Governments cannot make marriages or turn feckless individuals into responsible citizens. That needs another kind of change agent.
Interpretation
Governments cannot create successful marriages or make irresponsible people responsible; real change requires a different approach.
This quote emphasizes that while governments can provide structures and regulations, they cannot directly influence the personal relationships or moral character of individuals. True transformation in relationships and personal responsibility requires inner change facilitated by different agents, such as community, family, or personal growth initiatives.
In practice
In a discussion about social issues, one might say, 'As Jonathan Sacks noted, governments cannot make marriages or turn feckless individuals into responsible citizens.'
Stabilizing the euro is one thing, healing the culture that surrounds it is another. A world in which material values are everything and spiritual values nothing is neither a stable state nor a good society. The time has come for us to recover the Judeo-Christian ethic of human dignity in the image of God.
Jews read the books of Moses not just as history but as divine command. The question to which they are an answer is not, 'What happened?' but rather, 'How then shall I live?' And it's only with the exodus that the life of the commands really begins.
Why did God create mankind? Because God likes stories.
Find people not to envy but to admire. Do not the profitable but the admirable deed. Live by ideals.
Some years ago there was a study to discover the most stressful occupation. It turned out not to be the head of a large business, football manager or prime minister, but rather: bus driver.
The Holocaust survivors are among the most inspiring people I have had the privilege to meet.
All B.S. aside, it all comes down to... we got to survive. I mean, even warriors put their spears down on Sundays. We got to survive here in this country... 'cause I'm not going back to Africa. We got to survive here. And for us to survive here-White folks, Black folks, Korean folks, Mexican folks, Puerto Ricans-we got to understand each other.
No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence.
Part of forgiving people is releasing them from our own agendas.
A million faces at my feet but all I see are dark eyes.
We were born to unite with our fellow men, and to join in community with the human race.
Ask before offering advice or reassurance.
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