For me Christ was not to be bought for thirty pieces of silver but with my heart's blood. We buy not cheap in this market.
Dorothy DayRead
As Dostoevski said: 'Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Love expressed through actions can be challenging and difficult, unlike the idealized notion of love in our dreams.
This quote highlights the contrast between the idealized notion of love, which often exists in our dreams or fantasies, and the reality of love as experienced through actions and commitments. Dorothy Day references Dostoevsky to emphasize that true love requires effort, sacrifice, and facing harsh realities, making it a more complex and sometimes daunting experience than simply dreaming of love.
Themes
LoveActionDreamsSacrificeReality
In practice
Example use cases
In a wedding speech, one could use this quote to illustrate the challenges of maintaining a loving relationship.
More from Dorothy Day
All quotes →The mystery of poverty is that by sharing in it, making ourselves poor in giving to others, we increase our knowledge of and belief in love.
Dorothy DayRead
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 DayRead
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 DayRead
The biggest mistake sometimes is to play things very safe in this life and end up being moral failures.
Dorothy DayRead
We're living in an age of genocide. ...And we do believe that there is not only the genocide of war, and the genocide that took place with the extermination of the Jews, but the whole program....of birth control and abortion is another form of genocide.... [T]hey claim the poor are bringing forth tremendous numbers of children and so the solution is to kill them off.
Dorothy DayRead
Similar quotes
Or had she always loved him? It's likely. Restricted as she was from speaking, she wanted him to kiss her. She wanted him to drag her hand across and pull her over. It didn't matter where. Her mouth, her neck, her cheek. Her skin was empty for it, waiting.
Markus ZusakRead
I end not far from my going forth By picking the faded blue Of the last remaining aster flower To carry again to you.
Robert FrostRead
Christmas means 'giving,' and the gift without the giver is bare. Give of yourselves; give of your substance; give of your heart and mind.
Gordon B. HinckleyRead
On the whole, love comes with the speed of light; separation, with that of sound.
Joseph BrodskyRead
I’s been livin’ a long time in yesterday, Sandy chile, an’ I knows there ain’t no room in de world fo’ nothin’ mo’n love. I know, chile! Ever’thing there is but lovin’ leaves a rust on yo’ soul. An’ to love sho ‘nough, you got to have a spot in yo’ heart fo’ ever’body – great an’ small, white an’ black, an’ them what’s good an’ them what’s evil – ‘cause love ain’t got no crowded-out places where de good ones stay an’ de bad ones can’t come in. When it gets that way, then it ain’t love.
Langston HughesRead
I frequently observe that one pretty face would be followed by five and thirty frights.
Jane AustenRead