25 result(s) for Italian Immigrant Quotes On Bad Conditions In Italy.
"I came to America because I heard the streets were paved with gold. When I got here, I found out three things: First, the streets weren't paved with gold; second, they weren't paved at all; and third, I was expected to pave them."
"In Italy, there was nothing but the landlord, the priest, and the tax collector."
"America was the land of opportunity, Italy was the land of hunger"
"I remember my father saying, 'Even if we only eat bread and water like birds, at least there is work in America'"
"The old country has beautiful churches, but no jobs"
"In Italy, we were always working for someone else. Here, we had a chance to own something."
"I left Italy because I was exhausted after working so hard, with no real results."
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"Better cold potatoes here than polenta with nothing there."
"I left because I couldn't secure work in Italy. The cost of living was high."
"If you succeed here [America] you can afford to be a 'galantuomo,' an honorable man."
"In Italy we were poor, but we were together."
"Here in America, you can be whatever you want to be, which was unheard of in Italy"
"Things were so hard, we were practically eating dirt."
"I thought hard of leaving. To go, did not tempt so greatly; but to stay, was almost certain death"
"Even the dogs in America eat better than the people I once knew in Italy."
"My father always told us we came to a land free of barons."
"Though it was hard, it was nothing compared to the hardship back home. We didn't have any say there."
"The padrone system back home made it impossible to move up."
"They promised us work in America and a life for our children."
"America offered hope; Italy had taken ours'"
"The contadini had no hope in their homeland."
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"From a land of beggars, one becomes what they could only dream of."
"There, you were bound to the earth. Here, the sky's the limit"
"It was the only way to make a better life for the bambini."
"Why stay where there is nothing there. Here, opportunity awaits."
