“Of course, it’s important to translate these feelings into action. Empathy purely by itself does not reduce suffering. But these warm, loving feelings can play an important role in our mental attitudes toward altruism work and represent a helpful supplement to the distress and anguish that we experience when thinking about terrible suffering. We can want to reduce extreme suffering both because it’s indescribably awful and because we deeply care about and feel part of those whom it afflicts.”

— Brian Tomasik, Personal Thoughts on Romance, Chapter: Universal Love