7 Famous Empaths (you don’t know)

In this article we will look at a few famous empaths and what it means to be an empath. This article will also explore the pros and cons of being an empath.

List of Famous Empaths

• George Orwell
• Nelson Mandela
• Mother Teresa
• Princess Diana
• Oprah Winfrey
• Cate Blanchett
• Eleanor Roosevelt

What is an Empath?

Empaths are highly sensitive people and they are extremely receptive to other people’s feelings and energy. They will quickly embrace other people’s feelings as their own. Empaths have a keen intuition and are skilled at understanding individuals and circumstances past first impressions. They are natural healers because of their generous temperament and good insight of the human mind.

George Orwell

George Orwell was a great empath of his time. Orwell, like perhaps no other writer in the twentieth century, shed a spotlight on marginalized and oppressed groups in British society with his books and his political reporting. He also had empathy for animals and was passionate about animal rights as is evident from his allegorical novella ‘Animal Farm’.

Orwell was disgusted by the cruelty of colonisation he experienced while serving as a colonial police officer in Burma. On his return to the United Kingdom, he promised to put himself in the shoes of common workers and learn about their lives. 

“We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.”

― George Orwell, 1984 

“If you loved someone, you loved him, and when you had nothing else to give, you still gave him love.”

― George Orwell, 1984 

“I felt that I had got to escape not merely from imperialism but from every form of man’s dominion over other man”

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”

― George Orwell 

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

― George Orwell, Animal Farm 

“The object of terrorism is terrorism. The object of oppression is oppression. The object of torture is torture. The object of murder is murder. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?”

― George Orwell, 1984 

Nelson Mandela

Many empaths are able to set their own interests aside for the public good, and Nelson Mandela is a perfect example of this. For what he envisioned, Mandela was able to give up years of his life.

Mandela used his time in prison to refine his empathic skills, allowing him to bring his country into a new period of reconciliation rather than apartheid when he was released.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

― Nelson Mandela 

“When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”

― Nelson Mandela 

“A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.”

― Nelson Mandela 

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom 

Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was a rare type of empath.

She defied the stereotype of empathy by being able to provide for the ill and poor in Calcutta without exhausting her empathic reserves. 

Mother Teresa was able to maintain her empathic ability for long periods of time, enabling her to carry out extensive acts of healing and caregiving that most people regard as miracles.

“She suffers and she laughs.”

― Mother Teresa 

“Intense love does not measure it just gives. ”

― Mother Teresa 

“Profound joy of the heart is like a magnet that indicates the path of life.”

― Mother Teresa 

“If you can’t do great things, Mother Teresa used to say, do little things with great love. If you can’t do them with great love, do them with a little love. If you can’t do them with a little love, do them anyway.

Love grows when people serve.”

― John Ortberg

Princess Diana

It’s likely that Princess Diana’s sudden death shocked the world because of her strong empathetic qualities. She had a remarkable power to engage with others on a variety of levels.

Princess Diana had a lot of trouble dealing with her sensitive empathic characteristics. It was difficult to manage that sensitivity, which is why she was invested in so many humanitarian activities.

“Call me Diana, not Princess Diana.”

“It’s vital that the monarchy keeps in touch with the people. It’s what I try and do.”

“The greatest problem in the world today is intolerance. Everyone is so intolerant of each other.”

“I like to be a free spirit. Some don’t like that, but that’s the way I am.”

“Nothing brings me more happiness than trying to help the most vulnerable people in society. It is a good and essential part of my life, a kind of destiny.”

“I want my boys to have an understanding of people’s emotions, their insecurities, people’s distress, and their hopes and dreams.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt, the first lady, was an INFJ, the rarest Meyers-Briggs personality type.

The INFJ personality type is most often connected with empaths since it exhibits many of the characteristics of empathy.

Eleanor Roosevelt was also a prime motivator behind the civil rights movement, showing concern and empathy for those for whom she had little in common with.

“Do one thing every day that scares you.”

― Eleanor Roosevelt 

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway.”

― Eleanor Roosevelt 

“A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it’s in hot water.”

― Eleanor Roosevelt 

“We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.”

― Eleanor Roosevelt 

“When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?”

― Eleanor Roosevelt 

“Pit race against race, religion against religion, prejudice against prejudice. Divide and conquer! We must not let that happen here.”

― Eleanor Roosevelt 

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

― Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life 

“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”

― Eleanor Roosevelt 

Conclusion

In this article we looked at a few famous empaths and what it means to be an empath. This article also explored the pros and cons of being an empath.

Frequently Asked Questions: INFJ Celebrities

References

10 Famous Empaths – Some Of These May Surprise You

The Empathy Top Five: Who are the greatest empathists of all time?

7 Famous Empaths. Pros and Cons of Being an Empath