41 Quotes by Mary Antin

Our mothers are racked with the pains of our physical birth; we ourselves suffer the longer pains of our spiritual growth.

The czar always got his dues, no matter if it ruined a family.

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.

As we moved along in a little procession, I was delighted with the illumination of the streets. So many lamps, and they burned until morning, my father said, and so people did not need to carry lanterns.

If education, culture, the higher life were shining things to be worshiped from afar, he had still a means left whereby he could draw one step nearer to them.

The czar was always sending us commands - you shall not do this and you shall not do that - till there was very little left that we might do, except pay tribute and die.

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.

First, you had to have a tutor at home, who prepared you and talked all the time about the examination you would have to pass, till you were scared.

There was one thing, however, the Gentiles always understood, and that was money. They would take any kind of bribe, at any time. They expected it.