to be able to reach out and empathize with other people. And for me, the movies are like a machine that generates empathy. It lets you understand more about different hopes, aspirations, dreams, and fears. It helps us to identify with the people who are sharing this journey with us. ― Roger Ebert
Empathy means understanding others on their own terms and bringing them into the orbit of one’s own experience. ― Jacob A. Belzen
We empaths have many marvelous traits. We have huge hearts and the instinct to help others in need or who are less fortunate. ― Judith Orloff
Quotes About Kindness
In today’s world of sound bites and social media, empathy is becoming increasingly—and distressingly—rare. We may want to come together, but the world still seems to be pushing us farther apart than we’ve ever been.
It is highly sensitive people, with their extra large hearts and their penchant for kindness and caring, that make us want to love one another. And while all of us know that love is better than hate, it can be hard to remember in a world that never seems to stop going.
The next time you find yourself in want of a little kindness, we hope these words will help you do the work to make space in your heart for love and joy.
I believe empathy is the most essential quality of civilization. ― Roger Ebert
Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant? ― Henry David Thoreau
Empathy is the medicine the world needs. ― Judith Orloff
Empathy represents the foundational skill for all the social competencies important for work. ― Daniel Goleman
Empathy is connection; it’s a ladder out of the shame hole. ― Brené Brown
If it is not tempered by compassion and empathy, reason can lead men and women into a moral void. ― Karen Armstrong
The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy. ― Meryl Streep
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. — Mahatma Gandhi
The highest form of knowledge is empathy. ― Bill Bullard
Emotional empathy is what motivates us to help others. ― Brian Goldman
When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That’s when you can get more creative in solving problems. ― Stephen Covey
There is no reconciliation until you recognize the dignity of the other until you see their view—you have to enter into the pain of the people. You’ve got to feel their need. ― John M. Perkins
The nature of humanity, its essence, is to feel another’s pain as one’s own, and to act to take that pain away. There is a nobility in compassion, a beauty in empathy, a grace in forgiveness. ― John Connolly
Empathy is an important and valuable skill to have in many aspects in life. Not only does it contribute to strong bonds and general trust, but it allows us to gain insight of the emotions and thoughts of other people. In a sense, it offers you a chance to experience life the way someone else does. ― Tuan Luu
A human being is a part of a whole, called by us ‘universe’, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest…a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a person nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. ― Albert Einstein
No beauty shines brighter than that of a good heart. — Shanina Shaik
Quotes About Feeling Deeply
Being a highly sensitive person can be a blessing and a curse—and usually, it’s the latter. HSPs can become so emotionally overwhelmed that they lose sight of the value in their unique gift.
It’s vital empaths make time to recharge and rid themselves of those emotions. Consider just how much better the world would be if our every highly sensitive person took proper care of herself before assisting us. Imagine how much more powerful empaths can be in all of our lives if they aren’t always exhausted from the burden of feeling.
Empaths must be reminded of the vital role they play in the world.
Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you. — Roger Ebert
Those who are sometimes described as being a ‘hot mess’ or having ‘too many issues’ are the very fabric of what keeps the dream alive for a more caring, humane world. — Anthon St. Maarten
The Empath is often said to have such a great degree of empathy that they can literally feel what others feel, and thus intuitively know many of the yearnings, sensitivities, tastes and even thought patterns of the people they’re around. ― Aletheia Luna
Why is sensitivity perceived as being dangerous? When we’re sensitive, we feel things we were taught not to feel. When we’re sensitive, we are completely open to attack. When we’re sensitive, we are awake and in touch with our hearts — and this can be very threatening to the status quo indeed. ― Aletheia Luna
Empaths have often been labeled as ‘overly sensitive’ and told to ‘get a thicker skin.’ As children and adults, we are shamed for our sensitivities rather than supported. But at this point in my life, I wouldn’t give up being an empath for anything. It lets me sense the secrets of the universe and know passion beyond my wildest dreams. ― Judith Orloff
Empaths feel more deeply, more intensely, and more persistently than those around us. We even feel what other people are afraid to feel within themselves. ― Mateo Sol
Suffering and joy teach us, if we allow them, how to make the leap of empathy, which transports us into the soul and heart of another person. ― William Fritz
Sensitivity isn’t being wimpy. It’s about being so painfully aware that a flea landing on a dog is like a sonic boom. I enjoy a lot of mystery. — Jeff Buckley
Highly sensitive people are too often perceived as weaklings or damaged goods. To feel intensely is not a symptom of weakness; it is the trademark of the truly alive and compassionate. — Anthon St. Maarten
Quotes About Experiencing Life As A Highly Sensitive Person
Life as a highly sensitive person can be isolating. It might be easy to think that anyone capable of caring so deeply would attract new friends and confidantes.
