“Community service has become a patch for morality. You can devote your life to community service and be a total schmuck.”

“A growing community must integrate three elements: a life of silent prayer, a life of service and above all of listening to the poor, and a community life through which all its members can grow in their own gift.”

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

“The aim of poetry and the poet is finally to be of service, to ply the effort of the individual into the larger work of the community as a whole.”

“Not everyone's purpose is to build an empire or change the world. Your purpose can be raising a great family or being of service to the community. The size of the purpose doesn’t matter, but the size of the heart behind each purpose.”

“Many teachers, especially those in more affluent communities, believe they are treated no better than a customer-service representative at a store.”