In this age of COVID-19, separation and distance from our friends and loved ones is becoming the new normal. As our social connectedness is strained more than ever before, it’s important to be reminded of the importance connection plays in our lives. As we’ve said elsewhere, social connectedness is a social determinant of health. Here are thirty-three of our favorite social connection quotes to inspire you moving forward.

33 Best Social Connection Quotes

1) “Communication is merely an exchange of information, but connection is an exchange of our humanity.” -Sean Stephenson

2) “Think back to the most important experiences of your life, the highest highs, the greatest victories, the most daunting obstacles overcome. How many happened to you alone? I bet there are very few. When you understand that being connected to others is one of life’s greatest joys, you realize that life’s best comes when you initiate and invest in solid relationships.” -John C. Maxwell

3) “I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.” -Brené Brown

4) “Perhaps the secret of living well is not in having all the answers but in pursuing unanswerable questions in good company.” -Rachel Naomi Remen

5) “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” -John Muir

6) “In nature we never see anything isolated, but everything in connection with something else which is before it, beside it, under it and over it.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

7) “All things are connected like the blood that unites us. We do not weave the web of life, we are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.” -Chief Seattle

8) “The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.” -Thomas Merton

9) “Eventually everything connects – people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se.” -Charles Eames

10) “I am a part of all that I have met.” -Lord Tennyson

11) “A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men. Our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.” -Herman Melville

12) “We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others’ actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others’ activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others.” -The Dalai Lama

13) “Relationships are all there is. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else. Nothing exists in isolation. We have to stop pretending we are individuals that can go it alone. ” -Margaret J. Wheatley

14) “Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you.” -Augustine of Hippo

15) “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.” -Martin Luther King Jr.

16) “Friendship is based on the oldest and most intrinsic human awareness that there is more to life than just ourselves.” -Christopher Hansard

17) “True spirituality is to be aware that if we are interdependent with everything and everyone else, even our smallest, least significant thoughts, words and actions has real consequences throughout the universe.” -Sogyal Rinpoche

18) “Never underestimate the empowering effect of human connection. All you need is that one person, who understands you completely, believes in you and makes you feel loved for what you are, to enable you – to unfold the miraculous YOU.” –Drishti Bablani

19) “Humans need to belong. Humans have always needed tribes. Today we find tribes in family or clubs or religion. What happens when we fall out of them? I suppose, in prehistoric times, it was fatal to be cast out of a tribe, to be exiled or excommunicated from the group, away from the people we love and need. Exile from the tribe is a form of execution.” -Richard Paul Evans

20) “Human connection is based on trust, and it is trust that is continually violated when people do not practice setting aside their narrow self-interests in consideration of the needs and interests of others, such as their coworkers, family, neighbors, and community.” -Diane Kalen-Sukra

21) “Like a well-oiled machine, we’ve all been connected since the beginning of time through a beautiful, mystical process of unity.” -Amy Leigh Mercree

22) “Many treat friendships and other human connections as if they are things they can store in a closet where they can come back one day and find them unaltered. Alas, human connections do not survive with this mentality.” -Louis Yako

23) “I remind myself that I’m always more satisfied by human interaction than by a digital connection.” -Maulik Pancholy

24) “Human beings are social creatures. We are social not just in the trivial sense that we like company, and not just in the obvious sense that we each depend on others. We are social in a more elemental way: simply to exist as a normal human being requires interaction with other people.” -Atul Gawande

25) “We can bring positive energy into our daily lives by smiling more, talking to strangers in line, replacing handshakes with hugs, and calling our friends just to tell them we love them.” -Brandon Jenner

26) “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.” -Robert D. Putnam

27) “We expect more from technology and less from each other. We create technology to provide the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship.” -Sherry Turkle

28) “The person who is truly effective has the humility and reverence to recognize his own perceptual limitations and to appreciate the rich resources available through interaction with the hearts and minds of other human beings.” -Stephen Covey

29) “Cherish your human connections: your relationships with friends and family.” -Joseph Brodsky

30) “Healing yourself is connected with healing others.” -Yoko Ono

31) “When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.” -The Dalai Lama

32) “There is no true joy in a life lived closed up in the little shell of the self. When you take one step to reach out to people, when you meet with others and share their thoughts and sufferings, infinite compassion and wisdom well up within your heart. Your life is transformed.” -Daisaku Ikeda

33) “Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being.” -Mahatma Gandhi

Social Connection Quotes: Share Your Favorites Below!

Did we miss one of your favorite social connection quotes? Leave a comment below with your favorites and maybe we’ll add them to the list. Looking for more social connection quotes? Check out more quotes here and here. We hope enjoyed our list of these thirty-three social connection quotes.