Quotes About Community

Durante siglos, la batalla moral fue librada entre quienes sostenían que sus vidas le pertenecen a Dios y quienes sostenían que les pertenecen a sus vecinos; entre aquellos que predicaban que el bien es el autosacrificio en beneficio de fantasmas en el paraíso, y aquellos que predicaban que el bien es el autosacrificio en provecho de los incompetentes de la Tierra. Y nadie te ha dicho que tu vida te pertenece y que el bien reside en vivirla plenamente.

We strive to be like all our brother men, for all men must be alike.

When you don't wear a hijab, you discourage other Muslim women from wearing it. Also, wearing hijab makes you a message. Imagine you are Muslim walking around this square and you see a woman in hijab and you feel happy!…You think to yourself, 'Look, there are Muslims here!' You become a happy signal.

By not wearing it," he continued, "you also make things harder for other Muslim women. They see you not wearing it and it plants doubt in their mind…they think to themselves, 'If others don't wear it, why should I?'

When I walked down the streets, I asked myself, are these my people?, is this my hometown, am I who I am?

Primo Levi once said, "I write in order to rejoin the community of mankind." Reading is a private act, but it joins us across continents and time.

Art is no longer snobbish or cowardly. It teaches peasants to use tractors, gives lyrics to young soldiers, designs textiles for factory women's dresses, writes burlesque for factory theatres, does a hundred other useful tasks. Art is useful as bread.

everybody leaves," said Mahshid, her eyes glued to the floor, "who will help make something of this country? How can we be so irresponsible?

Between my first book tour, in 2003, and the next one, in 2009, many of the places I visited had undergone a significant transformation or vanished: Cody's in Berkeley, seven branch libraries in Philadelphia, twelve of the fourteen bookstores in Harvard Square, Harry W. Schwartz in Milwaukee and, in my own hometown of Washington, D.C., Olsson's and Chapters.

One's spiritual realization lies in none other than how one walks among and interacts with one's fellow beings.

Change we need

A lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me.

another tradition to politics, a tradition (of politics) that stretched from the days of the country's founding to the glory of the civil rights movement, a tradition based on the simple idea that we have a stake in one another, and that what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and that if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done.

All too rarely do I hear people asking just what it is that we've done to make so many children's hearts so hard, or what collectively we might do to right their moral compass - what values we must live by.

It's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.

To those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

Let me tell your something. I'm from Chicago. I don't break.

To be black was to be the beneficiary of a great inheritance, a special destiny, glorious burdens that only we were strong enough to bear.

The boarded-up homes, the decaying storefronts, the aging church rolls, kids from unknown families who swaggered down the streets - loud congregations of teenage boys, teenage girls feeding potato chips to crying toddlers, the discarded wrappers tumbling down the block - all of it whispered painful truths.

It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break; the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

When our government is spoken of as some menacing, threatening foreign entity, it ignores the fact that, in our democracy, government is us.

I recalled a sermon by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called "The Drum Major Instinct." In it, he talks about how, deep down, we all want to be first, celebrated for our greatness; we all want "to lead the parade." He goes on to point out that such selfish impulses can be reconciled by aligning that quest for greatness with more selfless aims. You can strive to be first in service, first in love.

Change won't come from the top, Change will come from mobilized grassroots.