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Jacob A. Riis Quotes: Sources, Meanings & Themes

Browse quotations by Jacob A. Riis with named works, context notes, meanings and recurring themes.

About the author

Context for this collection

1849–1914 · Danish-American journalist, photographer and social reformer

Common themes

Urban poverty, children, immigration, housing, civic responsibility, reform journalism, hope and autobiography.

Sources

All 3 works represented in this collection

How the Other Half Lives1890 · 1 quotation
The Children of the Poor1892 · 1 quotation
The Making of an American1901 · 1 quotation
Leading recurring themes
Courage 1Hope 1Inspirational 1Life 1Positive 1Short 2Deep 1Education 1Personal Growth 1Community 2Compassion 2Experience 2
Source identified1
The belief that every man’s experience ought to be worth something to the community from which he drew it, no matter what that experience may be, so long as it was gleaned along the line of some decent, honest work, made me begin this book.
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“The belief that every man’s experience ought to be worth something to the community from which he drew it, no matter what that experience may be, so long as it was gleaned along the line of some decent, honest work, made me begin this book.”

How the Other Half Lives · 1890
Meaning & context

Riis explains his decision to turn firsthand reporting experience into a public account because he believes knowledge gained through honest work should be returned to the community.

Source details

How the Other Half Lives, Preface, Project Gutenberg #45502. Riis explains that his belief that honest firsthand experience should be worth something to the community led him to write the book. The sentence belongs to his Progressive-era reform and investigative-journalism project about New York tenement conditions, not a universal rule about public service.

Source identified2
The problem of the children is the problem of the State.
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“The problem of the children is the problem of the State.”

The Children of the Poor · 1892
Voice: Authorial / signed preface voice · Jacob A. Riis
Meaning & context

Riis frames the treatment and prospects of children as a public responsibility rather than merely a private household concern.

Source details

The Children of the Poor, opening chapter, represented by Project Gutenberg #32609. The sentence is Riis’s Progressive-era social-reform argument; surrounding observations and statistics belong to their historical setting and are not presented as current policy data.

Source identified3
my hopes rose high that somewhere in this teeming hive there would be a place for me.
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“my hopes rose high that somewhere in this teeming hive there would be a place for me.”

The Making of an American · 1901
Voice: Authorial / signed preface voice · Jacob A. Riis (autobiographical narrator)
Meaning & context

Looking back on arrival in New York, Riis remembers hope that even an overwhelming city might contain a place where he could begin a life.

Source details

The Making of an American, represented by Project Gutenberg #6125. This clause is retained from Riis’s first-person immigrant autobiography as he recalls arriving in New York; it is personal retrospective narrative rather than a general claim about immigration outcomes.