Quotes from Jean Vanier

In community we are called to care for each member of the community. We can. Choose our friends but we do not choose our brothers and sisters' they are given to us, whether in family or in community." Jean

Growth begins when we begin to accept our own weakness.

Each person is sacred, no matter what his or her culture, religion, handicap, or fragility. Each person is created in God's image; each one has a heart, a capacity to love and to be loved.

Those we most often exclude from the normal life of society, people with disabilities, have profound lessons to teach us

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.

It is only when we stand up, with all our failings and sufferings, and try to support others rather than withdraw into ourselves, that we can fully live the life of community.

Avoid the poison in your life that brings you turmoil.

I have discovered the value of psychology and psychiatry, that their teachings can undo knots in us and permit life to flow again and aid us in becoming more truly human.

To love someone is to show to them their beauty, their worth and their importance.

Love doesn't mean doing extraordinary or heroic things. It means knowing how to do ordinary things with tenderness.

Growth begins when we start to accept our own weakness

Love is to recognize that the other person is a person, is precious, is important and has value.

Love is an act of endless forgiveness.

When people love each other, they are content with very little. When we have light and joy in our hearts, we don't need material wealth. The most loving communities are often the poorest.

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.

Every human being is a mixture of light and darkness, trust and fear, love and hate.

When children are loved, they live off trust; their bides and hearts open up to those who respect and love them, who understand and listen to them.

To invite others to live with us is a sign that we aren't afraid, that we have a treasure of truth and of peace to share.

The cry for love and communion and for recognition that rises from the hearts of people in need reveals the fountain of love in us and our capacity to give life.

Community is not an ideal; it is people. It is you and I. In community we are called to love people just as they are with their wounds and their gifts, not as we want them to be.

Life is a succession of crises and moments when we have to rediscover who we are and what we really want.

People may come to our communities because they want to serve the poor; they will only stay once they have discovered that they themselves are poor.

If we love (the poor) people, we want to identify with them and share with them.

So many in our world today are suffering from isolation, war and oppression. So much money is spent on the construction of armaments. Many, many young people are in despair because of the danger.