How the Other Half Lives Quotes

“Oh, God! That bread should be so dear, And flesh and blood so cheap!”
― Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives

“In self-defence, you know, all life eventually accommodates itself to its environment, and human life is no exception.”
― Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives: A Norton Critical Edition

“Long ago it was said that "one half of the world does not know how the other half lives." That was true then. It did not know because it did not care. The half that was on top cared little for the struggles, and less for the fate of those who were underneath, so long as it was able to hold them there and keep its own seat. There came a time when the discomfort and consequent upheavals so violent, that it was no longer an easy thing to do, and then the upper half fell to inquiring what was the matter. Information on the subject has been accumulating rapidly since, and the whole world has had its hands full answering for its old ignorance.”
― Jacob A. Riis, How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York

“He may have been a trifle wild.”
― Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives, Special Illustrated Edition

“Like the Chinese, the Italian is a born gambler.”
― Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York

“Out of forty-eight boys twenty had never seen the Brooklyn Bridge that was scarcely five minutes’ walk away, three only had been in Central Park, fifteen had known the joy of a ride in a horse-car. The street, with its ash-barrels and its dirt, the river that runs foul with mud, are their domain.”
― Jacob A. Riis, How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York

“How shall the love of God be understood by those who have been nurtured in sight only of the greed of man?”
― Jacob A. Riis, How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York

“Did not the manager of the Fresh Air Fund write to the pastor of an Italian Church only last year{9} that “no one asked for Italian children,” and hence he could not send any to the country?”
― Jacob A. Riis, How the Other Half Lives