Mary Antin quotes

A little instruction in the elements of chartography-a little practice in the use of the compass and the spirit level, a topographical map of the town common, an excursion with a road map-would have given me a fat round earth in place of my paper ghost. (Mary Antin)
It is painful to be consciously of two worlds. The Wandering Jew in me seeks forgetfulness. I am not afraid to live on and on, if only I do not have to remember too much. A long past vividly remembered is like a heavy garment that clings to your limbs when you would run. View quote
Mary Antin
A proper autobiography is a death-bed confession. A true man finds so much work to do that he has no time to contemplate his yesterdays; for to-day and to-morrow are here, with their impatient tasks. The world is so busy, too, that it cannot afford to study any man's unfinished work; for the end may prove it a failure, and the world needs masterpieces. View quote
Mary Antin
On a royal birthday every house must fly a flag, or the owner would be dragged to a police station and be fined twenty-five rubles. View quote
Mary Antin
The apex of my civic pride and personal contentment was reached on the bright September morning when I entered the public school. View quote
Mary Antin
Outside America I should hardly be believed if I told how simply, in my experience, Dover Street merged into the Back Bay. View quote
Mary Antin
The first meal was an object lesson of much variety. My father produced several kinds of food, ready to eat, without any cooking, from little tin cans that had printing all over them. View quote
Mary Antin
You went up to be examined with the other Jewish children, your heart heavy about that matter of your nose. View quote
Mary Antin
We are not born all at once, but by bits. The body first, and the spirit later; and the birth and growth of the spirit, in those who are attentive to their own inner life, are slow and exceedingly painful. View quote
Mary Antin
The czar always got his dues, no matter if it ruined a family. View quote
Mary Antin
Our mothers are racked with the pains of our physical birth; we ourselves suffer the longer pains of our spiritual growth. (Mary Antin)
His struggle for a bare living left him no time to take advantage of the public evening school. In time he learned to read, to follow a conversation or lecture; but he never learned to write correctly; and his pronunciation remains extremely foreign to this day. View quote
Mary Antin
There was one public school for boys, and one for girls, but Jewish children were admitted in limited numbers - only ten to a hundred; and even the lucky ones had their troubles. View quote
Mary Antin
You heard on all sides that the brightest Jewish children were turned down if the examining officers did not like the turn of their noses. View quote
Mary Antin