Compassion Fatigue Quotes

One who becomes compassionate to the cruel will ultimately become cruel to the compassionate

We cannot and will not surrender our border to those who wish to exploit our history of compassion and justice.

It's very hard to balance being there for somebody else and taking care of yourself.

I lapsed into my pathetic cut-off period. Often with humans, both good and bad, my senses simply shut off, they get tired, I give up. I am polite. I nod. I pretend to understand because I don’t want anybody to be hurt. That is the one weakness that has lead me into the most trouble. Trying to be kind to others I often get my soul shredded into a kind of spiritual pasta. No matter. My brain shuts off. I listen. I respond. And they are too dumb to know that I am not there.

What happened after Katrina is that people were stirred to action; there were an enormous number of contributions by people trying to make a difference. But then we forget. We've forgotten Katrina victims, we've forgotten the face of poverty.

My family made it through Hurricane Sandy. We have water, power, and a roof, but the survivor's guilt makes me want to hide. Sneak away from the brilliance of life. It shouts at me: 'Don't enjoy anything too much; people are suffering.' I feel childlike somehow.

I look at people in certain circumstances, and I fall into caretaker mode real quick, real easy. I like to shoulder people up and carry them along, and then I end up creating some kind of dependency. I enable. It's really, really hard for me.

I think there's some evidence that when it comes to being a doctor or nurse, a police officer or therapist, that empathetic engagement leads to burn-out. Imagine if you're dealing with severely ill children, and you felt their pain all the time, and the pain of their parents - you wouldn't be able to do that job for very long. It would kill you.

With my feelings, I hold a lot in, because I didn't always have boundaries and people would take advantage of situations because I'm a nice guy.

"I love mankind," he said, "but I find to my amazement that the more I love mankind as a whole, the less I love man in particular."

I have done so many things and the pressure is so great. I am sure I have been a good deal dehumanized.

Self-pity dries up our sympathy for others.

One of the stated values at IronPort was 'work/life balance,' but I wasn't living it. I was rarely home. And when I was home, well, let's just say I wasn't particularly helpful or cheery.

Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart. O when may it suffice?

There is no point in being overwhelmed by the appalling total of human sufferring; such a total does not exist. Neither poverty nor pain is accumulable.

At a certain level of suffering or injustice no one can do anything for anyone. Pain is solitary.

Welfare is ... the victim of national compassion fatigue.

I have a theory that burnout is about resentment. And you beat it by knowing what it is you're giving up that makes you resentful.

One grows out of pity when it's useless.

nothing can wear you out like caring about people

We have to know people who are outside of our own circle, we have to reach out to people we don't know, we have to protect people who are in tremendous danger. And we also have to not get burned out and let our fear and anxiety and depression sink us. So there's lots of things we have to do right now!

One does not really feel much grief at other people's sorrows; one tries, and puts on a melancholy face, thinking oneself brutal for not caring more; but one cannot and it is better, for if one grieved too deeply at other people's tears, life would be unendurable; and every man has sufficient sorrows of his own without taking to heart his neighbour's.

In my business, if I get too close to you and you die, it hurts me. And so you develop a natural inclination not to be close to the patient, so that if things don't work out ideally, you can still get up the next day and care for the next patient.

You can't save everyone, though God knows you try.

And it takes so much energy to stay angry with someone who cries so much.