--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If there is a tendency for the right…" description: "\"“If there is a tendency for the right hemisphere to be more sorrowful and prone to depression, this can, in my view, be seen as related not only to bei..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/377/iain-mcgilchrist-20810_depression_if-there-is-a-tendency-for-the-right-hem_1647124.jpg" --- # If there is a tendency for the right hemisphere to be more… ![“If there is a tendency for the right hemisphere to be more sorrowful and prone to depression, this can, in my view, be seen as related not only to being more in touch with what's going on, but more in touch with, and concerned for, others. ‘No man is an island’: it is the right hemisphere of the…” quote by Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/377/iain-mcgilchrist-20810_depression_if-there-is-a-tendency-for-the-right-hem_1647124.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/377/iain-mcgilchrist-20810_depression_if-there-is-a-tendency-for-the-right-hem_1647124.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/377/iain-mcgilchrist-20810_depression_if-there-is-a-tendency-for-the-right-hem_1647124.jpg) > ““If there is a tendency for the right hemisphere to be more sorrowful and prone to depression, this can, in my view, be seen as related not only to being more in touch with what's going on, but more in touch with, and concerned for, others. ‘No man is an island’: it is the right hemisphere of the human brain that ensures that we feel part of the main. The more we are aware of and empathically connected to whatever it is that exists apart from ourselves, the more we are likely to suffer.”” [Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The right brain’s deep empathy makes us feel connected to others, which can increase vulnerability to sadness and depression. **In simple terms:** Empathy can bring sorrow. Key Takeaway Balance empathy with self‑care. Themes empathy brain hemispheres mental health Mood reflective somber thoughtful Type philosophical psychological When to use this quote - counseling - team leadership - personal relationships - creative work Key Concepts neuroscience psychology social connection Questions to Reflect On - How do you protect yourself while staying empathetic? - When does empathy become harmful? A Different Perspective Too much empathy may lead to burnout without boundaries. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Depression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/depression/) [Hemisphere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hemisphere/) [Human brain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-brain/) ## Related quotes > [“So the left hemisphere needs certainty and needs to be right. The right hemisphere makes it possible to hold several ambiguous possibilities in suspension…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/so-the-left-hemisphere-needs-certainty-and-needs-to-be-right-the/) [Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) > [“hemisphere dominates for speech, writing, mathematical ability, logic and analysis. The right hemisphere dominates for perception, spatial ability, musical and artistic abilities, imagery and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/open-university/hemisphere-dominates-for-speech-writing-mathematical-ability-logic/) [Open University](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/open-university/) > [It's likely that taboo words are stored in the right hemisphere of the brain. Massive left hemisphere strokes or the entire surgical removal of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/it-s-likely-that-taboo-words-are-stored-in-the-right-hemisphere-of/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [Our right hemisphere, it thinks in pictures and it learns kinesthetically through the movement of our bodies. Information ... explodes into this enormous collage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-bolte-taylor/our-right-hemisphere-it-thinks-in-pictures-and-it-learns/) [Jill Bolte Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-bolte-taylor/) > [“The right hemisphere controls sensory attention and body image; the left hemisphere controls skilled movements and some aspects of language.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michio-kaku/the-right-hemisphere-controls-sensory-attention-and-body-image-the/) [Michio Kaku](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michio-kaku/) > [When one part of the brain makes a choice, other parts can quickly invent a story to explain why. If you show the command…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-eagleman/when-one-part-of-the-brain-makes-a-choice-other-parts-can-quickly/) [David Eagleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-eagleman/) > [Women tend to recall the details of an emotionally competent stimulus, using more of their left hemisphere to do the processing. Men tend to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-medina/women-tend-to-recall-the-details-of-an-emotionally-competent-stimulus/) [John Medina](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-medina/) > [Sacred play is anything that takes you into that right hemisphere of your brain. It turns out that this move away from left to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-beck/sacred-play-is-anything-that-takes-you-into-that-right-hemisphere-of/) [Martha Beck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-beck/) > [The left hemisphere is very interested in language; it communicates in words, it has a past, a present, and a future; it has