Quotes from Greg Boyle

Jesus did not only serve the needs of the people, but truly hoped that the people and Jesus would be one.

Gangs are bastions of conditional love, and one of the ways to counteract it is to offer community, which will always trump gang, and that's what happens at Homeboy Industries.

In Los Angeles, the gang capital of the world, we have 1,100 gangs and 120,000 gang members so it is a daunting, complex social dilemma.

I would hope that government officials have a healthy respect for the complexity of the gang problem. They should never lose sight of the fact that there are human beings involved. There is no single solution.

The arms of God reach to embrace, and somehow you feel yourself just outside God's fingertips.

I love movies.

As a society, we come up lacking in many of the marks of compassion and wisdom by which we measure ourselves as civilized.

I know two L.A.s. Half my life was around the house my folks had for 46 years at 3rd and Norton. The other half was in Boyle Heights on the Eastside, working with gang members.

I work with gang members, and I feel a kind of affinity and gift, even. But who would've thunk it, you know? I mean, I didn't anticipate it.

I've never met an evil person ever.

You are exactly what God had in mind when he made you.

Anyone who knows gangs knows that lawmakers cannot conceive of a law that would lead a hard-core gang member to 'think twice.'

You prevent kids from joining gangs by offering after-school programs, sports, mentoring, and positive engagement with adults. You intervene with gang members by offering alternatives and employment to help redirect their lives. You deal with areas of high gang crime activity with real community policing. We know what works.

I want to be prophetic and take stands and stand with those on the margins, and I want to laugh as much as I can.

We don't need a specialized gang unit. We need patrol officers who specialize in knowing their community.

God seems to be an unwilling participant in our efforts to pigeonhole Him.

The power of community policing is in the relationship. This can happen only if an officer sticks around for a while.

Don't forget, you are the hero of your own story.

There is no 'them' and 'us.' There is only us.

I'm not opposed to success.

I'm not always optimistic, but I am hopeful.

We ought not to demonize a single gang member, and we ought not to romanticize a single gang.

The powers, conditions, and desires that propel Mexicans and Central Americans into this country are so fundamental, so vast, that no action, legislative or other-wise, can discourage this flight.

When the vastness of God meets the restriction of our own humanity, words can't hold it. The best we can do is find the moments that rhyme with this expansive heart of God.