Maurin Quotes & Sayings

We were just sitting there talking when Peter Maurin came in.
We were just sitting there talking when lines of people began to form saying, "We need bread." ... If there were six small loaves and a few fishes, we had to divide them. There was always bread.
We were just sitting there talking and people moved in on us. Let those who can take it, take it. Some moved out and that made room for more. And somehow the walls were expanded.
We were just sitting there talking and someone said, "Let's all go live on a farm."
It was as casual as all that, I often think. It just came about. It just happened. — Dorothy Day

Then, of course, I played alto and tenor, wherever there were jobs. — Gerry Mulligan

We'll worry about cock holding later. — Lilly Black

It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary. — David Bailey

The world would become better off
If people tried to become better.
And people would become better
If they stopped trying to become better off. — Peter Maurin

Isaiah is by far the finest and least objectionable of the seventeen prophets whose supposed productions form the latter part of the Old Testament. A distinctly higher moral tone appears in the writings called by his name, and this is especially noticeable in the 'Second Isaiah,' who wrote after the Babylonish captivity. — Annie Besant

Let a man turn to his own childhood - no further - if he will renew his sense of remoteness, and of the mystery of change. — Alice Meynell

I think there is a great deal of interest still in the Christian faith. — Rowan Williams

In the first centuries of Christianity the hungry were fed at a personal sacrifice, the naked were clothed at a personal sacrifice, the homeless were sheltered at a personal sacrifice ... And the pagans used to say about the Christians, "See how they love each other." In our own day the poor are no longer fed, clothed, and sheltered at a personal sacrifice, but at the expense of the taxpayers. And because of this the pagans say about the Christians, "See how they pass the buck." — Peter Maurin

The world would be better off if people tried to become better, And people would become better if they stopped trying to be better off. For when everyone tries to become better off nobody is better off. But when everyone tries to become better everyone is better off. Everybody would be rich if nobody tried to become richer. And nobody would be poor if everybody tried to be the poorest And everybody would be what he ought to be if everybody tried to be what he wants the other fellow to be. — Peter Maurin

I want a change, and a radical change. I want a change from an acquisitive society to a functional society, from a society of go-getters to a society of go-givers. — Peter Maurin

If we don't stop behaving like the British Empire, we will end up like the British Empire. — Pat Buchanan

The future will be different if we make the present different. — Peter Maurin

If we are crazy, then it is because we refuse to be crazy in the same way that the world has gone crazy. — Peter Maurin

In the Catholic Worker we must try to have the voluntary poverty of St. Francis, the charity of St. Vincent de Paul, the intellectual approach of St. Dominic, the easy conversations about things that matter of St. Philip Neri, the manual labor of St. Benedict. — Peter Maurin

Envious, cold, and lonely. The perfect ingredients for a nice homemade bitter pie. — Cecelia Ahern

I think of the Catholic worker movement and Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin and others. — Shane Claiborne

It is impossible to have a healthy and sound society without a proper respect for the soil. — Peter Maurin

Don't give up! You're too talented. You're too good! — Tim Gunn

People in north Michigan are not different at all from people in southern Alabama. Trust me, someone who's spent a lot of time in both places. They're all hardworking, simple people. — Kid Rock

Modern society calls the beggar bum and panhandler and gives him the bum's rush. But the Greeks used to say that people in need are the ambassadors of the gods — Peter Maurin

I think the more rational explanation is that the excision of a five-to-six-foot leech from the surface of a human body means that that body is going to have more of its own blood in its own veins. Unless the leech finds another body, it is going to go hungry. — Dave Sim

Peter Maurin always says that it is the duty of the journalist to make history as well as record it. - Dorothy Day — Patrick Jordan

Nowhere in the world can you find a wider variety of empty calories than at any American convenience store. — Bradley Denton

The scholars must become workers so the workers may be scholars. — Peter Maurin

If you prioritized well, you will spent good times — Ronnie Cornelisz

Don't miss your life. — Valerie Harper

What we give to the poor for Christ's sake, is what we carry with us when we die. — Peter Maurin

The coat that hangs in your closet belongs to the poor. — Peter Maurin

I have no middle wardrobe. I go from the suit to jeans. — Donald Trump Jr.