Community is a sign that love is possible in a materialistic world where people so often either ignore or fight each other. It is a sign that we don't need a lot of money to be happy--in fact, the opposite.
Jean VanierRead
True peace can rarely be imposed from the outside; it must be born within and between communities through meetings and dialogue and then carried outward.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True peace comes from within and requires communication among communities.
This quote emphasizes that genuine peace cannot be enforced through external measures but must grow organically through understanding, dialogue, and collaboration among individuals and communities. It highlights the importance of internal harmony and respectful interactions as the foundational elements of lasting peace.
Themes
PeaceCommunityDialogueInternalUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
During a community meeting, I quoted Jean Vanier to inspire dialogue and cooperation.
More from Jean Vanier
All quotes βOne of the marvelous things about community is that it enables us to welcome and help people in a way we couldn't as individuals. When we pool our strength and share the work and responsibility, we can welcome many people, even those in deep distress, and perhaps help them find self-confidence and inner healing.
Jean VanierRead
We all know well that we can do things for others and in the process crush them, making them feel that they are incapable of doing things by themselves. To love someone is to reveal to them their capacities for life, the light that is shining in them.
Jean VanierRead
In any case, community is not about perfect people. It is about people who are bonded to each other, each of whom is a mixture of good and bad, darkness and light, love and hate.
Jean VanierRead
We have to remind ourselves constantly that we are not saviours. We are simply a tiny sign, among thousands of others, that love is possible, that the world is not condemned to a struggle between oppressors and oppressed, that class and racial warfare is not inevitable.
Jean VanierRead
When we begin to believe that there is greater joy in working with and for others, rather than just for ourselves, then our society will truly become a place of celebration.
Jean VanierRead
Similar quotes
Peace is our gift to each other.
Elie WieselRead
We must have research for peace ... It would embrace the outstanding problems of morality. The time has come for man's intellect, his scientific method, to win over the immoral brutality and irrationality of war and militarism ... Now we are forced to eliminate from the world forever this vestige of prehistoric barbarism, this curse to the human race.
Linus PaulingRead
Purusing peace means rising above one's own wants, needs, and emotions.
Benazir BhuttoRead
The more we elevate people's lives - the more we treat people with dignity and respect and honor their rights and freedoms - the more we discourageand even preventterrorism.
Linda Thomas-GreenfieldRead
Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.
John F. KennedyRead
Peace is an idea born from hope and the desire to see your children raise a family, walk in a market, and engage in simple pleasures of everyday life without fear.
Daniel LubetzkyRead