True strength lies in the ability to connect with the world around us and feel it on a deep level.
Today’s article brings 80 powerful empath quotes to remind you that being sensitive is one of the greatest powers to have.
Being an empath myself, I’ve been struggling my whole life to accept myself and the way I perceive the world.
We live in a world where logic is praised as the ultimate truth while being sensitive is seen as a weakness. My intense emotional responses to the world around me were seen as a flaw rather than a virtue.
It took me years to finally accept that my highly sensitive nature isn’t something to be ashamed of and something that should be suppressed. I’m an empath, and that is my biggest strength!
After reading tons of material on empathy, I picked the 80 best empath quotes from different sources on the web to show you that being an empath is the greatest gift you can have.
These inspirational quotes will help you embrace yourself and the unique abilities you as an empath have.
Top 10 Most Beautiful Empath Quotes
These beautiful empath quotes will inspire you to embrace your soft and sensitive nature and see it as something divine. Have a look!
1. “We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain.” — Alan Watts
2. “The highest form of knowledge is empathy.” — Bill Bullard
3. “Empathy is a respectful understanding of what others are experiencing.” — Marshall B. Rosenberg
4. “Empathy is connection; it’s a ladder out of the shame hole.” ― Brené Brown
5. “I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.” — Maya Angelou
6. “Empathy nurtures wisdom. Apathy cultivates ignorance.” ― Suzy Kassem
7. “I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person.” ― Walt Whitman
8. “The agony of the empath is feeling their pain but being unable to save them from it.” — Donna Lynn Hope
9. “Your biggest strength is your ability to feel the world around you on a deep level. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” — Kirsten Hill
10. “Be kinder to yourself, and then let your kindness flood the world.” — Pema Chodron
See also: 70 Self Compassion Quotes To Help You Love Yourself More
Quotes On Being An Empath
Being an empath means being able to feel the world. Check out these empath quotes below to understand better what empathy is.
1. “Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another.” — Alfred Adler
2. “I’m a passionate person; a lot is going on underneath my carousel of blazers: a cauldron of sensitivity and emotion.” — Sue Perkins
3. “Empathy is about standing in someone else’s shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes. Not only is empathy hard to outsource and automate, but it makes the world a better place.” — Daniel H. Pink
4. “Never underestimate the empowered empath. Our kindness and compassion is too often mistaken for weakness or naivety, while we are in fact highly calibrated human lie detectors…and fearless warriors for truth and justice.” — Anthon St. Maarten
5. “When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.” — Mahatma Gandhi
6. “Empathy means both understanding others on their own terms and bringing them within the orbit of one’s own experience.” — Jacob A. Belzen
7. “For there is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one’s own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes.” — Milan Kundera
8. “Empaths have to be careful not to internalize others’ feelings, as this can cause them to feel anxious, sad, or even depressed. It can leave the empath feeling drained or exhausted. They must learn to set boundaries so as not to let toxic people drain them dry.” — Donna G. Bourgeois
9. “Empaths feel more deeply, more intensely, and more persistently than those around us. We even feel what other people are afraid to feel within themselves.” ― Mateo Sol
10. “Empathy is a creative act. It is the act of imagining ourselves not only in another’s shoes, but perhaps inhabiting their very heart and soul.” ― Michele Jennae
11. “The nature of humanity, its essence, is to feel another’s pain as one’s own, and to act to take that pain away. There is a nobility in compassion, a beauty in empathy, a grace in forgiveness.” — John Connolly
12. “It’s important for empaths to surround themselves with good people with positive auras. Because they feel everything deeply and often have trouble setting boundaries, they can get poisoned by negative energies easily.” — Kirsten Hill
13. “Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.” — Emily Post
14. “The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another’s world. It requires profound purpose larger than the self kind of understanding.” — Bill Bullard
15. “Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” — Henry David Thoreau
16. “The empath helps others by absorbing some of their pain, but who helps the empath?” ― Donna Lynn Hope
17. “No one reaches out to you for compassion or empathy so you can teach them how to behave better. They reach out to us because they believe in our capacity to know our darkness well enough to sit in the dark with them.” — Brené Brown
18. “There is no reconciliation until you recognize the dignity of the other until you see their view. You have to enter into the pain of the people. You’ve got to feel their need.” — John M. Perkins
19. “You cannot make everyone think and feel as deeply as you do. This is your tragedy as an empath. Because you understand them, but they do not understand you.” — Daniel Saint
20. “Because of their sacred gift of translating and embodying energy, empaths are able to spot their soul mates or twin flames a mile away.” ― Aletheia Luna
See also: Top 110 Twin Flame Quotes To Cherish An Unbreakable Bond
Profound Quotes About Empathy
Here are some more profound empath quotes you should check out.
