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Jean Vanier

Jean Vanier Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous Jean Vanier Quotes

“We who are rich are often demanding and difficult. We shut ourselves up in our apartments and may even use a watchdog to defend our property. Poor people, of course, have nothing to defend and often share the little they have. When people have all the material things they need, they seem not to need each other. They are self-sufficient. There is no interdependence. There is no love.”

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Author:Jean Vanier
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“Many people confuse authority and the power of efficiency, as if the first role of people with responsibility is to take decisions, command effectively and so exercise power. But their role first of all is to be a person to whom others can turn for help and advice, to provide security, to affirm, to support, to encourage and to guide.”

PeopleIfsFirstsPersonsHelpingTurnsDecisionResponsibilityRolesSupportAdviceSecurityExerciseAuthorityGuidesCommandEfficiency
Author:Jean Vanier
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“When we start helping the weak and the poor to rise everyone will begin to change. Those who have power and riches will start to become more humble, and those who are rising up will leave behind their need to be victims, their need to be angry or depressed....This is the spirituality of life, that helps people to rise up and take their place. It is not a spirituality of death. Jesus wants those who have been crushed to rise up and those who have power to discover that there is another road, a road of sharing and compassion.”

PeopleWantNeedsHas BeensHelpingSpiritualityJesusPoorBehindsCompassionWeakVictimAngryHumbleRichesRisingCrushedRising Up
Author:Jean Vanier
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“The people with the best sense of what is essential to a community, of what gives and maintains its spirit, are often doing very humble, manual tasks. It is often the poorest person - the one who has a handica[p, is] ill or old - who is the most prophetic. People who carry responsibility must be close to them and know what they think, because it is often they who are free enough to see with the greatest clarity the needs, beauty and pain of the community.”

PeopleThinkingKnowsNeedsGivingPersonsEnoughPainSpiritCommunityResponsibilityEssentialsTasksIllHumbleClarityPoorestManualsProphetic
Author:Jean Vanier
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“Machines help us do things more quickly and efficiently, but they can also destroy some community activities. Machines can also throw the weakest people out of work and this would be sad, because their small contribution to the housework or cooking is their way of giving something to the community. People who are capable of doing things very quickly with the help of machines become tremendously busy, always active, in charge of everyone - a bit like machines themselves.”

PeopleWayGivingHelpingWould BeBitsCommunityActivityCapableMachinesCookingBusyActiveContributionHousework
Author:Jean Vanier
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“...Individualistic material progress and the desire to gain prestige by coming out on top have taken over from the sense of fellowship, compassion and community. Now people live more or less on their own in a small house, jealously guarding their goods and planning to acquire more, with a notice on the gate that says, 'Beware of the Dog.”

PeopleDesireHouseCommunityCompassionTakenProgressDogMaterialsGainsPlanningAcquireGatesGoodsComing OutFellowshipPrestigeGuardingIndividualisticJealously
Book:Community and Growth
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“It is my belief that in our mad world where there is so much pain, rivalry, hatred, violence, inequality, and oppression, it is people who are weak, rejected, marginalized, counted as useless, who can become a source of life and of salvation for us as individuals as well as for our world. And it is my hope that each one of you may experience the incredible gift of the friendship of people who are poor and weak, that you too, may receive life from them. For they call us to love, to communion, to compassion and to community.”

PeopleWorldWellsMayPainIndividualBeliefCommunityPoorCompassionViolenceSourceWeakHatredMadSalvationIncrediblesOppressionInequalityUselessOur WorldRejectedCommunionRivalryMarginalizedSource Of LifeMad World
Author:Jean Vanier
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