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Quote by Ann Petry

“This world was one of great contrasts, she thought, and if the richest part of it was to be fenced off so that people like herself could only look at it with no expectation of ever being able to get inside it, then it would be better to have been born blind so you couldn't see it, born deaf so you couldn't hear it, born with no sense of touch so you couldn't feel it. Better still, born with no brain so that you would be completely unaware of anything, so that you would never know there were places that were filled with sunlight and good food and where children were safe.”

Quote by Ann Petry

Work

The Street

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Author

Ann Petry
Ann Petry

Ann Petry was an American author born on October 12, 1908, and passed away on April 28, 1997. Her works primarily focused on racial and social issues, with notable titles including 'The Street'. more

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“Her fingers curled into a fist and she shouldered the door open. Its rusted hinges objected, creaking, and a dusty, half-rotten scent swarmed her nose. Her cheeks heated. For Cassin to be here, to see this- 'Just a brute, remember,' he stepped to her side. 'I've lived in far worse. At least you had walls and a roof.' Nesta hadn't realised how much she needed to hear those words, and her shoulders loosened as she stepped into the cottage proper. In the chill dimness, broken only by rays of sunlight, she frowned at the ceiling. 'This house used to have a roof.”

“Her fingers curled into a fist and she shouldered the door open. Its rusted hinges objected, creaking, and a dusty, half-rotten scent swarmed her nose. Her cheeks heated. For Cassian to be here, to see this- 'Just a brute, remember,' he stepped to her side. 'I've lived in far worse. At least you had walls and a roof.' Nesta hadn't realised how much she needed to hear those words, and her shoulders loosened as she stepped into the cottage proper. In the chill dimness, broken only by rays of sunlight, she frowned at the ceiling. 'This house used to have a roof.”

“It was a queer, rather disgusting scene. Below were the handful of simple, well-meaning people, trying hard to worship; and above were the hundred men whom they had fed, deliberately making worship impossible. A ring of dirty, hairy faces grinned down from the gallery, openly jeering. What could a few women and old men do against a hundred hostile tramps? They were afraid of us, and we were frankly bullying them. It was our revenge upon them for having humiliated us by feeding us. ... A man receiving charity practically always hates his benefactor—it is a fixed characteristic of human nature; and, when he has fifty or a hundred others to back him, he will show it.”

“We could be Immortal If we just let go of hate If we just let go of chaos If we just let go of war If we just let go of guns We could be Immortal If we just embraced love Put human beings & nature first But instead we choose To be the worst examples Of our primitive selves Lacking in all of our best virtues Lacking in any new ideas or values Without these realizations We go one step forward & Always two steps back Never succeeding Never growing Dead”

“Do you ever feel how unfair life can get for someone? Do you ever feel how someone feels when they are born into a poor family? When someone finds out that they have to work in a job like being a waiter/ waitress in a hotel at the age of 20 years or a office boy or office girl in an organisation? They did not have the education that you were privileged to have because you were born to parents who were smarter than the common man or woman of that time. What kind of a world are we giving to everyone? Why is this world so unfair to most people?”

“We are not the only intelligence in the conversation. We are simply the ones who keep forgetting to listen. The world has been speaking since before we arrived, and it will continue long after. The only question is how many of its sentences we will be present enough to receive.”