„When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.“

— Helder Camara

Source: Dom Helder Camara: Essential Writings

Last update Feb. 20, 2022.

Helder Camara4

Brazilian Catholic priest, archbishop of Olinda and Recife 1909 - 1999

Related quotes

„When I feed the hungry, they call me a saint. When I ask why people are hungry, they call me a Communist.“

— Dorothy Day Social activist 1897 - 1980

Dom Helder Camara, Brazilian archbishop, as quoted in Peace Behind Bars : A Peacemaking Priest's Journal from Jail (1995) by John Dear, p. 65; this is a translation of "Quando dou comida aos pobres chamam-me de santo. Quando pergunto por que eles são pobres chamam-me de comunista."
Variant translations:
When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why are they poor, they call me a Communist.
When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist.
Misattributed

People

„And that’s when things get messy. When people begin moving beyond charity and toward justice and solidarity with the poor and oppressed, as Jesus did, they get in trouble. Once we are actually friends with the folks in struggle, we start to ask why people are poor, which is never as popular as giving to charity. One of my friends has a shirt marked with the words of late Catholic bishop Dom Helder Camara: “When I fed the hungry, they called me a saint. When I asked why people are hungry, they called me a communist.” Charity wins awards and applause but joining the poor gets you killed. People do not get crucified for living out of love that disrupts the social order that calls forth a new world. People are not crucified for helping poor people. People are crucified for joining them.“

— Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution

The Irresistible Revolution (2006)

Love, People, World, Justice

„Mine is no caste or cult, what care I for one or the other…
No one is of any use to me, nor am I of any use to anyone.
Don’t have a son to need, someone’s daughter to wed.
Tulsi is the slave of Rama, whoever may say whatever he likes.
Begged for food, slept in a mosque, have nothing to take and nothing
to give, call me a swindler or a saint, call me a Rajput or a Julaha.“

— Tulsidas Hindu poet-saint 1532 - 1623

A Muslim weaver is called a Julaha which Tusllidas preferred to be called, as he was brought up by a Muslim couple who were weavers who had picked him up and brought him up. Quoted in "A Garden of Deeds: Ramacharitmanas, a Message of Human Ethics", p. 106

Food, Wedding, Daughters

„My poor health was matched, as it often is when one is sick, by my poor mood. A deep melancholy often overtook me, and at times I asked myself whether life was worth the trouble of living.“

— B.K.S. Iyengar Indian yoga teacher and scholar 1918 - 2014

Light on Life: B.K.S. Iyengar's Yoga Insights

Life, Health, Mood, Time

„That's why I call this place the Haunted Bookshop. Haunted by the ghosts of the books I haven't read. Poor uneasy spirits, they walk and walk around me. There's only one way to lay the ghost of a book, and that is to read it.“

— Christopher Morley, book The Haunted Bookshop

Source: The Haunted Bookshop

Books, Way, Reading

„We have the finest food, the finest equipment, the best spirit, and the best men in the world. Why, by God, I actually pity those poor sons-of-bitches we're going up against. By God, I do.“

— George S. Patton United States Army general 1885 - 1945

Speech to the Third Army (1944)

God, Food, Bitch, World

„I am the poet of the poor, because I was poor when I loved; since I could not give gifts, I gave words.“

— Ovid Roman poet -43 - 17 BC

Love

„When I was a little boy, they called me a liar, but now that I am grown up, they call me a writer.“

— Isaac Bashevis Singer Polish-born Jewish-American author 1902 - 1991

TIME (18 July 1983)

Boy

„This homeless guy asked me for money the other day. I was about to give it to him and then I thought he was going to use it on drugs or alcohol. And then I thought, that's what I'm going to use it on. Why am I judging this poor bastard?“

— Greg Giraldo American comedian 1965 - 2010

Just For Laughs

Money, Alcohol, Guy

„You see, cuckoos are parasites. They lay their eggs in other birds' nests. When the egg hatches, the baby cuckoo pushes the other baby birds out of the nest. The poor parent birds work themselves to death trying to find enough food to feed the enormous cuckoo child who has murdered their babies and taken their places."
"Enormous? Did you just call me fat?"
"It was an analogy."
"I am not fat.“

— Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments

Imogen and Jace, pg. 78
The Mortal Instruments, City of Ashes (2008)

Death, Food, Bird, Parent

„Poor, poor pitiful me.
Poor, poor pitiful me.
These young girls won't let me be.
Lord have mercy on me.
Woe is me.“

— Warren Zevon American singer-songwriter 1947 - 2003

"Poor Poor Pitiful Me"
Warren Zevon (1976)

Girl

„Anything having to do with food is pleasurable for me. Any conversation about food, review of food, story of food, picture of food, thought of food…“

— Sarah Jessica Parker American actress 1965

Interview for Allure magazine, February 2008

Pleasure, Food

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

— Dorothy Day Social activist 1897 - 1980

„I write in a hurry, because the little one, who has been sleeping a long time, begins to call for me. Poor thing! when I am sad, I lament that all my affections grow on me, till they become too strong for my peace, though they all afford me snatches of exquisite enjoyment.“

— Mary Wollstonecraft British writer and philosopher 1759 - 1797

Letter to Gilbert Imlay (19 August 1794)

Sadness, Peace, Sleep, Strong

„We were recording a song called "I Don't Ever Want To Be Without You." The same Christian record company radio guy called me and asked me if we could change the song's title and lyrics. when I asked why, he said, "Because there are two negative words in the title-don't and without … I'd like some positive ones; can you call the song, 'I Always Want To Be With You?"'“

— Mark Heard American musician and record producer 1951 - 1992

Life in the Industry: A Musician's Diary

Guy, Change

„One morn I awakened, a new sun was shining,
The sky was a kingdom, all covered in blood.
The moon and the stars, where the troops that lay conquered,
Like food left to wither, poor spirital food.“

— Nick Cave Australian musician 1957

Song lyrics, Tender Prey (1988), New Morning

Food, Star, Sun

„The thing I liked about writing about food when I started it was that I felt I was writing about food in a different way. Not like a food writer.“

— Nigella Lawson British food writer, journalist and broadcaster 1960

As quoted in "Reality bites" by Simon Hattenstone in The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,784535,00.html (2 September 2002)

Food, Way

„Shall I call the others back in?"
He nodded. "Why ask me? It's all of you who are making the decisions.“

— John Flanagan Irish-American hammer thrower 1873 - 1938

Source: Erak's Ransom

Decision

„I think a lot of people see food in terms of whether it's going to make them fat or make them skinny. I'm seeing food in terms of how it's going to make me think and will it give me clarity.“

— David Zabriskie road bicycle racer 1979

"Riding the Tour De Vegetable" https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304314404576414124184873028, interview with The Wall Street Journal (29 June 2011).

People, Food, Thinking

„I cannot rest, I must draw, however poor the result, and when I have a bad time come over me it is a stronger desire than ever.“

— Beatrix Potter English children's writer and illustrator 1866 - 1943

Time, Drawing

„When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.“

Helder Camara4

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