Dorothy Day's Quotes

Food for the body is not enough. There must be food for the soul.

I have long since come to believe that people never mean half of what they say, and that it is best to disregard their talk and judge only their actions.

Knitting is very conducive to thought. It is nice to knit a while, put down the needles, write a while, then take up the sock again.

As for ourselves, yes, we must be meek, bear injustice, malice, rash judgment. We must turn the other cheek, give up our cloak, go a second mile.

Love casts out fear, but we have to get over the fear in order to get close enough to love them.

Women think with their whole bodies and they see things as a whole more than men do.

The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us?

I firmly believe that our salvation depends on the poor.

We have all known the long loneliness, and we have found that the answer is community.

Don't call me a saint. I don't want to be dismissed so easily.

We are the nation the most powerful, the most armed and we are supplying arms and money to the rest of the world where we are not ourselves fighting. We are eating while there is famine in the world.

Certainly we disagree with the Communist Party, as we disagree with other political parties who are trying to maintain the American way of life.

We cannot build up the idea of the apostolate of the laity without the foundation of the liturgy.

Words are as strong and powerful as bombs, as napalm.

Our faith is stronger than death, our philosophy is firmer than flesh, and the spread of the Kingdom of God upon the earth is more sublime and more compelling.

Men are beginning to realize that they are not individuals but persons in society, that man alone is weak and adrift, that he must seek strength in common action.

We believe in loving our brothers regardless of race, color or creed and we believe in showing this love by working for better conditions immediately and the ultimate owning by the workers of their means of production.

The legal battle against segregation is won, but the community battle goes on.

They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time.

Together with the Works of Mercy, feeding, clothing and sheltering our brothers, we must indoctrinate.

First of all, let it be remembered that I speak as an ex-Communist and one who has not testified before Congressional Committees, nor written works on the Communist conspiracy.

I believe that we must reach our brother, never toning down our fundamental oppositions, but meeting him when he asks to be met, with a reason for the faith that is in us, as well as with a loving sympathy for them as brothers.

It is easier to have faith that God will support each House of Hospitality and Farming Commune and supply our needs in the way of food and money to pay bills, than it is to keep a strong, hearty, living faith in each individual around us - to see Christ in him.