„What does it mean to be compassionate? Not merely verbally, but actually to be compassionate?“

„The compassionate are not rich; therefore, the rich are not compassionate.“

—  Leo Tolstoy Russian writer 1828 - 1910

Fonte: Path of Life (1909), p. 89

„Compassion is something individual and voluntary. You cannot compel somebody to be compassionate; nor can you be vicariously compassionate by compelling somebody else. The Good Samaritan would have lost all merit if a Roman soldier were standing by the road with a drawn sword, telling him to get on with it and look after the injured stranger. Because there can be no such thing as compulsory compassion or vicarious compassion, therefore it is a humbugging abuse of language, intended to deceive, to talk about a 'compassionate Government' or a 'compassionate party'—or even a 'compassionate society', unless one simply means by that a society which happens to contain a lot of compassionate individuals. Nor let anyone protest: 'Oh, but when I vote for a party which will "make provision on an unprecedented scale for those in need of help", it means I too shall have to pay my whack and so I am being compassionate after all.'“

—  Enoch Powell British politician 1912 - 1998

Nonsense! The purpose of your vote is not to make yourself subscribe—that you can freely do at any time—but to compel others.
Speech to the Harborough Division Conservative Association Gala, Leicester (27 September 1969), from Still to Decide (Elliot Right Way Books, 1972), pp. 22-23
1960s

„America, at its best, is compassionate“

—  George W. Bush 43rd President of the United States 1946

2000s, 2001, First inaugural address (January 2001)
Contexto: America, at its best, is compassionate. In the quiet of American conscience, we know that deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our nation’s promise. And whatever our views of its cause, we can agree that children at risk are not at fault. Abandonment and abuse are not acts of God, they are failures of love. And the proliferation of prisons, however necessary, is no substitute for hope and order in our souls. Where there is suffering, there is duty. Americans in need are not strangers, they are citizens, not problems, but priorities. And all of us are diminished when any are hopeless. Government has great responsibilities for public safety and public health, for civil rights and common schools. Yet compassion is the work of a nation, not just a government. And some needs and hurts are so deep they will only respond to a mentor’s touch or a pastor’s prayer. Church and charity, synagogue and mosque lend our communities their humanity, and they will have an honored place in our plans and in our laws.

„Always keep an open mind and a compassionate heart.“

—  Phil Jackson basketball player and coach from the United States 1945

„Compassionate love may be strong. It sobs, it burns, then it wipes away its tears – and it does nothing.“

—  Alexander Herzen Russian author 1812 - 1870

„Sometimes silence can be the strongest and most compassionate answer.“

—  Steve Maraboli 1975

Fonte: Life, the Truth, and Being Free (2010), p. 131

„All God wants of man is a compassionate heart.“

—  Michael Elmore-Meegan British humanitarian 1959

All Will be Well (2004)

„Allah wants us to be merciful, compassionate and forgiving.“

—  Harun Yahya Turkish author 1956

20 April 2013.
A9 TV addresses, 2013
Contexto: Allah wants us to be merciful, compassionate and forgiving. And He wants us to look at everyone with compassion — so much so that in the Qur’an, Allah wants us to assure the life security of even idolaters.

„How easy it is to be compassionate when it's yourself you see in trouble.“

—  Richard Bach American spiritual writer 1936

Fonte: Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

„It is easy to be conspicuously 'compassionate' if others are being forced to pay the cost.“

—  Murray N. Rothbard American economist of the Austrian School, libertarian political theorist, and historian 1926 - 1995

„Are the honorable, the just, the high-minded and compassionate, the majority anywhere in this world?“

—  Harriet Beecher Stowe, livro Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), Concluding Remarks
Contexto: Is man ever a creature to be trusted with wholly irresponsible power? And does not the slave system, by denying the slave all legal right of testimony, make every individual owner an irresponsible despot? Can anybody fall to make the inference what the practical result will be? If there is, as we admit, a public sentiment among you, men of honor, justice and humanity, is there not also another kind of public sentiment among the ruffian, the brutal and debased? And cannot the ruffian, the brutal, the debased, by slave law, own just as many slaves as the best and purest? Are the honorable, the just, the high-minded and compassionate, the majority anywhere in this world?

„The strong need the weak in order to become more human, more compassionate.“

—  Jean Vanier Canadian humanitarian 1928 - 2019

Jean Vanier: Philosopher.. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/jean-vanier-philosopher-who-dislikes-the-religion-of-success-wins-12m-templeton-prize-for-promoting-spiritual-awareness-10101621.html The Independent, 11 March 2015
From interviews and talks

„What is compassion? Compassionate are those who can put themselves in other people’s shoes.“

—  Jun Hong Lu Australian Buddhist leader 1959

Quotes from Word of Wisdoms Vol.3
Original: (zh_Hant) 什麼是慈悲？ 凡是能夠站在別人角度為別人想的人 就是慈悲。

„When we are being compassionate, we consider another's circumstance with love rather than judgement… To be compassionate is to move into the right here, right now with an open heart consciousness and a willingness to be supportive.“

—  Jill Bolte Taylor American neuroscientist 1959

Fonte: My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey

„Implementing a compassionate perspective that embraces all life is at the heart of being vegan.“

—  Joanne Stepaniak American writer 1954

Fonte: Being Vegan (2000), p. 52

„Stop'. 'I do not know either 'The Merciful, or the Compassionate'. Write: 'In the name of God'.“

—  Suhayl ibn Amr soldier

in negotiating Treaty of Hudaybiyyah (628)

„There never was any heart truly great and generous that was not also tender and compassionate.“

—  Robert South English theologian 1634 - 1716

Fonte: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 578.

„Among the very names of God, we hear: the Compassionate, the All-Merciful.“

—  Abdullah II of Jordan King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan 1962

Address to the European Parliament (2015)
Contexto: I and countless other Muslims, have been taught from our earliest years that our religion demanded respect and caring for others. The Prophet Mohammad, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “None of you has faith until you love for your neighbour what you love for yourself.”
This is what it means to be a Muslim.
Among the very names of God, we hear: the Compassionate, the All-Merciful. All my life, every day, I have heard and used the greeting, Assalamu aleikum — a wish for the other to be blessed with peace.
This is what it means to be a Muslim.
More than a thousand years before the Geneva Conventions, Muslim soldiers were ordered not to kill a child, a woman or an old person, not to destroy a tree, not to harm a priest, not to destroy a church.
These are the same values of Islam we were taught in school as children: not to destroy or desecrate a place where God is worshipped, not a mosque, not a church, not a synagogue.
This is what it means to be a Muslim. These are the values I teach my children and they will hand on to theirs.

„History is reinterpreted, and it is taken as axiomatic that fascism must have been Right-wing, the logic seemingly being that Left-wing means compassionate and Right-wing means nasty and fascists were nasty.“

—  Daniel Hannan British politician 1971

So total is the Left's cultural ascendancy that no one likes to mention the socialist roots of fascism (February 16, 2013), The Telegraph
2010s