#path

The family came in to select the arrangements they wanted. The woman whose husband had died was struggling dearly to keep her voice intact long enough to place the order. It wasn't long before she broke down. Wendy didn't say a word. She moved from behind the counter to find a chair for the woman. She eased her into it. She sat beside her and let her cry. Quiet, not speaking. She brought tissues when the moment asked for it. The woman's crying slowly came to a stop. She wiped her eyes, and she looked at Wendy. And she smiled. Just a little one. And she said, "Thank you. ↗

— Christian Millman

#sympathy #family

It was not apathy. It was an intelligent disinterest in those things that could have no bearing on one's existence. ↗

— Tanith Lee

#intelligence

I couldn’t think of anyone I’d ever felt sorry for. There were plenty of kids I was envious of. There were others I achingly admired, but that might simply be another form of jealousy. Then there were those I feared, dreaded. And the worst of them, the man who shamed me. I could see my father’s angry features looming over my mother. I could clearly picture her beside him in his truck, cowering against the door while he belittled and assaulted her. I guess I did know someone I felt sorry for. ↗

— Richelle E. Goodrich

#empathy #envy #jealousy #pity #richelle

He had been dazzled. Because of the dazzling brightness, he had had to kill [Seigen]. All who had encountered Seigen had had their hearts stolen by that brightness. That envy had turned to malice. ↗

— Takayuki Yamaguchi

#antipathy #enemies #envy #heart #human-nature

I think the act of reading imbues the reader with a sensitivity toward the outside world that people who don't read can sometimes lack. I know it seems like a contradiction in terms; after all reading is such a solitary, internalizing act that it appears to represent a disengagement from day-to-day life. But reading, and particularly the reading of fiction, encourages us to view the world in new and challenging ways...It allows us to inhabit the consciousness of another which is a precursor to empathy, and empathy is, for me, one of the marks of a decent human being. ↗

— John Connolly

#inspirational #reading #inspirational

It’s not so much the journey that’s important; as is the way that we treat those we encounter and those around us, along the way ↗

— Jeremy Aldana

#journey #life #love #respect #life

No single decision you ever made has led in a straight line to where you find yourself now. You peeked down some roads and took a few steps before turning back. You followed some roads that came to a dead end and others that got lost at too many intersections. Ultimately, all roads are connected to all other roads. ↗

— Deepak Chopra

#journey #paths #life

In life one has a choice to take one of two paths: to wait for some special day - or to celebrate each special day. ↗

— Rasheed Ogunlaru

#celebrating-life #enjoyment #flow #gratitude #inner-peace

Sooner or later in life, we will all take our own turn being in the position we once had someone else in. ↗

— Ashly Lorenzana

#fairness #karma #life #role-reversal #life

When your own life is threatened, your sense of empathy is blunted by a terrible, selfish hunger for survival. ↗

— Yann Martel

#survival-instinct #life