Empathy Quote by Bruce D. Perry

Hardships of early human life favored the evolution of certain cognitive tools, among them the ability to infer the presence of organisms that might…

— Robin Marantz Henig

“The pleasure of kindness is that it connects us with others; but the terror of kindness is that it makes us too immediately aware…

— Adam Phillips

“The origin of the human condition is best explained by the natural selection for social interaction—the inherited propensities to communicate, recognize, evaluate, bond, cooperate,…

— Edward O. Wilson

Scientists have discovered that the small brave act of cooperating with another person, of choosing trust over cynicism, generosity over selfishness, makes the brain…

— Natalie Angier

“We develop them over time. Beginning in childhood, we learned a series of conditioned responses that led us to react automatically (as in, without…

— Darren Hardy

“Humans were capable of incredible cruelty, our father wanted me, my sister, and my brothers to understand. And just as dangerous, he made us…

— Joe Biden

Evolutionary psychologists suggest that humans experienced evolutionary benefits from brain developments that included aversion to loss and risk and from instincts for cooperation that…

— Ben Bernanke

“We’re friendly toward strangers because of a general belief (I don’t know where it comes from) that we’re born strangers and that the memory…

— Helen Oyeyemi

“It didn't occur to me then, though it certainly does now, that it was years since I'd roused myself from my stupor of misery…

— Donna Tartt

“decline, fear of strangers and an unfamiliar world—is corroding the trust and interdependence on which civil societies rest.”

— Tony Judt

I am not [...] asserting that humans are either genial or aggressive by inborn biological necessity. Obviously, both kindness and violence lie within the…

— Stephen Jay Gould

“We are trying to retrain our responses and form mental habits that are kinder, gentler, and less fearful of others.”

— Karen Armstrong