Pope Francis Quotes

Somebody says, 'Well, I can't be concerned about other people. About the best I can do is to take care of myself' Well, then you will always be poor.

He who lives only for himself is truly dead to others.

To be rich is to give; to give nothing is to be poor; to live is to love; to love nothing is to be dead; to be happy is to devote oneself; to exist only for oneself is to damn oneself, and to exile oneself to hell.

Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion. When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands. Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection - or compassionate action.

We're a whole culture of people who have a really hard time seeing beyond themselves.

Most of us are consumed with our own thoughts and desires and are not always thinking about what other people may want. This is not necessarily being egocentric; it is just being human.

And there are so many people in the third world suffering so horribly right now, and we are so focused on ourselves and our culture that a lot of things are showing up in our culture that are making it impossible for us to focus on others. We're so self-focused.

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.

When you see yourself as the center of things, it deprives you of a certain level of empathy.

One can write, think and pray exclusively of others; dreams are all egocentric.

Self-pity dries up our sympathy for others.

In short, selfishness is the opposite of love.

Selfishness comes from poverty in the heart, from the belief that love is not abundant.

She lived almost fifty years of her life completely dedicated to the care of the poor and the marginalized. Astonishingly, for those nearly fifty years she identified completely with the poor she served by her own experience of being seemingly unwanted and unloved by God. In a mystical way — through this painful interior "darkness" — she tasted their greatest poverty of being "unwanted, unloved, and uncared for."

Have a great compassion for people. To be able to have a heart full of compassion, we need to pray. Especially be kind, be loving to the poor. We think we do so much for the poor, but it is they who make us rich. We are in debt to them. Do you want to do something beautiful for God? There is a person who needs you. This is your chance.

Maybe the biggest problem is that there's no empathy. Nobody puts themselves in the place of others. Everyone thinks they are the only one to suffer. Or that they're the only ones who like ice cream or take their kids on vacation.

You cannot be so poor that you cannot help somebody.

The howl of self-interest is loud ... but the heart is black which throbs solely to its note.

The more we think of others, the happier we are. The more we think of ourselves, the more suffering we feel.

Go beyond yourself and reach out to other people with a sincere love, respect, caring, and understanding of their needs.

So long as we are full of self we are shocked at the faults of others. Let us think often of our own sin, and we shall be lenient to the sins of others.

Never be so busy as not to think of others.

Her own misery filled her heart—there was no room in it for other people's sorrow.

I offered up a special prayer, a prayer which came with tears and anguish, that some way would open up for me to use what talents I possessed for my fellow workers, for the poor.

Our prayers for others flow more easily than those for ourselves. This shows we are made to live by charity.