Quotes About Community

My poor are happy; neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive; the rational world is my friend, because I am a friend of happiness—when these things can be said," wrote Paine, "then may that country boast of its constitution and its government."30

Corporate capitalism has made war on the communal and the sacred, on those forces that allow us to connect and transcend our temporal condition to bond with others. These bonds will be reestablished or we will slip further into a world where death is more attractive than life.

In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge. For Ur-Fascism, disagreement is treason.

The scientific community needs to defend itself against political interference, no matter how cleverly it is concealed. If science is to come first, we don't have a choice as to whether to become politically active. If you're inactive, you're colluding in someone else's politics.

Though often surrounded by people, Hattie felt dreadfully alone.

The Tuckers were a good bunch with bad luck, same as a lot of hill families. You helped when you could, but he hoped he was clear of the Tuckers for good. Trouble came their way like sideways wind in winter.

In the way of small-town rebels everywhere, they conformed to each other.

In 1935, when there were no other programs, the founders of AA, Bill Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith, stepped up to the plate and took action to help a crippled population. All credit for the establishment of their wonderful, life-saving group goes to them and to those who came after them who have continued the tradition. However, there are not among the estimated two or three million who attend twelve-step meetings.

In 1935, when there were no other programs, the founders of AA, Bill Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith, stepped up to the plate and took action to help a crippled population. All credit for the establishment of their wonderful, life-saving group goes to them and to those who came after them who have continued the tradition. However, there are hundreds of millions of people who still need help who are not among the estimated two or three million who attend twelve-step meetings.

Dear America, I suppose we should introduce ourselves: We're South Louisiana...You probably already know that we talk funny and listen to strange music and eat things you'd probably hire an exterminator to get out of your yard. We dance even if there's no radio. We drink at funerals. We talk too much and laugh too loud and live too large and, frankly,we're suspicious of others who don't.

as bad as it is here, it's better than being somewhere else. -Chris Rose, regarding life in Post-Katrina New Orleans

Everybody here has a story. New Orleans was always a place where people talked too much even if they had nothing to say. Now everyone's got something to say.

we dance even if there's no radio. we drink at funerals. we talk too much & laugh too loud & live too large, and, frankly, we're suspicious of others who don't.

To be engaged in some small way in the revival of one of the great cities of the world is to live a meaningful existence by default.

This book is dedicated to Thomas Coleman, a retired longshoreman, who died in his attic at 2214 St. Roch Avenue in New Orleans' 8th Ward on or about August 29, 2005. He had a can of juice and a bedspread at his side when the waters rose. There were more than a thousand like him.

Your salvation would be hollow if you don't help each other come home. Remember we are family, and families leave no one behind.

to Tocqueville, and reiterated by Robert Bellah and collaborators in their landmark study of American life Habits of the Heart, this pursuit of what one does not have makes it difficult for people to form bonds with one another. Their minds "are more anxious and on edge." Because "they clutch everything," they can "hold nothing fast.

The world is awakening to a powerful truth: Women and girls aren't the problem; they're the solution.

We all need someone," de Metz said. "Even—perhaps especially—if we have God.

Voyager was my collective. I knew I was safe there. I trusted all of you; I knew all of you. I could. . . I could try to learn to love. But all that's changed. We've returned to Earth. I'm a—an oddity." "Seven, that's not true

By its simple shape, circle includes everyone without distinction, welcomes and invites all to participate, and creates equality among those gathered.

He thought moving to a small town would allow him to find a way to get along to some extent but people were just plain idiots.

These are men like us with nowhere to go. They need what we have to survive. A brotherhood. A family. They need a leader. They need Torpedo Ink.

Life is to be lived. It doesn't really matter the how and why of things. It matters how you choose to live. I taught you to live life large. Tha's all, Wyatt. Love when you can. Laugh. Sing. And take care of your family and friends and then your community. It's not always easy, but it's good and at the end of it all, you'll be satisfied.