True compassion means not only feeling another’s pain… it’s a call to action. It’s the difference between seeing a problem and actually rolling up your sleeves to fix it. Goleman hits on a crucial distinction that separates passive empathy from genuine, world-changing compassion.
Share Image Quote:Table of Contents
Meaning
At its heart, this quote is about the fundamental difference between empathy and compassion. Empathy is feeling *with* someone. Compassion is feeling *for* someone and then being driven to *do* something about it.
Explanation
Look, I’ve seen this play out so many times. You can have a team member who’s genuinely empathetic—they feel the stress, they understand the frustration. But that’s where it stops. The truly compassionate leader or colleague? They’re the one who, after acknowledging the pain, asks “Okay, what’s one thing we can change right now to make this better?” They move from being a mirror to being a motor. It’s that shift from a internal state to an external action that makes all the difference. It’s what transforms a good intention into a tangible result.
Quote Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Category | Spiritual (229) |
| Topics | action (112), compassion (36), empathy (143) |
| Literary Style | clear (348), moral (11) |
| Emotion / Mood | hopeful (357), warm (182) |
| Overall Quote Score | 84 (319) |
Origin & Factcheck
This comes straight from Daniel Goleman’s landmark 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence, published in the United States. You sometimes see this idea, or something very close to it, misattributed to Buddhist texts or other spiritual leaders, and while the sentiment is universal, this specific phrasing is Goleman’s, rooted in his work on the psychology of emotion.
Attribution Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Author | Dr Daniel Goleman (50) |
| Source Type | Book (4032) |
| Source/Book Name | Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (54) |
| Origin Timeperiod | Contemporary (1615) |
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Authenticity | Verified (4032) |
Author Bio
Daniel Goleman is a psychologist and bestselling author whose journalism at The New York Times brought brain and behavior science to a wide audience. He earned a BA from Amherst and a PhD in psychology from Harvard, and studied in India on a Harvard fellowship. Goleman’s research and writing helped mainstream emotional intelligence, leadership competencies, attention, and contemplative science. He co-founded CASEL and a leading research consortium on EI at work. The Daniel Goleman book list includes Emotional Intelligence, Working with Emotional Intelligence, Primal Leadership, Social Intelligence, Focus, and Altered Traits.
| Official Website
Where is this quotation located?
| Quotation | True compassion means not only feeling another’s pain but also being moved to help relieve it |
| Book Details | Publication Year: 1995; ISBN: 978-0553375060; Last edition: 2005; Number of pages: 352 |
| Where is it? | Chapter: The Roots of Empathy, Approximate page 125 from 2005 edition |