Skip to content

Anzia Yezierska Quotes

d. 1970 Poland

Anzia Yezierska (c. 1880 – 1970) was a novelist born in Pinsk, Congress Poland, Russian Empire who migrated to New York City.

Poland
Authors
Memoirists
Novelists

Also known as: Yezierska, Anzia

Random Anzia Yezierska quote

11 quotes

Give a beggar a dime and he'll bless you. Give him a dollar and he'll curse you for withholding the rest of your fortune. Poverty is a bag with a hole at the bottom.

Red Ribbon on a White Horse (1950)

The trouble with us is that the ghetto of the Middle Ages and the children of the twentieth century have to live under one roof.

Hungry Hearts (1920)

Like all people who have nothing, I lived on dreams. (beginning of "The Miracle")

Hungry Hearts (1920)

This is a story with an unhappy ending. And I too have become Americanized enough to be terrified of unhappy endings. Yet I have to drop all my work to write it.

"The world is a wheel always turning."

Hungry Hearts (1920)

A man is free to go up as high as he can reach up to; but I, with all my style and pep, can't get a man my equal because a girl is always judged by her mother.

Hungry Hearts (1920)

Art should be free, like sunlight and beauty. The only compensation for the artist is the chance to feed hungry hearts. ("Brothers")

Children of Loneliness (1923)

"...When I only begin to read, I forget I'm on this world. It lifts me on wings with high thoughts." ("Wings")

Hungry Hearts (1920)

In an air-shaft so narrow that you could touch the next wall with your bare hands, Hanneh Breineh leaned out and knocked on her neighbor's window. (first lines)

Hungry Hearts (1920)

My heart chokes in me like in a prison! I'm dying for a little love and I got nobody-nobody!" wailed Shenah Pessah, as she looked out of the dismal basement window. (beginning of "Wings")

Hungry Hearts (1920)

Every breath I drew was a breath of fear, every shadow a stifling shock, every footfall struck on my heart like the heavy boot of the Cossack. (beginning of "How I Found America")

Hungry Hearts (1920)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Anzia Yezierska (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.