25 Dorothy Day Quotes From The Revolutionary Activist

Reading through these Dorothy Day quotes will give you some insight into her thoughts about helping the poor and making the world a better place.

Dorothy May Day, an American journalist, socialist, anarchist, and activist, was born on November 8, 1897, in Brooklyn, New York.

She was raised in a normal middle-class family, which consisted of her and her four siblings.

In 1904, the family moved to Oakland, California, when her father, who was a sportswriter, accepted a position with a San Francisco newspaper.

Dorothy would follow in her father’s footsteps and became a writer, both for newspapers and authoring several books.

How did Dorothy Day change the world, though?

Day’s parents were Christian, but they rarely attended church.

However, she always demonstrated a religious tendency; like reading the Bible frequently and attending church as a child.

She also read a variety of authors that influenced her ideals on social activism.

Among those were Upton Sinclair, Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy.

Keep reading to learn how Dorothy, who was arrested for protesting various social issues, ended up being recommended for sainthood!

Don’t forget to also check out these Louisa May Alcott quotes from the iconic author.

If you enjoy this article, check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily motivation. 

Browse our entire collection of inspirational quotes for more motivating ideas and concepts.

Best Dorothy Day quotes about poverty and helping the poor

1. “Those who cannot see Christ in the poor are atheists indeed.” ― Dorothy Day

2. “If you feed the poor, you’re a saint. If you ask why they’re poor, you’re a Communist.” ― Dorothy Day

You will also enjoy our article on Brooklyn Nine-Nine quotes.

3. “We must talk about poverty because people insulated by their own comfort lose sight of it.” ― Dorothy Day

4. “Think what the world could look like if we took care of the poor even half as well as we do our Bibles!” ― Dorothy Day

5. “As we come to know the seriousness of the situation, the war, the racism, the poverty in our world, we come to realize that things will not be changed simply by words or demonstrations. Rather, it’s a question of living one’s life in a drastically different way.” ― Dorothy Day

6. “The works of mercy are the opposite of the works of war, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, nursing the sick, visiting the prisoner. But we are destroying crops, setting fire to entire villages and to the people in them. We are not performing the works of mercy but the works of war.” ― Dorothy Day

7. “To feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and shelter the harborless without also trying to change the social order so that people can feed, clothe and shelter themselves is just to apply palliatives. It is to show a lack of faith in one’s fellows, their responsibilities as children of God, heirs of heaven.” ― Dorothy Day

8. “I do not know how to love God except by loving the poor. I do not know how to serve God except by serving the poor… Here, within this great city of nine million people, we must, in this neighborhood, on this street, in this parish, regain a sense of community which is the basis for peace in the world.” ― Dorothy Day

9. “Poverty is a strange and elusive thing. I condemn poverty, and I advocate it; poverty is simple and complex at once; it is a social phenomenon and a personal matter. Poverty is an elusive thing and a paradoxical one. We need always to be thinking and writing about it, for if we are not among its victims, its reality fades from us. We must talk about poverty because people insulated by their own comfort lose sight of it.” ― Dorothy Day

Dorothy Day quotes about love

10. “The final word is love.” ― Dorothy Day

11. “The only solution is love.” ― Dorothy Day

12. “Communities are made up of the unlovable as well as the lovable.” ― Dorothy Day

13. “I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least.” ― Dorothy Day

14. “Love and ever more love is the only solution to every problem that comes up.” ― Dorothy Day

15. “If we love each other enough, we will bear with each other’s faults and burdens.” ― Dorothy Day

16. “Love casts out fear, but we have to get over the fear in order to get close enough to love them.” ― Dorothy Day

17. “True obedience is a matter of love, which makes it voluntary, not compelled by fear or force.” ― Dorothy Day

18. “What else do we all want, each one of us, except to love and be loved, in our families, in our work, in all our relationships?” ― Dorothy Day

19. “An act of love, a voluntary taking on oneself of some of the pain of the world, increases the courage and love and hope of all.” ― Dorothy Day

20. “The older I get, the more I meet people, the more convinced I am that we must only work on ourselves to grow in grace. The only thing we can do about people is to love them.” ― Dorothy Day

21. “When you love people, you see all the good in them, all the Christ in them. God sees Christ, His Son, in us and loves us. And so we should see Christ in others, and nothing else, and love them. There can never be enough of it. There can never be enough thinking about.” ― Dorothy Day

22. “True love is delicate and kind, full of gentle perception and understanding, full of beauty and grace, full of joy unutterable. There should be some flavor of this in all our love for others. We are all one. We are one flesh in the Mystical Body, as man and woman are said to be one flesh in marriage. With such a love, one would see all things new; we would begin to see people as they really are, as God sees them.” ― Dorothy Day

Dorothy Day quotes about social justice, government, politics, and change

23. “Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system.” ― Dorothy Day

24. “To me, birth control and abortion are genocide. I say, make room for children, don’t do away with them.” ― Dorothy Day

25. “When it comes to labor and politics, I am inclined to be sympathetic to the left, but when it comes to the Catholic Church, then I am far to the right.” ― Dorothy Day

What did you learn from these Dorothy Day quotes?

Dorothy Day held a wide range of conflicting beliefs about socialism, religion, activism, and anarchy at the same time.

She spent a period of time trying to discover who she was.

This included a career change from journalism to nursing, and focusing on Catholocism.

Her relationship with her baby’s father ended when she got baptized in the Catholic church.

Her journey of self-discovery led to some legal trouble for Dorothy Day, as well.

Her support of women’s suffrage landed her in jail.

She was also imprisoned four times during the 50s for civil disobedience after protesting fighting against nuclear weapons.

She also campaigned during the Black Civil Rights movement and disparaged the Vietnam War.

She was arrested again for picketing for the United Farm Workers in Califonia.

Day eventually came back to her journalistic and activist roots when she started the Catholic Worker newspaper.

Her goal was to spread Catholic social teachings and promote a pacifist position on wars.

Her efforts sparked a movement that led to many charitable houses opening up to assist those in need.

Her life efforts and conversion story led to a recommendation for Day’s canonization by the Catholic Church in 1983.

In March 2000, Pope John Paul II granted the Archdiocese of New York permission to open her cause, giving her the title “Servant of God.”

The process is not complete yet, and some members of the Catholic Worker Movement have objected because the process contradicts Day’s own values and concerns.

After all, she did say, “Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed so easily.”

What did you learn from these Dorothy Day quotes and sayings?

Do you have any other favorite quotes to add?

Let us know in the comment section below.