QuotesCosmos
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.
“

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

— Dorothy Day

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "When I feed the hungry, they call me a saint. When I ask why people are hungry, they call me a Communist." in the context of "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." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Dorothy Day" (Misattributed) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

Tags

#Dorothy Day#hungry#call#communist#saint#feed#ask#why
Dorothy Day

About Dorothy Day

Dorothy Day (8 November 1897 – 29 November 1980) was an American journalist turned social activist. A pacifist, anarchist and a devout member of the Catholic Church, she advocated distributism and was a co-founder, with Peter Maurin, of the Catholic Worker movement. She authored several books and spoke often in public about faith and social justice.