Quotes By Dorothy Day

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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?

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

We must recognize the fact that many Nazis, Marxists and Fascists believe passionately in their fundamental rightness, and allow nothing to hinder them from their goal in the pursuit of their mission.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

When we have spiritual reading at meals, when we have the rosary at night, when we have study groups, forums, when we go out to distribute literature at meetings, or sell it on the street corners, Christ is there with us.

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.