What do we mean by compassion? The word itself is one among many used to describe the profundity of human connection; but it's the only one, I'd submit, which implies kindness without conditions. Empathy, for example, refers to our ability to feel and perceive from another's viewpoint. . . . Sympathy is famously tenderhearted, but can also remain at arm's-length. . . . Even when it comes to altruism, the noblest self-sacrifice can be merely parochial, reserved for one's family or the insiders of one's religion or nation, too often at outsiders' expense.
— Marc Ian Barasch, Field Notes on the Compassionate Life