1. “Empaths are absorbers, not observers. When you just observe, you are no longer an empath but just a sympath.” — Monika Chhetri
2. “Empathetic presence involves listening to someone’s pain with what I call the five A’s: Attention, Acceptance, Appreciation, Affection, and Allowing.” — David Richo
3. “It is not the empath who is broken; it is a society that has become dysfunctional and emotionally disabled. There is no shame in expressing your authentic feelings.” — Anthon St. Maarten
4. “Sensitive people care when the world doesn’t because we understand waiting to be rescued and no one shows up. We have rescued ourselves so many times that we have become self-taught in the art of compassion for those forgotten.” — Shannon L. Alder
5. “Suffering and joy teach us, if we allow them, how to make the leap of empathy, which transports us into the soul and heart of another person. ” — William Fritz
6. “As empaths, our high level of sensitivity means that we are prone to feeling like eternal outsiders who are in the world but not quite of the world.” — Aletheia Luna
7. “A narcissist, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of an empath. Emotionally, narcissists are like brick walls who see and hear others but fail to understand or relate to them. As a result of their emotional shallowness, narcissists are essentially devoid of all empathy or compassion for other people. Lacking empathy, a narcissist is a very destructive and dangerous person to be around.” — Mateo Sol
See also: 210 Powerful Karma Narcissist Quotes About Life And Love
8. “Empaths process information about their environments-both physical and emotional-unusually deep. They tend to notice subtleties that others miss-another person’s shift in mood, say, or a lightbulb burning a touch too brightly.” — Susan Cain
9. “An empath hones in on the emotions of a person. Having Psychic abilities focuses on the communication of the soul. Not to be mistaken for a gut feeling-Instinct. Gut Instinct is the internal mechanism for survival.” — Serena Jade
10. “Empaths travel the path of the heart. They are driven by the desire for transcendental love, connection, passion, and service to others.” — Sherrie Dillard
11. “I AM AN EMPATH – Watching certain types of movies can become unbearable. The energy of TV and Radio can be maddening. I know your feelings better than you do. I know when you lie. I crave solitude. I need order or I can’t think straight. Complete strangers tell me their life stories. – I AM A HEALER” ― Sandra Cooze
12. “We can influence a person and actually change a person’s thinking by the words we use. We can show kindness and empathy by the phrases we use and the actions we take.” — Catherine Pulsifer
13. “The world needs them—the ones who absorb the emotions of others, which diminishes their pain and disquietude, and the world also uses them as a repository for confessions, secrets, grudges, and indignation. They will leave these uncommon and intuitive individuals feeling unburdened themselves while the unusual individual will be weighed down by having taken on those burdens in addition to their own. The world needs them, but what they need is something as aberrant as themselves, and that is silence, stillness, and rest.” — Donna Lynn Hope
14. “Sensitivity isn’t being wimpy. It’s about being so painfully aware that a flea landing on a dog is like a sonic boom. I enjoy a lot of mystery.” — Jeff Buckley
15. “The struggle of my life created empathy – I could relate to pain, being abandoned, having people not love me.” — Oprah Winfrey
16. “There is absolutely no single aspect of one’s personality that is more important to develop than empathy, which is not a skill at which men typically are asked to excel. I believe empathy is not only the core of art, literature, and music but should also be at the core of society, from ethics to economics.” — Chris Ware
17. “Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.” — Mohsin Hamid
18. “You can only understand people if you feel them in yourself.” — John Steinbeck
19. “As an empath, it’s vital that you learn how to hold space for your emotions, even the most painful ones. By anchoring yourself in your breath, you can learn how to witness the emotional energy of others within you without attaching yourself to these sensations.” — Mateo Sol
20. “When an empath comes across fake people it is common for them to shut down as a form of protection.” — Diane Kathrine
See also: 80 Clever Shady People Quotes To Help You Cut Them Off
Inspirational Empath Quotes To Embrace Your Emotions
These inspirational empath quotes will help you understand, accept and love yourself more.