Unfortunately, real HSPs bear the weight of others’ emotions whether they want it or not. Without honoring her the need for self care, there are times every HSP becomes emotionally exhausted.
If you are an empath and you feel yourself struggling, here is a collection of quotes and ideas to help you work through times of weakness.
Create boundaries. Honor your limits. Say no. Take a break. Let go. Stay grounded. Nurture your body. Love your vulnerability. And if all else fails, breathe deeply. ― Aletheia Luna
I hate having to do small talk. I’d rather talk about deep subjects. I’d rather talk about meditation, or the world, or the trees or animals, than small, inane, you know, banter. — Ellen Degeneres
Empaths are not overly sensitive. They have a gift but must learn to manage their sensitivities.― Judith Orloff
If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive. — Eleonora Duse
The sad thing that many of us empaths don’t realize is that often our desire to heal others is a disguised cry for help for our own healing. Because many of us weren’t taught how to value or nurture ourselves at a young age, we tend to unconsciously seek out our own healing in the healing of others. ― Mateo Sol
Remember that the greatest thing about being empathetic is that when someone accomplishes something awesome, you will feel just as awesome as if you accomplished it yourself.― Michael Unks
Learning to give empathy to myself and others as often as I can each day has rendered astounding benefits… Empathy leads to compassion and compassion to forgiveness and connection. ― Judith Hanson Lasater
Intuition is a wonderful gift but it can be both a blessing and a curse. If you can easily tune in to the grief of another, it is easy to lose your way if you have not yet resolved your own present or past trauma and grief. If you have not healed from your own grief and you turn around and give all you have to give, you will find yourself drowning. Soon there will be nothing left of you. ― Kate McGahan
We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain. — Alan Watts
Some people are far more cognizant than others but sensitivity has its own cross to bear and ample insight, in many cases, can bring on disquietude. ― Donna Lynn Hope
I think recharging is important, absolutely. Now and then, you need a couple of weeks to just chill out and let your emotions balance themselves out. — Malin Akerman
There is no shame in expressing your authentic feelings. — Anthon St. Maarten
Never be ashamed to let your tears shine a light in this world. — Anthon St. Maarten
Quotes About Beauty From the Perspective of an HSP or Empath
Highly sensitive people possess the gift of seeing beauty in the world around them. An empath can see even little things as new and profound. For empaths, every moment is an opportunity for the something spectacular.
Below, we have found some quotes that we hope will inspire the highly sensitive person within yourself to begin to approach life with your whole heart—to love feeling even when it causes pain. Because every pain we feel reminds us that we are alive.
Peace of mind for five minutes, that’s what I crave. — Alanis Morissette
I think that listening to music or creating music is a spiritual undertaking. The process of creating music involves listening. It involves sensitivity. It involves humility. It’s something higher than words. — Matisyahu
You cannot look up at the night sky on the Planet Earth and not wonder what it’s like to be up there among the stars. And I always look up at the moon and see it as the single most romantic place within the cosmos. — Tom Hanks
When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator. — Mahatma Gandhi
There’s beauty everywhere. Amazing things are happening everywhere, you just have to be able to open your eyes and witness it. Some days, that’s harder than others. — Sarah McLachlan
