Quotes About Community

We need other people, and we need to be needed by other people, in order to be who we might be, who we yearn to be.

Both love and true friendship are more than a way of knowing that we matter to someone else. They are a way of mattering to the world, bringing God into a world that would otherwise be a vale of selfishness and loneliness.

One man alone can't defeat the forces of evil, but many good people coming together can.

In our nation's popular culture, country life in the 1800s has often been portrayed as an idyllic experience, one that cultivated such quintessentially American values as self-reliance, rugged independence, a reverence for the land, a belief in the importance of hard work and self-sacrifice, and a willingness to fight when necessary for home, family, and community.

Several Indiana communities seemed seized by a perverse envy. When rumors spread that "a new 'death farm' where Mrs. Belle Gunness buried many of her victims" had been discovered near Warsaw, "the citizens of that place were thrown into a fever excitement" and appeared crestfallen when the story proved false.[

the Norwegians of Chicago were widely regarded as a frugal, industrious, and upstanding people, who enhanced the moral character of the metropolis.

Several Indiana communities seemed seized by a perverse envy. When rumors spread that "a new 'death farm' where Mrs. Belle Gunness buried many of her victims" had been discovered near Warsaw

Then, as now, white America was largely indifferent to even the most shocking crimes, as long as they were restricted to the black community.

Virtually nothing is known about the early life of Andrew Philip Kehoe, the man his neighbors would later dub "the world's worst demon."1 Philip Kehoe had already sired six daughters before Andrew came into the world on February 1, 1872. As the first son, Andrew occupied a special place in the family: the "long sought" male heir who was both "enthroned" by his parents and burdened with the highest expectations of a proud, stern, and demanding father.2

Kehoe was eighteen when his mother, Mary, died from a long, progressive illness, described in contemporary reports as a "disease of the nervous system." Her obituary eulogized her as a "charitable and sympathetic neighbor as well as a generous and cheerful giver

To the villagers of Bath, the new man in town seemed like an unusually clever, capable, and accommodating fellow, always ready to lend a hand and ask nothing in return.

He was especially willing to put his mechanical skills to use for the benefit of his neighbors.

Those on the other side of the debate argued forcefully that consolidated schools—with their advanced curriculums, professionally trained teachers, and classes extending through high school—were the only means of affording farm children the kind of educational opportunities available to their urban counterparts. In the end, after two years of bitter struggle, the proponents of consolidation prevailed in Bath when the township voted to fund a new school.10

The official dedication of the Bath Consolidated School building, attended by about 250 people, took place on Tuesday, November 14. Speeches were made, commemorative poems written specially for the occasion were recited. Following the program, guests "were invited to light refreshments served in the Home Economics room" and given a tour of the building by members of the high school junior class.14

The scene is an early example of a theme that preoccupied Lang throughout his career: the speed at which ordinary, law-abiding citizens can turn into a savage mob.

landlocked Wisconsin

It is time to revive and recover the third article of the Creed; to live corporately and communally in a world of expressive individualism. . . . We need to show how the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies people one by one through the gospel, and then draws them into communion in his holy church.

If there's just one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other? If they're all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other? Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time. It's because he wants to stay inside.

They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions... but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.

I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.

If there's just one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other? If they're all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other? Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time. It's because he wants to stay inside.

Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives. But neighbors give in return. We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad.

All places where women are excluded tend downward to barbarism; but the moment she is introduced, there come in with her courtesy, cleanliness, sobriety, and order.

Ye know, Mas'r George, ye oughtenter feel 'bove nobody, on 'count yer privileges, 'cause all our privileges is gi'n to us; we ought al'ays to 'member that," said Aunt Chloe, looking quite serious.