Compassion Quotes by Pema Chödrön

Compassion starts with making friends with ourselves.

— Pema Chodron

Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.

— Pema Chodron

Compassionate action involves working with ourselves as much as working with others.

— Pema Chodron

Never underestimate the power of compassionately recognizing what's going on.

— Pema Chodron

Compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves.

— Pema Chodron

The root of compassion, is compassion for oneself.

— Pema Chodron

In order to have compassion for others, we have to have compassion for ourselves.

— Pema Chodron

True compassion does not come from wanting to help out those less fortunate than ourselves but from realizing our kinship with all…

— Pema Chodron

“We train in the bodhichitta practices in order to become so open that we can take the pain of the world in,…

— Pema Chödrön

It becomes increasingly clear that we won’t be free of self-destructive patterns unless we develop a compassionate understanding of what they are.

— Pema Chodron

We don't set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on…

— Pema Chodron

As we learn to have compassion for ourselves, the circle of compassion for others - what and whom we can work with,…

— Pema Chodron

Use what seems like poison as medicine. Use your personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings.

— Pema Chodron

“Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we…

— Pema Chödrön

“We start by working with the monsters in our mind. Then we develop the wisdom and compassion to communicate sanely with the…

— Pema Chödrön

Cool loneliness allows us to look honestly and without aggressionat our own minds. We can gradually drop our ideals of who we…

— Pema Chodron

When we practice generating compassion, we can expect to experience our fear of pain. Compassion practice is daring. It involves learning to…

— Pema Chodron

When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless, that it…

— Pema Chodron

Trying to change ourselves doesn't work in the long run because we're resisting our own energy. Self-improvemen t can have temporary results,…

— Pema Chodron

The only reason we don't open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we…

— Pema Chodron

If we begin to get in touch with whatever we feel with some kind of kindness, our protective shells will melt, and…

— Pema Chodron

Compassion isn't some kind of self-improvement project or ideal that we're trying to live up to. Having compassion starts and ends with…

— Pema Chodron

“We awaken this bodhichitta, this tenderness for life, when we can no longer shield ourselves from the vulnerability of our condition, from…

— Pema Chödrön

That could be applied to whatever you feel. Maybe anger is your thing. You just go out of control and you see…

— Pema Chodron

“We habitually erect a barrier called blame that keeps us from communicating genuinely with others, and we fortify it with our concepts…

— Pema Chodron

At least once a year, I imagine that I am about to die. Looking back as truthfully as I can at my…

— Pema Chodron

“we have the incredible fortune of living alongside wise men and women from many traditions who give us these kinds of messages…

— Pema Chödrön

Well, it starts with being willing to feel what we are going through. It starts with being willing to have a compassionate…

— Pema Chodron

In tonglen practice, when we see or feel suffering, we  breathe in with the notion of completely feeling it, accepting it, and…

— Pema Chodron

The trick is to keep exploring and not bail out, even when we find out that something is not what we thought.…

— Pema Chodron

For arousing compassion, the nineteenth-century yogi Patrul Rinpoche suggested imagining beings in torment - an animal about to be slaughtered, a person…

— Pema Chodron

“Laziness is not particularly terrible or wonderful. Rather it has a basic living quality that deserves to be experienced just as it…

— Pema Chödrön

“One evening Milarepa returned to his cave after gathering firewood, only to find it filled with demons. They were cooking his food,…

— Pema Chödrön

“The ground of not causing harm is mindfulness, a sense of clear seeing with respect and compassion for what it is we…

— Pema Chödrön

“In order to be gentle and create an atmosphere of compassion for yourself, it’s necessary to stop talking to yourself about how…

— Pema Chödrön

Compassion practice is daring. It involves learning to relax and allowing ourselves to move gently toward what scares us.

— Pema Chodron

we come to realize that other people's welfare is just as important as our own. In helping them, we help ourselves. In…

— Pema Chodron

We give it up and just look directly with compassion and humor at who we are. Then loneliness is no threat and…

— Pema Chodron

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals.

— Pema Chodron

“What we hate in ourselves, we’ll hate in others. To the degree that we have compassion for ourselves, we will also have…

— Pema Chödrön