1. “Empaths did not come into this world to be victims, we came to be warriors. Be brave. Stay strong. We need all hands on deck.” ― Anthon St. Maarten
2. “If we could look into each other’s heart and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care.” — Marvin J. Ashton
3. “Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It’s the capacity to understand that every war is both won and lost. And that someone else’s pain is as meaningful as your own.” — Barbara Kingsolver
4. “I believe empathy is the most essential quality of civilization.” — Roger Ebert
5. “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt
6. “Learning to stand in somebody else’s shoes, to see through their eyes, that’s how peace begins. And it’s up to you to make that happen. Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world.” — Barack Obama
7. “Your destiny is bound with the destinies of others. You must either learn to carry the Universe or be crushed by it. You must grow strong enough to love the world, yet empty enough to sit down at the same table with its worst horrors.” — Andrew Boyd
8. “She had a very inconvenient heart. It always insisted on feeling things ever so deeply.” — John Mark Green
9. “Those who are sometimes described as being a ‘hot mess’ or having ‘too many issues’ are the very fabric of what keeps the dream alive for a more caring, humane world.” — Anthon St. Maarten
10. “If it is not tempered by compassion, and empathy, reason can lead men and women into a moral void.” — Karen Armstrong
11. “Empaths have often been labeled as ‘overly sensitive’ and told to ‘get a thicker skin.’ As children and adults, we are shamed for our sensitivities rather than supported. But at this point in my life, I wouldn’t give up being an empath for anything. It lets me sense the secrets of the universe and know passion beyond my wildest dreams.” — Judith Orloff
12. “When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That’s when you can get more creative in solving problems.” — Stephen Covey
13. “A human being is a part of a whole, called by us ‘universe’, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and feelings as something separated from the rest…a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us from our personal desires and affection for the person nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” — Albert Einstein
14. “Narcissism is categorized as an unhealthy level of self-absorption and a lack of empathy regarding how their insecure, aggressive, and damaging behavior affects the world around them.” — Melanie Tonia Evans
15. “Empathy is simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of you’re not alone.” — Brené Brown
See also: 110 Spiritual Healing Quotes To Find Strength And Peace
Empath Quotes To Embrace Your Sensitive Side
Empaths often struggle with self-care and self-love, and hopefully, these quotes will help realize that empathy means being kind to yourself also!
These inspirational empathy quotes will help you embrace your sensitive side, be at peace with your emotions and love yourself more.
1. “Rather than fearfully shutting down your sensitivity, dive deeper into all possible feelings. As you expand, keep only those who are not afraid of oceans.” — Victoria Erickson
2. “Highly sensitive people are too often perceived as weaklings or damaged goods. To feel intensely is not a symptom of weakness, it is the trademark of the truly alive and compassionate.” — Anthon St. Maarten
3. “One of the greatest advantages of being an empath is that experiencing a spiritual awakening is virtually inevitable. In other words, spiritually awakening seems to be written into our DNA.” — Aletheia Luna
4. “All empaths can feel if someone is genuine or not. Unaware empaths often disregard the red flags. Empowered empaths listen to their intuition right away.” — Jane Lightworker
5. “Empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking action. It’s the impetus for creating change.” — Max Carver
6. “Why is sensitivity perceived as being dangerous? When we’re sensitive, we feel things we were taught not to feel. When we’re sensitive, we are completely open to attack. When we’re sensitive, we are awake and in touch with our hearts – and this can be very threatening to the status quo indeed.” ― Aletheia Luna
7. “What I have realized is that the biggest mistake I made was to underestimate what it means to be an empath. I underestimated myself. I underestimated my needs. I underestimated my sensitivity. I was trying to act like a normal person, as though if I acted like a normal person hard enough, somehow things would be different.” — Jennifer Elizabeth Moore
8. “Create boundaries. Honor your limits. Say no. Take a break. Let go. Stay grounded. Nurture your body. Love your vulnerability. And if all else fails, breathe deeply.” ― Aletheia Luna
9. “Many people confuse empaths for weak people who are nothing but scared. The opposite is true. When surrounded by positive energy, they flourish into lovely creatures that are so much fun to hang around.” — Katya Ki
10. “Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you.” — Roger Ebert
11. “I understand now that I’m not a mess but a deeply feeling person in a messy world. I explain that now when someone asks me why I cry so often, “For the same reason I laugh so often – because I’m paying attention.” — Glennon Doyle Melton
12. “Never apologize for being sensitive or emotional. Let this be a sign that you’ve got a big heart and aren’t afraid to let others see it. Showing your emotions is a sign of strength.” — Brigitte Nicole
13. “Intuition is a wonderful gift but it can be both a blessing and a curse. If you can easily tune in to the grief of another, it is very easy to lose your way if you have not yet resolved your own present or past trauma and grief. If you have not healed from your own grief and you turn around and give all you have to give, you will find yourself drowning. Soon there will be nothing left of you.” ― Kate McGahan
14. “The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.” — Meryl Streep
15. “Choose compassion and empathy over judgment and you’ll see the truth in every situation.” — Kirsten Hill
See also: 70 Wrongly Judged Quotes To Make You Stop Being Critical
Final Words
The world will try to tell you you’re too weak, and that you should toughen up. But your greatest strength is your capacity to understand and feel the emotions of others.
Empathy doesn’t make you weak, empathy makes you divine.
I hope these empath quotes have helped you to embrace your divinity.
Until next time!
