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

—  Dorothy Day

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

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "When I feed the hungry, they call me a saint. When I ask why people are hungry, they call me a Communist." by Dorothy Day?
Dorothy Day photo
Dorothy Day 55
Social activist 1897–1980

Related quotes

Helder Camara photo

“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 (1909–1999) Brazilian Catholic priest, archbishop of Olinda and Recife

Source: Dom Helder Camara: Essential Writings

Shane Claiborne photo
Alexandre Dumas photo

“I am hungry, feed me; I am bored, amuse me.”

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

“Love is when he is hungry and you feed him. Love is knowing when he is hungry.”

Variant: Love is,” she repeated slowly, looking only at Dasha, “when he is hungry and you feed him. Love is knowing when he is hungry
Source: The Bronze Horseman

“Why do you steal, you rascal? Why don't you look for some honest work?"
"Because, sir, I am hungry. Any work that will permit me to feed myself is honest enough for me.”

Nguyễn Công Hoan (1903–1977)

Dead End (or Impasse, 1938), as quoted in Understanding Vietnam by Neil L. Jamieson (University of California Press, 1995), p. 159

Laura Anne Gilman photo
Mohamed ElBaradei photo

“My friend James Morris heads the World Food Programme, whose task it is to feed the hungry. He recently told me, "If I could have just 1 per cent of the money spent on global armaments, no one in this world would go to bed hungry."”

Mohamed ElBaradei (1942) Egyptian law scholar and diplomat, former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and Nobel …

Nobel lecture (2005)

Heinrich Heine photo

“You cannot feed the hungry on statistics.”

Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) German poet, journalist, essayist, and literary critic

David Lloyd George
Misattributed

Related topics