Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash
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.
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7 Signs You Are Destined for Greatness
From an early age, I knew I was destined to do– or be– something great.
Little did I know at the time that everyone thinks the same thing. It’s a universal feeling inside of us, a recognition of our potential as human beings to be and do something incredible.
We’ve all been given unique and amazing abilities and talents that can help us realize greatness. However, over time society bludgeons us with discouraging ideas, to the point where we stop believing in ourselves. Well, I’m here to tell you that you have greatness in you.
No matter who you are, if you’re a human being living today you have greatness within you -- you just have to start believing it.
I don’t pretend to be a success expert or a seer of any kind. However, there are certain things that signal someone is destined for greatness, factors I’ve identified over years of studying success principles.
Here are seven signs you’re destined for greatness:
1. You’re resourceful
Do you always seem to figure out a way to make things happen, no matter what you’re faced up against? That’s a sign you’re naturally resourceful, an incredibly useful skill for achieving virtually everything in life.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos considers it one of the most important qualities for success, so if you’ve got this critical skill in common with the world’s wealthiest person, you know you’re destined for greatness.
2. You’re a natural problem-solver
Similar to resourcefulness, if you’re a natural problem-solver, you were practically made to be an entrepreneur. However, beyond that, being a natural problem-solver is a sign you’re destined for greatness no matter what you do.
That’s because problem-solving is critical to virtually everything we do, from overcoming common day-to-day challenges that hinder your productivity to figuring out that next big business idea by identifying problems and thinking of creative solutions in the form of a product or service.
3. Nothing stops you from accomplishing your goals
Are you the kind of person who always finishes what she starts? If you always complete what you set out to do no matter what happens, and never allow yourself to settle or quit on your goals, you possess one of the most valuable qualities a person can have -- and a key to realizing greatness in any endeavor.
4. You’re relentlessly persistent
If you’re the kind of person who gets up every time you get knocked down, and pushes forward through rain or shine, that’s a definite sign you’re destined for greatness.
Persistence is a quality that virtually all wildly successful people display. The level of rejection, failure, and setbacks one inevitably faces has to be weathered in order to achieve greatness. Persistence helps you maintain the energy necessary to get there.
5. You’re not afraid of asking questions
Realizing greatness requires self-development, and self-development requires that you be willing and unafraid to ask questions. It’s as simple as that. If you’re the kind of person who isn’t afraid to raise your hand in a class setting, and you possess the willingness to step outside of your comfort zone, then you very well may be destined for greatness.
6. You never fail
By not failing, I’m referring to not viewing failure as a setback. If you treat failure like a building block, a valuable learning experience that moves you further forward towards your dreams and goals, then you may very well be bound for greatness.
This is easily one of the most important qualities of all, so if this doesn’t naturally describe you, don’t worry, it’s a quality you can develop with time and effort. Just look for the lessons in each so-called “failure” to see what you can take away.
7. You understand that change is in your hands
Many believe that people– and the world at large– can’t be changed, that we’re all somehow stuck blowing in a great big wind called fate and have little to no say about what happens to us. This is not only a damaging belief, it’s fundamentally wrong.
If you understand that change is in your hands, that’s a healthy sign you’re destined for greatness because you understand that you have your hands on the wheel, and naturally look for ways to improve and move forward. You can decide to make a difference not only in your own life, but also in the life of others.