This is a curated selection of quotes on understanding others (personally curated by me on my own lifelong learning journey). This page is intended as a learning resource for educational purposes and meant to offer an overview/introduction. Short quotes aren’t a substitute for source material, so if this page sparks your interest, explore more deeply by checking out the authors’ books.
“If you could see the world the way I see it, you’d understand why I behave the way I do.” — Axiom of Clinical Psychology
“We can see other people’s behaviour, but not their experience … I see you, and you see me. I experience you, and you experience me. I see your behaviour. You see my behaviour. But I do not and never have and never will see your experience of me. Just as you cannot ‘see’ my experience of you.” — R. D. Laing
“In 45 years of research… this (learning) is the one that is nearest and dearest to my heart: behavior makes sense from the actor’s perspective or else he or she wouldn’t do it.” — Ellen Langer
“I have one major rule: Everybody is right. More specifically, everybody—including me, has some important pieces of truth.” — Ken Wilber
“It is not possible for anyone to see how far any other person has come along their path.” — Hermann Hesse
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” — Harper Lee
“To understand another person, you must swim in the same waters that drowned them.” — Unknown
“If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“To understand all is to forgive all.” — Unknown
“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” — Jesus
“There is a difference between knowledge and awareness, between information and awareness. One cannot do evil in awareness. But one can do evil in knowledge or information, when you know something is bad. ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ I would translate that as ‘They’re not aware of what they are doing.'” — Anthony de Mello
“Do you think that when Christ is lying there and they’re nailing the nails in, He’s saying, ‘Oh man, does that hurt!’? He’s probably looking at the guy who’s nailing him with absolute compassion. He digs why the cat’s doing it. What he’s stuck in. How much dust covers his eyes. Why he’s got to be doing it. That’s the way it is.” — Ram Dass
“When you see the people who you think are not in on the secret—if you really understand—you have to revise your opinion completely and say that the squares are the people who are really far out because they don’t even know where they started. See, an enlightened Hindu or Buddhist looks at the ignorant people of this world and says, ‘My respects. Because here I see the divine essence having altogether forgotten what it is and playing the most far out game of being completely lost. Congratulations! How far out can you get?’ So, if you understand that, you don’t start a war with people you might say are square. Don’t challenge them, don’t bug them, don’t frighten them. The reason is not because they are immature—because they are babies and you mustn’t scare babies—it’s nothing to do with that. You mustn’t frighten them because they are doing a very far out act. They’re walking on a tightrope, miles up, and they’ve got to do that balancing act. And, if you shout, they may lose their nerve. See? That’s what we call the ‘responsible people of the world’ are doing: it is an act; it’s a game just like the tightrope walker. But, it’s a risky one, and you can get ulcers from it and all sorts of troubles. But, you must respect it and say, ‘Congratulations on being so far out.'” — Alan Watts
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