Community Quotes

"We feel lonely when we think we are supposed to be in community with others, but we are trapped behind a facade of perfection." "True belonging is not passive. It’s not the belonging that comes with just joining a group. It’s not fitting in or pretending or selling out because it’s safer. It’s a practice that requires vulnerability to get uncomfortable and learn how to be present with people without sacrificing who we are." "If we are inclined to forget how much we need other people, friends and family, holidays and parties all remind us." "We must indeed all hang together or most assuredly we shall all hang separately" "A town isn't a town without a bookstore" "In a world that is so interconnected, we are all neighbors" "Cities are the absence of physical space between people." "We don't have to do all of it alone. We were never meant to." "The opposite of belonging is fitting in." "A deep sense of love and belonging is an irreducible need of all people. We are biologically, cognitively, physically, and spiritually wired to love, to be loved, and to belong." "Differences are not intended to separate, to alienate. We are different precisely in order to realize our need of one another." "I tell my students, 'When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else'" "We commit ourselves to language and community at the same time" "Small groups of people can have a really huge impact" "Public policy can help, but there is no government that can fix these problems for us." "There are no more foundations in the U.S. than in the hearts of the people." "If I maintain enough presence I can always get an audience, and it doesn't matter where I am – whether it is watching a pupil at an inner-city school or an inmate in prison." "I knew what my job was; it was to go out and meet the people and love them." "I swear sports and music are so synonymous, cause we want to be them, and they want to be us" "Surround yourself with people who want to see you win."