A community is so much more than people sharing a space. It's a living, breathing network of connections and shared experiences. While it's usually defined as “a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common,” true community runs much deeper than that.
Diversity
It doesn’t matter how different we are. What matters in building a community is the desire to live in a peaceful and caring environment, despite all our differences.Good Neighbors
Good Neighbors
When searching for a new place to call home, we hope to stumble upon neighbors who can transform a neighborhood into something meaningful. We all need to be surrounded by people who genuinely care for the well-being of others. Only this type of people can create a community that is more than just a bunch of individuals living next to each other.
It Starts with One
Building a strong community starts with individual contributions, no matter how small. As long as you are kind and willing to help others in need, you’ll be a great community member. In exchange, your community will give you a sense of belonging and the feeling that you are never alone.
Here are 35 quotes on what makes communities special — community service, coming together, engagement, involvement, and support
Quotes about community coming together
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
There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.
MARGARET J. WHEATLEY
We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.
HERMAN MELVILLE
There is immense power when a group of people with similar interests gets together to work toward the same goals.
IDOWU KOYENIKAN
Our generation has the ability and the responsibility to make our ever-more connected world a more hopeful, stable and peaceful place.
NATALIE PORTMAN
Quotes about building community
We were born to unite with our fellow men, and to join in community with the human race.
CICERO
Some people think they are in community, but they are only in proximity. True community requires commitment and openness. It is a willingness to extend yourself to encounter and know the other.
DAVID SPANGLER
What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.
KURT VONNEGUT
We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.
DOROTHY DAY
The minute we become an integrated whole, we look through the same eyes and we see a whole different world together.
AZIZAH AL-HIBRI
This world of ours… must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
Every person is defined by the communities she belongs to.
ORSON SCOTT CARD
Quotes about community service, engagement, and involvement
Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.
MUHAMMAD ALI
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
MAHATMA GANDHI
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
Teaching kids how to feed themselves and how to live in a community responsibly is the center of an education.
ALICE WATERS
Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless.
SHERRY ANDERSON
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
LEO BUSCAGLIA
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
ANNE FRANK
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.
DR. SEUSS
The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.
OSCAR WILDE
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
MAYA ANGELOU
Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.
JOHN F. KENNEDY
Quotes about community support
In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON
The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.
CORETTA SCOTT KING
The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers & cities; but to know someone who thinks & feels with us, & who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
Diversity is about all of us, and about us having to figure out how to walk through this world together.
JACQUELINE WOODSON
One of the most important things you can do on this earth is to let people know they are not alone.
SHANNON L. ALDER
No man can become rich without himself enriching others.
ANDREW CARNEGIE
Quotes about community health
The power of community to create health is far greater than any physician, clinic or hospital.
MARK HYMAN
For a community to be whole and healthy, it must be based on people’s love and concern for each other.
MILLARD FULLER
Communities and countries and ultimately the world are only as strong as the health of their women.
MICHELLE OBAMA
When elected officials abandon our environment and ruin our natural resources, public health is endangered. I know the importance of providing a clean environment for our children.
GWEN MOORE
And I believe that the best buy in public health today must be a combination of regular physical exercise and a healthy diet.
JULIE BISHOP
These quotes remind us of the joy of being part of something bigger than ourselves.
Let Your Dreams Propel You Through Valleys and Over Mountains
Each one of us has a light within that radiantly burns; it never goes out. Life's challenges and inconsistencies may weigh you down, but let your dreams catapult you beyond all mental, physical, and psychological limitations -- be merciless in your pursuit of self-actualization. Use untapped potential within to fire up your internal engines; shift all gears to go, blast through all impediments. Ignore the negative environmental noise, which threatens to consume. Focus. Determine to turn all obstacles into rafts and propel yourself across life's turbulent waters. Never stop. Never give in. Never give up.
Let Your Dreams Propel You Through Valleys and Over Mountains
Aspire
Push forth with your dreams and goals no matter the setbacks. Be grateful to those who stick with you no matter what. Always find the time to say thank you to those who helped. Send them positive vibes even if they are no longer in your life. Aspire to do better at every juncture of your journey.
As a young black girl growing up in my Caribbean island home, I longed to cross the waters surrounding jagged, limestone shores. There were hardly any signs telling me I could rise above the struggle and violence of a broken home. Nevertheless, I dreamed to one day do better; I dreamed to one day go further -- I dreamed to soar.
When I mentioned my dreams to those around me, many smiled dismissive smiles. However, my mom encouraged and believed in me from her own broken place. She often said, "If anyone can do it, you can!" When inherited brokenness cost me friendships, jobs, lovers and my education, she encouraged me to keep going. She believed my dreams would take me through valleys and over mountains.
Visualize
Never lose sight of your goals and aspirations. There will be days when obstacles rise up, but have no fear -- obstacles are an important part of the process. They help you to grow, so embrace them when they appear. To me, obstacles are the universe's way of saying you are on the right track. Visualize how you want your end goal to look like as you keep surging forward.
Over the years, I figuratively crossed numerous faraway mountains and traversed countless overgrown valleys. Every step has been painstakingly minuscule, but I persisted. Over and over I shared my dream to be a published writer and artist to all who would listen. An immigrant and high school dropout with no inheritance as a buffer, I carved doors with my worn-out hands; I walked unpaved roads with my bare feet. Along the way, my determination created opportunities to meet kind-hearted people who saw my passion and helped propel me forward, eventually leading me to Mount Holyoke as a Francis Perkins Scholar.
Yes, I made many mistakes in my youth, most self-inflicted -- we sometimes do in our pursuit of betterment. However, when lessons needed learning, I evolved and kept moving at the same time.
Accept
Cultivate acceptance early. There are some situations and people you have to accept because there are no other options. Instead of fighting to hold on to the things you cannot change, accept, let go and keep flowing.
As time shuttled by I embraced humility -- I accepted those unfixable situations; I let go of unsupportive family; I gave up shallow friendships. In time, I realized, in order to give myself to others, I first had to heal my internal wounds. By accepting and taking responsibility for my shortcomings, doors opened that were previously closed. When the death of a close family member forced me to face life's unknowns and uncertainties, my faith was strengthened; when personal illness threatened my mortality, my faith was deepened. I have travelled far and wide in search of my truth -- not knowing, until now, that it was always here.
Finally, my dreams brought me back home to the place where I started. Today, even in the midst of an ongoing struggle, calm and peace still pervades no matter the crisis of the day.
Rise above
Know that all situations in your life have one thing in common: you. Take responsibility and keep making room for positive growth.
Although I had dreams that took me through difficult and dangerous mountains and valleys, I had the power and determination within me to keep going. This process is still ongoing today and will continue until I leave this earth. I am constantly reconfiguring and adjusting my dreams, even though, at the core, the goal is the same.
Nowadays, flexibility is my best friend, and I am persistent in finding ways to adapt to whatever comes my way. I found that incorporating daily self-reflection is essential to keeping my dreams alive and to manifesting my goals. Another lesson learned was the importance of embracing constructive criticism and not taking everything personally. In order to keep rising up, you must be mature enough to cast off internal slights and resentments, which tend to hold you back.
As time passes by, I continue to see the correlations between my inner and outer world. It is fascinating to see the connections; to finally understand that I am in control of my reality.
Hold fast to your dreams
In the end, the path of the pebble you threw, in the pond of your life, will ripple far and wide. Since yours is the hand that tossed it, all actions caused by that ripple will accrue to you. Do what’s necessary to uncover your truth and discover your path, but know all roads lead back to you. No matter your circumstance or situation, let your dreams take you through valleys and across mountains, but know the grass is always greener where you stand.