Because of empathy, stories of the suffering of one person could lead us into a war that could kill millions of people.

Families survive the terrible twos because toddlers aren't strong enough to kill with their hands and aren't capable of using lethal weapons.

Philosophers have often looked for the defining feature of humans — language, rationality, culture, and so on. I'd stick with this: Man is the only animal that likes Tabasco sauce.

Our best hope for the future [...] lies in an appreciation of the fact that, even if we don’t empathize with distant strangers, their lives have the same value as the lives of those we love.

A religion such as Judaism or Catholicism might survive even if it comes to reject a literal account of God creating man and animals. But it cannot survive the rejection of an immaterial soul.

I argue that we should be kind, we should be compassionate, and we should definitely be reasonable and rational, but that empathy leads us astray.

The fact that something can be used for good isn't necessarily a knockdown argument for it.

Empathy zooms you in on an individual and, as a result, it's narrow, it's innumerate, it's racist, it's very biased.

The effects of Twitter and Facebook and all those things on people's psychologies is a really interesting question to which nobody knows the answer.

I love teaching. I wouldn't take a job that didn't include it.

What I mean by "empathy" is putting yourself in other people's shoes, feeling what they feel.

I am tired of hearing negative words. I will supersaturate the world with positive words.

Generally, I like all islands. There, it is easier to rule.

The most important thing we ever have to learn in life is to live with our choices.

I'm for freedom, which I believe is a universal value that every human being is and that is a gift from God.

If you are not happier every day, if you don't see a progression of development, then you are certainly not practicing yoga or Buddhism and therefore you cannot be amassing any positive karma.

With acting, it was really more of a general kind of experience of really just loving being in the theater.

One good thing about rain in Scotland. Most of it ends up as scotch.

My brother and Lauren are very close with me and they are in Sun Valley, so sometimes I need to go there and feel their presence. And there are times I need to see my bro' alone.

A call for women... To rise up what it really takes for the reward of financial freedom.

Think to Thank. In these three words are the finest capsule course for a happy marriage, formula for enduring friendship, and a pattern for personal happiness.