It seems that fighting is a game where everybody is the loser.
Zora Neale HurstonRead
There is something about poverty that smells like death.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the deep connections between poverty and despair, suggesting that living in poverty can strip away hope and vitality.
Zora Neale Hurston's quote reflects on the dire and often fatal impact of poverty on the human spirit. It conveys a powerful message about how poverty can bring about not only material deprivation but also a sense of hopelessness and despair, akin to the death of one's aspirations and dreams. By equating poverty with the smell of death, Hurston emphasizes the emotional and psychological burdens that accompany economic hardship, urging society to recognize the grave implications of ignoring poverty's reality.
Themes
PovertyDespairDeathHopelessnessStruggle
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in discussions about social justice and economic inequality.
More from Zora Neale Hurston
All quotes →Lack of power and opportunity passes off too often for virtue.
Zora Neale HurstonRead
From barren brown stems to glistening leaf-buds; from the leaf-buds to snowy virginity of bloom…It was like a flute song forgotten in another existence and remembered again. What? How? Why? This singing she heard that had nothing to do with her ears. The rose of the world was breathing out smell. It followed her through all her waking moments and caressed her in her sleep.
Zora Neale HurstonRead
Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me.
Zora Neale HurstonRead
Don't you realize that the sea is the home of water? All water is off on a journey unless it's in the sea, and it's homesick, and bound to make its way home someday.
Zora Neale HurstonRead
Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves.
Zora Neale HurstonRead
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