Zitate von Jean Vanier

„The great thing about people with intellectual disabilities is that they’re not people who discuss philosophy… What they want is fun and laughter, to do things together and fool around, and laughter is at the heart of community.“

—  Jean Vanier

The Gift of Living With the Not Gifted http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-gift-of-living-with-the-not-gifted-1428103079 Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2015
From interviews and talks

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

—  Jean Vanier

From books
Quelle: Jean Vanier, Community And Growth, 1979

„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

Quelle: Becoming Human

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

—  Jean Vanier

„If we are to grow in love, the prisons of our egoism must be unlocked. This implies suffering, constant effort and repeated choices.“

—  Jean Vanier

Quelle: Community And Growth

„To be lonely is to feel unwanted and unloved, and therefor unloveable. Loneliness is a taste of death. No wonder some people who are desperately lonely lose themselves in mental illness or violence to forget the inner pain.“

—  Jean Vanier

From books
Quelle: Jean Vanier, Becoming Human, 2001

„We are not called by God to do extraordinary things, but to do ordinary things with extraordinary love.“

—  Jean Vanier

„Many people are good at talking about what they are doing, but in fact do little. Others do a lot but don't talk about it; they are the ones who make a community live.“

—  Jean Vanier

From books
Quelle: Jean Vanier, Community And Growth, 1979

„Community is a sign that love is possible in a materialistic world where people so often either ignore or fight each other. It is a sign that we don't need a lot of money to be happy--in fact, the opposite.“

—  Jean Vanier

Quelle: Community And Growth

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

—  Jean Vanier

Google this: Jean Vanier and what it means to be human http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-briggs/google-this-jean-vanier-a_b_7484702.html Huffington Post, 02/06/2015
From interviews and talks
Quelle: Community And Growth

„When we love and respect people, revealing to them their value, they can begin to come out from behind the walls that protect them.“

—  Jean Vanier

Quelle: Finding Peace

„Growth begins when we start to accept our own weakness“

—  Jean Vanier

„Jesus is the starving, the parched, the prisoner, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the dying. Jesus is the oppressed, the poor. To live with Jesus is to live with the poor. To live with the poor is to live with Jesus.“

—  Jean Vanier

Quelle: Community And Growth

„Peace is the fruit of love, a love that is also justice. But to grow in love requires work -- hard work. And it can bring pain because it implies loss -- loss of the certitudes, comforts, and hurts that shelter and define us.“

—  Jean Vanier

Quelle: Finding Peace

„A Christian community should do as Jesus did: propose and not impose. Its attraction must lie in the radiance cast by the love of brothers.“

—  Jean Vanier

Quelle: Community And Growth

„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

Quelle: Community And Growth

„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

Quelle: Community And Growth

„People cannot accept their own evil if they do not at the same time feel loved, respected and trusted.“

—  Jean Vanier

Quelle: Community And Growth

„Every human activity can be put at the service of the divine and of love. We should all exercise our gift to build community.“

—  Jean Vanier

Quelle: Community And Growth