Tom Vilsack Quotes

We see government's mission as fostering and enabling the important realms - our businesses, service clubs, Little Leagues, churches - to flourish.

We can't talk about community values without being prepared to invest in those very same communities.

People don't talk to each other. You're alone with your television set or internet. But you can't have a functioning democracy without what sociologists call "secondary organizations," places where people can get together, plan, talk and develop ideas. You don't do it alone.

I think when you've travelled around a lot in Africa, you understand something that many people here don't recognize: the extraordinary power that is Africa at village level - at community level.

Democracy, in any active sense, begins and ends in communities small enough for their members to meet face to face.

Community connectedness is not just about warm fuzzy tales of civic triumph. In measurable and well-documented ways, social capital makes an enormous difference in our lives...Social capital makes us smarter, healthier, safer, richer, and better able to govern a just and stable democracy.

Government can't completely take care of people by making a bunch of promises and programs. Organize your communities

We have to deal with where we are. We have to create cooperatives, we have to create intentional communities, we have to work for local cooperation where we are.

When we empower our communities, we are all better off.

Community development has a long history of innovation and learning from experience.

The power to shape Oregon's future remains where it has always been - in our collective hands.

Not stones, nor wood, nor the art of artisans make a state; but where men are who know how to take care of themselves, these are cities and walls.

All community development, and most economic development, happens locally

If we wish to rebuild our cities, we must first rebuild our neighborhoods. And to do that, we must understand that the quality of life is more important than the standard of living.

We must have government that builds stamina into communities and men. That makes men instead of mendicants.

Where civil society is welcomed, communities are more safe, more secure, and more prosperous.

I'm convinced democracy will grow from the ground up, from the community.

Our communities are strong because local leaders and active citizens listen and learn from the people they serve.

I've always said we need to build resilience locally.

We cannot eradicate violence if we do not build strong, inclusive communities.

What really matters from the point of view of social capital and civic engagement is not merely nominal membership, but active and involved membership.

We want to make nation-building a people's movement.

Poverty without a people's government looks like hopelessness, but to see poverty in organized communities is to see relief-in-progress.

I still have great faith in democracy. I have great belief in the power of community.

The capacity of a human community to shape it's future.