No principle is worth the sacrifice of a single human being.
Daniel BerriganRead
Sometime in your life, hope that you might see one starved man, the look on his face when the bread finally arrives. Hope that you might have baked it or bought or even kneaded it yourself. For that look on his face, for your meeting his eyes across a piece of bread, you might be willing to lose a lot, or suffer a lot, or die a little, even.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the profound impact that showing kindness and providing for others can have on our lives.
Daniel Berrigan's quote reflects the deep emotional connection and fulfillment one can experience from helping those in need. It highlights the importance of compassion and the lengths one is willing to go to in order to bring hope and sustain life for others. The imagery of sharing bread symbolizes not only physical sustenance but also human connection, suggesting that the simple act of kindness can be transformative both for the giver and the receiver.
Themes
CompassionKindnessSufferingHopeBreadHuman ConnectionAltruism
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about community service.
More from Daniel Berrigan
All quotes →Instead of building the peace by attacking injustices like starvation, disease, illiteracy, political and economic servitude, we spend a trillion dollars on war since 1946, until hatred and conflict have become the international preoccupation.
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Of course, let us have peace, we cry, "but at the same time let us have normalcy, let us lose nothing, let our lives stand intact, let us know neither prison nor ill repute nor disruption of ties ... " There is no peace because there are no peacemakers. There are no makers of peace because the making of peace is at least as costly as the making of war - at least as exigent, at least as disruptive, at least as liable to bring disgrace and prison, and death in its wake.
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The death of a single human being is too heavy a price for the vindication of any principle, however sacred.
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The God of life summons us to life; more, to be lifegivers, especially toward those who lie under the heel of the powers.
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For my part, I believe that the vain, glorious and the violent will not inherit the earth. . . . In pursuance of that faith my friends and I take the hands of the dying in our hands. And some of us travel to the Pentagon, and others live in the Bowery and serve there, and others speak unpopularly and plainly of the fate of the unborn and of convicted criminals. It is all one.
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Similar quotes
In doing your best serving others for free, a lot of eyebrows will raise and sneers will curve many a - faces. But in the end those incredulous to what you put up with to help, no longer matter. It's not between you and those snobs, but with whom you have given your hand to lift, and of course to God who Is watching and noting it in your book.
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I palliate the sufferings of others. yes I see myself as softening the blows, dissolving acids, neutralizing poisons, every moment of the day. I try to fulfill the wishes of others, to perform miracles. I exert myself performing miracles.
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If we can cultivate a concern for others, keeping in mind the oneness of humanity, we can build a more compassionate world.
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Aside from doing everything possible to provide programs for people who are seriously ill, I want to do everything humanly possible to help create a more caring society so that we can begin to counter the painful loneliness and sense of helplessness which has engulfed too many of our people.
Rosalynn CarterRead