Quotes by Robert Putnam

“Americans are right that the bonds of our communities have withered, and we are right to fear that this transformation has very real costs, ... Bowling Alone.”

“She made the adjustment very, very well. I was very leery of how well she was going to adjust, because she lived up there, she didnt know anywhere else to live. Thats a big move, you know.”

“Shes cold all the time. And down here, she loves it. I mean, 95 (degrees) here and thats perfect for her. It is an ideal climate for her.”

“Over the course of the last generation or two, a variety of technological, economic and social changes have rendered obsolete the stuff of American social capital.”

“There are deep parallels between the plight of America at the turn of the last century and the plight of America today.”

“It can be heard even above the roar of a helicopter, which is important if you want to tell people anything. Thats the problem with bullhorns ? over a helicopter, they cant really understand what youre saying.”

“The unstated message [of Bushs tax cuts] was that we were not all in this together, ... and, whatever the economic merits or demerits of the policy, the civic implications of that policy were abominable.”

“This could be a moment that changes the political dialogue of the country,”

Once we know how observant a person is in terms of church attendance, nothing that we can discover about the content of her religious faith adds anything to our understanding or prediction of her good neighborliness...In fact, the statistics suggest that even an atheist who happened to become involved in the social life of the congregation (perhaps through a spouse) is much more likely to volunteer in a soup kitchen than the most fervent believer who prays alone. It is religious belongingness that matters for neighborliness, not religious believing.

Most Americans watch Friends rather than having friends.

Nearly half of all associational memberships are church-religious context. Religious worshipers and people who say religion is very important to them are much more likely than other persons to visit friends, to entertain at home, to attend club meetings, and to belong to sports groups; professional and academic societies; school service groups; youth groups; service clubs; hobby or garden clubs; literary, art, discussion, and study groups; school fraternities and sororities; farm organization; political clubs; nationality groups; and other miscellaneous groups.