It is difficult to make people understand that the ideal doesn't exist, that personal equilibrium and the harmony they dream of come only after years and years of struggle, and that even then they come only as flashes of grace… — Jean Vanier Copy Share Image
When we start helping the weak and the poor to rise everyone will begin to change. Those who have power and riches will start… — Jean Vanier Copy Share
...Individualistic material progress and the desire to gain prestige by coming out on top have taken over from the sense of fellowship, compassion and… — Jean Vanier Copy Share
To invite others to live with us is a sign that we aren't afraid, that we have a treasure of truth and of peace… — Jean Vanier Copy Share
People are longing to rediscover true community. We have had enough of loneliness, independence and competition. — Jean Vanier Copy Share
The person in misery does not need a look that judges and criticizes but a comforting presence that brings peace and hope and life… — Jean Vanier Copy Share
All of us have a secret desire to be seen as saints, heroes, martyrs. We are afraid to be children, to be ourselves. — Jean Vanier Copy Share
To be free is to put justice, truth and service to others over and above our personal gain or our need for recognition, power,… — Jean Vanier Copy Share
If we love (the poor) people, we want to identify with them and share with them. — Jean Vanier Copy Share
“Sympathies and antipathies . . . Human friendships can very quickly become a club of mediocrities, enclosed in mutual flattery and approval, preventing people… — Jean Vanier Copy Share
A community is only a community when the majority of its members are making the transition from 'the community for myself' to 'myself for… — Jean Vanier Copy Share
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… — Jean Vanier Copy Share
But let us not put our sights too high. We do not have to be saviours of the world! We are simply human beings,… — Jean Vanier Copy Share
Each human being, however small or weak, has something to bring to humanity. As we start to really get to know others, as we… — Jean Vanier Copy Share
“Have patience . . . We are not the masters of our own feelings of attraction or revulsion; these come from places in ourselves… — Jean Vanier Copy Share
The people with the best sense of what is essential to a community, of what gives and maintains its spirit, are often doing very… — Jean Vanier Copy Share