a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-bolte-taylor/the-left-hemisphere-is-very-interested-in-language-it-communicates-in/) [Jill Bolte Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-bolte-taylor/) > [What's important now are the characteristics of the brain's right hemisphere: artistry, empathy, inventiveness, big-picture thinking. These skills have become first among equals in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-h-pink/what-s-important-now-are-the-characteristics-of-the-brain-s-right/) [Daniel H. Pink](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-h-pink/) > [The main theme to emerge... is that there appear to be two modes of thinking, verbal and nonverbal, represented rather separately in left and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-wolcott-sperry/the-main-theme-to-emerge-is-that-there-appear-to-be-two-modes-of/) [Roger Wolcott Sperry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-wolcott-sperry/) > [When you read a book, you generate beta waves irrespective of the book's content. But if you look up from it, and start watching…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-shlain/when-you-read-a-book-you-generate-beta-waves-irrespective-of-the-book/) [Leonard Shlain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-shlain/) > [You begin by engaging the left hemisphere of the brain with the overall shape, the basic structure of the painting, and then eventually you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guido-molinari/you-begin-by-engaging-the-left-hemisphere-of-the-brain-with-the/) [Guido Molinari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guido-molinari/) > [What it comes down to is that modern society discriminates against the right hemisphere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-wolcott-sperry/what-it-comes-down-to-is-that-modern-society-discriminates-against/) [Roger Wolcott Sperry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-wolcott-sperry/) > [The visual power of the phonetic alphabet is the translate other languages into itself is part of its power to invade right hemisphere (oral)…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/the-visual-power-of-the-phonetic-alphabet-is-the-translate-other/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) ## More by Iain McGilchrist > [Attention may sound dull, but it is an essential aspect of consciousness. In fact, it governs what it is that we turn out to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/attention-may-sound-dull-but-it-is-an-essential-aspect-of/) [Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) > [“Our talent for division, for seeing the parts, is of staggering importance – second only to our capacity to transcend it, in order to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/our-talent-for-division-for-seeing-the-parts-is-of-staggering/) [Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) > [Perspective in art has receded along with harmony in music: We tend more and more to see the world as a heap of intrinsically…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/perspective-in-art-has-receded-along-with-harmony-in-music-we-tend/) [Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) > [To understand something, whether we are aware of it or not, depends on choosing a model. We get to understand what we see by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/to-understand-something-whether-we-are-aware-of-it-or-not-depends-on/) [Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) > [I trained in medicine after pursuing an academic career in the humanities, mainly because of my interest in the relationship between mind and body,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/i-trained-in-medicine-after-pursuing-an-academic-career-in-the/) [Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) > [We have 26,000 genes. But a blind, millimetre-long roundworm with only 959 cells in total already has over 19,000.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/we-have-26-000-genes-but-a-blind-millimetre-long-roundworm-with-only/) [Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) > [“When Lear cries, ‘Is there any cause in nature that makes these hard hearts?’, we could reply, on one level, yes – a defect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/when-lear-cries-is-there-any-cause-in-nature-that-makes-these-hard/) [Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) > [The genome was once thought to be just the blueprint for a living organism, like a combination of the architect's plan for a building…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/the-genome-was-once-thought-to-be-just-the-blueprint-for-a-living/) [Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) > [“Language enables the left hemisphere to represent the world ‘off-line’, a conceptual version, distinct from the world of experience, and shielded from the immediate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/language-enables-the-left-hemisphere-to-represent-the-world-off-line/) [Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) > [Being uprooted from your own culture, provided you take with you the way of thinking and being that characterises the more integrated social culture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/being-uprooted-from-your-own-culture-provided-you-take-with-you-the/) [Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) > [“Every thing that purports to be the truth is, according to Heidegger, inevitably an approximation and true things, things that really are, rather than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/every-thing-that-purports-to-be-the-truth-is-according-to-heidegger/) [Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) > [Over