Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Richard Brookhiser

Quote by Richard Brookhiser

Work

Founders' Son: A Life of Abraham Lincoln

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Richard Brookhiser
Richard Brookhiser

Richard Brookhiser is an American journalist and author known for his research and writing on historical figures. Born on February 23, 1955, he graduated from Columbia University and has worked for media outlets such as National Review and The Wall Street Journal. His work covers a range of topics from George Washington to modern political figures. more

You May Also Like

“If the boundaries of the self are defined by what we feel, then those who cannot feel even for themselves shrink within their own boundaries, while those who feel for others are enlarged, and those who feel compassion for all beings must be boundless. They are not separate, not alone, not lonely, not vulnerable in the same way as those of us stranded in the islands of ourselves, but they are vulnerable in other ways. Still, that sense of the dangers of feeling for others is so compelling that many withdraw, and develop elaborate stories to justify withdrawal, and then forget that they have shrunk. Most of us do, one way or another.”

Empathy
Author:Rebecca Solnit
Create image

“In social life we hardly stop to consider how much of that daring spirit which gives mastery comes from hardness of heart rather than from high purpose, or true courage. The man who succumbs to his wife, the mother who succumbs to her daughter, the master who succumbs to his servant, is as often brought to servility by a continual aversion to the giving of pain, by a softness which causes the fretfulness of others to be an agony to himself,—as by any actual fear which the firmness of the imperious one may have produced. There is an inner softness, a thinness of the mind's skin, an incapability of seeing or even thinking of the troubles of others with equanimity, which produces a feeling akin to fear; but which is compatible not only with courage, but with absolute firmness of purpose, when the demand for firmness arises so strongly as to assert itself.”

CompassionStrengthEmpathyGentlenessSoft Heartedness
Author:Anthony Trollope
Create image

“How much of assumed national and personal character comes from the fact that we have never truly known need to the point of having our character tested? Willing conscientious objectors underwent controlled starvation and confirmed how quickly it impacts the initiative and generosity we like to think of as "American" characteristics.”

CompassionEmpathyAdversityProsperityGrace Of God
Book:In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
Create image

“It was the first time in months that somebody was explaining what was happening to me and assuring me that it was okay. It was the first time in months that somebody was talking to me like I mattered. It was the first time in months that I was being assured that I need not feel guilty for something that was out of my control.”

InspiringEmpathy
Book:Life is What You Make It: A Story of Love, Hope and How Determination Can Overcome Even Destiny
Create image

“Oxford in the Inklings' day was not so different in look and smell from the Oxford of today. Then, as now, one was tempted to fantasize one's surroundings as a Camelot of intellectual knight-errantry or an Eden of serene contemplation. Then, as now, there was bound to be disappointment.”

EducationEmpathyParenthoodIdealismMaturation
Book:The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams
Create image