How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"But it's hard to explain, Mitch. Now that I'm suffering, I feel closer to people who suffer than I ever did before. The other night, on TV, I saw people in Bosnia running across the street, getting fired upon, killed, innocent victims… and I just started to cry. I feel their anguish as if it were my own." (8.22)
Morrie's heart is so filled with compassion that he is moved by things that he sees on the nightly news—things that happen to people somewhere else in the world. He's not saying that he understands exactly what they're going through, but he says that since he knows what suffering is firsthand, his heart goes out to them.
Quote #2
In light of this, my visits with Morrie felt like a cleansing rinse of human kindness. We talked about life and we talked about love. We talked about one of Morrie's favorite subjects, compassion, and why our society had such a shortage of it. (9.3)
Kindness and compassion are linked. For Mitch, it's refreshing to be around someone who cares so much about what other people are going through. Morrie is very concerned with how little people in society actually care about others and he thinks it's the root of many problems.
Quote #3
There was a momentary silence, and I'm not ever sure why I offered, but Morrie looked at Connie and said, "Can you show him how to do it?" (9.21)
Mitch, who at first felt uncomfortable even visiting Morrie, is now offering to help the nurse take care of him. He's learning compassion simply by being around somebody who is suffering, and now he wants to take a part in helping his friend, Morrie.