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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.”

PeopleNeedsMayLittlesSelfUseSeemsCoursesDifficultWealthPoorRichShareMaterialsPropertySufficientApartmentPoor PeopleNo LoveInterdependenceMaterial ThingsSelf Sufficient
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 poor are always prophetic. As true prophets always point out, they reveal God's design. That is why we should take time to listen to them. And that means staying near them, because they speak quietly and infrequently; they are afraid to speak out, they lack confidence in themselves because they have been broken and oppressed. But if we listen to them, they will bring us back to the essential.”

IfsShouldMeanHas BeensSpeakPoorDesignBrokenEssentialsProphetStayingTake TimeOppressedSpeaks OutProphetic
Author:Jean Vanier
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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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