Jean Vanier Quotes

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Each human being, however small or weak, has something to bring to humanity. As we start to really get to know others, as we begin to listen to each other's stories, things begin to change. We begin the movement from exclusion to inclusion, from fear to trust, from closedness to openness, from judgment and prejudice to forgiveness and understanding. It is a movement of the heart.

Jean Vanier

Heart, Understanding, Humanity

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To love someone is to show to them their beauty, their worth and their importance.

Jean Vanier

Love, Importance, Shows

Jean Vanier (2001). “Seeing Beyond Depression”, p.19, Paulist Press

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Community is not an ideal; it is people. It is you and I. In community we are called to love people just as they are with their wounds and their gifts, not as we want them to be.

Jean Vanier

People, Community, Want

Jean Vanier (1992). “From Brokenness to Community”, p.35, Paulist Press

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In the end, the most important thing is not to do things for people who are poor and in distress, but to enter into relationship with them, to be with them and help them find confidence in themselves and discover their own gifts.

Jean Vanier

People, Important, Helping

Jean Vanier, Ann Shearer (1989). “Community and Growth”, p.142, Paulist Press

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Love doesn't mean doing extraordinary or heroic things. It means knowing how to do ordinary things with tenderness.

Jean Vanier

Love, Mean, Knowing

Jean Vanier (2010). “Living Gently in a Violent World (Large Print 16pt)”, p.55, ReadHowYouWant.com

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Each person is sacred, no matter what his or her culture, religion, handicap, or fragility. Each person is created in God’s image; each one has a heart, a capacity to love and to be loved.

Jean Vanier

Heart, Culture Religion, Capacity To Love

Jean Vanier (2013). “The Heart of L'Arche: A spirituality for every day”, p.33, SPCK

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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.

Jean Vanier

Pain, Compassion, Our World

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One of the marvelous things about community is that it enables us to welcome and help people in a way we couldn't as individuals.

Jean Vanier

People, Community, Way

"The Healing of Community" by Jean-Paul Bedard, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 3, 2014.

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To love someone is not first of all to do things for them,but to reveal to them their beauty and value, to say to them through our attitude: 'You are beautiful. You are important. I trust you. You can trust yourself.'

Jean Vanier

Beautiful, Attitude, Important

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I am struck by how sharing our weakness and difficulties is more nourishing to others than sharing our qualities and successes.

Jean Vanier

Quality, Weakness, Difficulty

Jean Vanier, Ann Shearer (1989). “Community and Growth”, p.185, Paulist Press

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Every child, every person needs to know that they are a source of joy; every child, every person, needs to be celebrated. Only when all of our weaknesses are accepted as part of our humanity can our negative, broken self-images be transformed.

Jean Vanier

Children, Self, Broken

Jean Vanier (2008). “Becoming Human”, p.26, Paulist Press

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Life is a succession of crises and moments when we have to rediscover who we are and what we really want.

Jean Vanier

Identity, Want, Who We Are

Jean Vanier (2001). “Seeing Beyond Depression”, p.35, Paulist Press

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Growth begins when we start to accept our own weakness

Jean Vanier

Love Yourself, Learning, Acceptance

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A society which discards those who are weak and non-productive risks exaggerating the development of reason, organisation, aggression and the desire to dominate. It becomes a society without a heart, without kindness - a rational and sad society, lacking celebration, divided within itself and given to competition, rivalry and, finally, violence.

Jean Vanier

Kindness, Heart, Competition

Jean Vanier (2008). “Man and Woman, God Made Them”, p.189, Paulist Press

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I do not believe we can truly enter into our own inner pain and wounds and open our hearts to others unless we have had an experience of God, unless we have been touched by God. We must be touched by the Father in order to experience, as the prodigal son did, that no matter how wounded we may be, we are loved. And not only are we loved, but we too are called to heal and to liberate. This healing power in us will not come from our capacities and our riches, but in and through our poverty. We are called to discover that God can bring peace, compassion and love through our wounds.

Jean Vanier

Pain, Father, Believe

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Wisdom is something that comes, little by little, through a lot of listening.

Jean Vanier

Listening, Littles

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One of the marvelous things about community is that it enables us to welcome and help people in a way we couldn't as individuals. When we pool our strength and share the work and responsibility, we can welcome many people, even those in deep distress, and perhaps help them find self-confidence and inner healing.

Jean Vanier

Healing, Responsibility, Self Confidence

"The Healing of Community" by Jean-Paul Bedard, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 3, 2014.

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Those we most often exclude from the normal life of society, people with disabilities, have profound lessons to teach us

Jean Vanier

People, Profound, Lessons

Jean Vanier (2008). “Becoming Human”, p.45, Paulist Press

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When we begin to believe that there is greater joy in working with and for others, rather than just for ourselves, then our society will truly become a place of celebration.

Jean Vanier

Believe, Joy, Our Society

Jean Vanier (2008). “Becoming Human”, p.67, Paulist Press

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When we judge, we are pushing people away; we are creating a wall, a barrier. When we forgive we are destroying barriers, we come closer to others.

Jean Vanier

Forgiveness, Wall, Creating

Jean Vanier, Ann Shearer (1989). “Community and Growth”, p.36, Paulist Press

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Love is to recognize that the other person is a person, is precious, is important and has value.

Jean Vanier

Love Is, Important, Persons

"Google This: Jean Vanier and What It Means to Be Human" by David Briggs, www.huffingtonpost.com. June 02, 2015.

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'Going home' is a journey to the heart of who we are, a place where we can be ourselves and welcome the reality of our beauty and our pain. From this acceptance of ourselves, we can accept others as they are and we can see our common humanity.

Jean Vanier

Pain, Home, Heart

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The person in misery does not need a look that judges and criticizes but a comforting presence that brings peace and hope and life and says: 'you are a human person: important, mysterious, infinitely precious, what you have to say is important because it flows from a humn person; in you there are those seeds of the infinite, those germs of love... of beauty which must rise from the earth of your misery so humanity be fulfilled. If you do not rise then something will be missing... Rise again because we all need you... be loved beloved.'

Jean Vanier

Judging, Missing, Comforting

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A community is only a community when the majority of its members are making the transition from 'the community for myself' to 'myself for the community'.

Jean Vanier

Community, Majority, Transition

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It is only when we stand up, with all our failings and sufferings, and try to support others rather than withdraw into ourselves, that we can fully live the life of community.

Jean Vanier

Live Life, Support, Community

Jean Vanier, Ann Shearer (1989). “Community and Growth”, p.330, Paulist Press

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Born: September 10, 1928
Occupation: Philosopher
Cite this Page: Citation

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