Empathy

How many times do we label someone with our first impressions only to be proven wrong? The tattooed motorcycle guy who turns out to be a teddy bear, the buttoned-up co-worker who actually knows how to party.

You'll never see a U-Haul behind a hearse. I don't care how much money you make, you can't take it with you. It's not how much you have — it's what you do with what you have.

We always move forward when we say we can make this table bigger.

It's not even a question of ethics or self-sacrifice or moral high ground, it's actually totally selfish. Being with people, doing for people, it's going to bring you joy. Unexpectedly, it just feels better.

Don't assume that exclusive always and everywhere means better. It may only mean lonelier. There will always be folks hard selling you the life of the few: the private schools, private planes, private islands, private life. They are trying to convince you that hell is other people. Don't believe it. We are far more frequently each other's shelter and correction, the antidote to solipsism, and so many windows on this world.

Listening to others, especially those with whom we disagree, tests our own ideas and beliefs. It forces us to recognize, with humility, that we don't have a monopoly on the truth.

The search for purpose is really a search for a place, not an idea. It is a search for a location in the world where you want to be part of making things better for others in your own small way.

If you find yourself in a place where you stop caring — where your greatest concern becomes only you — get out of there.

People don't care what you know until they know that you care. Success is always a team effort, and no one does great things alone.

Be uncomfortable. Open doors. Empathize with strangers. Try new things out. Seek serendipity. Take chances with new friends. And pay it forward to people you don't know.

I'm not asking you kids to change the whole world. But if you're kind, you're doing far more than you know. There's nothing more powerful than kindness.

The truth is, you have signed up for a life of service by going into the Arts. And the life-altering results of that service in other people's lives will never disappear as fame unquestionably will.