recent years, urbanisation, globalisation and the destruction of local cultures has led to a rise in the prevalence of mental illness in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/over-recent-years-urbanisation-globalisation-and-the-destruction-of/) [Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) > [In Shakespeare, unique individuals repudiate the stereotypes demanded by the structure of the play: Shylock commands our sympathy, Barnardine refuses to be hanged. Individuals…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/in-shakespeare-unique-individuals-repudiate-the-stereotypes-demanded/) [Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) > [The human genome contains so much data that, it has been calculated, it would fill 43 volumes of Webster's International Dictionary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/the-human-genome-contains-so-much-data-that-it-has-been-calculated-it/) [Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) > [We bring about a world in consciousness that is partly what is given, and partly what we bring, something that comes into being through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/we-bring-about-a-world-in-consciousness-that-is-partly-what-is-given/) [Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) [Explore all 30 Iain McGilchrist quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/) ## More Depression quotes > [These joys were so trifling as to be as imperceptible as grains of gold among the sand, and in moments of depression she saw…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/these-joys-were-so-trifling-as-to-be-as-imperceptible-as-grains-of/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [“As ofttimes as it rains on my little spot of earth, you'd think I'd grow accustomed to the gloom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richelle-e-goodrich/as-ofttimes-as-it-rains-on-my-little-spot-of-earth-you-d-think-i-d/) [Richelle E. Goodrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richelle-e-goodrich/) > [There's only so much for a man to take...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirsten-gilchrist/there-s-only-so-much-for-a-man-to-take/) Kirsten Gilchrist > [“my stomach turned and burned with the acid of failure”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heidi-ames/my-stomach-turned-and-burned-with-the-acid-of-failure/) Heidi Ames > [That is the real problem of depression - a condition which will affect an estimated one in five of the population at some point…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giles-andreae/that-is-the-real-problem-of-depression-a-condition-which-will-affect/) [Giles Andreae](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giles-andreae/) > [Im tired, tired of putting more effort than you do. Im tired of always having to start the conversation and if I dont, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/im-tired-tired-of-putting-more-effort-than-you-do-im-tired-of-always/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Once upon a time, there was a naïve and innocent girl who thought she could tame the beast and live happily ever after. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nenia-campbell/once-upon-a-time-there-was-a-na-ve-and-innocent-girl-who-thought-she/) [Nenia Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nenia-campbell/) > [“Why in depression" "If we are human, why not have the right to smile, Why in depression, young, and beautiful as earth, Why in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yanilsa-pena/why-in-depression-if-we-are-human-why-not-have-the-right-to-smile-why/) Yanilsa pena > [“Depression makes me stronger”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shayamalan/depression-makes-me-stronger/) Shayamalan > [“Shorter believes that psychosomatic illnesses (such as leg paralysis at the turn of the twentieth century or multiple personality disorder at the turn of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ethan-watters/shorter-believes-that-psychosomatic-illnesses-such-as-leg-paralysis/) [Ethan Watters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ethan-watters/) > [Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-wright/depression-is-merely-anger-without-enthusiasm/) [Steven Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-wright/) > [Repression will provoke rebellion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-williamson/repression-will-provoke-rebellion/) Hugh Williamson > [I'm certainly not a perfect mother, but I'm trying to be what my mother wasn't for me. My mother's battled depression, so I understand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-hamill/i-m-certainly-not-a-perfect-mother-but-i-m-trying-to-be-what-my/) [Dorothy Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-hamill/) > [Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-buckham-kennedy/every-trial-endured-and-weathered-in-the-right-spirit-makes-a-soul/) James Buckham Kennedy > [Scars by Papa Roach. <3](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophielianne/scars-by-papa-roach-3/) Sophielianne [Browse all 4,965 Depression quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/depression/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“If there is a tendency for the right hemisphere to be more sorrowful and prone to depression, this can, in my view, be seen as related not only to being more in touch with what's going on, but more in touch with, and concerned for, others. ‘No man is an island’: it is the right hemisphere of the human brain that ensures that we feel part of the main. 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