Quotes About Community

Within groups selfish individuals beat altruistic individuals, but groups of altruists beat groups of selfish individuals.

People must have a tribe. It gives them a name in addition to their own and social meaning in a chaotic world. It makes the environment less disorienting and dangerous. The social world of each modern human is not a single tribe, but rather a system of interlocking tribes, among which it is often difficult to find a single

selfish members win within groups, but groups of altruists best groups of selfish members.

We are all worthy of one another.

A few women had cried, remembering the way Henry smiled or how he would join them in singing or thinking that the death ofanyone, good or bad, master or not, cut down one more tree in the life forest that shielded them from their own death; but most said or did nothing.

No one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices.

For the increase in the number of my Brennan cousins," Conall remarked dryly, "we must thank the potato.

So how would you define a Londoner, then?" Lady Penny asked curiously. "Someone who lives here. It's like the old definition of a cockney: someone who's born within hearing distance of Bow bells. And a foreigner," he added with a grin, "is anyone, Anglo-Saxon or not, who lives outside.

Language is the most massive and inclusive art we know, a mountainous and anonymous work of unconscious generations.

The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached ... We see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation.

Politics is not a game. It exists to resolve the largest questions of the society—the agreed-upon terms by which everyone can live peaceably with one another. At its best politics creates and sustains social relationships—the human conversation and engagement that draw people together and allow them to discover their mutuality.2

Democratic hope envisions a political community where power, freedom, opportunity, and accountability reside not with elites or experts, but with everyday, ordinary people. It is anchored in the conviction that the political whole is more than the sum of the parts and must include all but be dominated by none.

As a counselor, I have spoken with many people who want to know their spiritual gifts. They come hoping for some sort of diagnostic test that will precisely locate them. My impression is that this perspective represents a breakdown in the church. It reflects a church where we are running around as self-actualizing individuals rather than uniting as a God-glorifying community.

I built myself a house of glass: It took my years to make it: And I was proud. But now, alas! Would God someone would break it. But it looks too magnificent. No neighbour casts a stone From where he dwells, in tenement Or palace of glass, alone.

Our concern is the invisible wounding from war. The physical wounds are most visible to our veterans who deserve first concern. But in truth we are all wounded. Grandparents, parents, siblings, children, friends, neighbors, care providers, teachers, taxpayers are all caught in war's long and crushing tentacles. Our entire society reels in pain, exhaustion, despair, and debt. Look closely. All lives are affected and we all need be concerned.

with meaning, honor, respect, and reintegration into community. When we practice these aright—and it is possible—we fill our communities with honorable, noble, wise elders who in turn serve and mature the society and its most needy.

A Christian has as much choice to be related to the church as a child has to be related to her mother.

We all want the good and not the bad. Yet it doesn't seem to be the case in life. Sorrow comes along with joy, pain, along with pleasure. Three things make this bearable; acceptance that life is exactly this, God, and each other.

I wanted to raise the voice of a lot of the people that I knew growing up, and this was, for the most part, poor people who had extraordinary dreams but also very amazing obstacles.

She told me about a group of people in Guinea who carry the sky on their heads. They are the people of Creation. Strong, tall, and mighty people who can bear anything. Their Maker, she said, gives them the sky to carry because they are strong. These people do not know who they are, but if you see a lot of trouble in your life, it is because you were chosen to carry part of the sky on your head.

A major criterion for judging the anxiety level of any society is the loss of its capacity to be playful.

He drew a circle that shut me out — heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win — and we drew a circle that took him in!

He drew a circle that shut me out -- Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in.

The crest and crowning of all good, Life's final star, is Brotherhood.