--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is something about poverty that…" description: "\"There is something about poverty that smells like death. Dead dreams dropping off the heart like leaves in a dry season and rotting around the feet; im..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b00/zora-neale-hurston-923_air_there-is-something-about-poverty-that-sm_1770565.png" --- # There is something about poverty that smells like death… ![“There is something about poverty that smells like death. Dead dreams dropping off the heart like leaves in a dry season and rotting around the feet; impulses smothered too long in the fetid air of underground caves. The soul lives in sickly air. People can be slaveships in shoes.” quote by Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b00/zora-neale-hurston-923_air_there-is-something-about-poverty-that-sm_1770565.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b00/zora-neale-hurston-923_air_there-is-something-about-poverty-that-sm_1770565.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b00/zora-neale-hurston-923_air_there-is-something-about-poverty-that-sm_1770565.png) > “There is something about poverty that smells like death. Dead dreams dropping off the heart like leaves in a dry season and rotting around the feet; impulses smothered too long in the fetid air of underground caves. The soul lives in sickly air. People can be slaveships in shoes.” [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poverty suffocates hope, turning lives into bleak, stagnant environments that erode dreams. **In simple terms:** Poverty kills hope and dreams. Key Takeaway Address systemic neglect to revive hope. Themes poverty despair neglect survival Mood somber urgent Type social critical When to use this quote - community outreach - policy reform - mental health support - education programs Key Concepts sociology urban decay mental health Questions to Reflect On - What can individuals do to alleviate systemic poverty? - How does language shape our view of the poor? A Different Perspective Poverty is also a symptom of broader inequality, not just individual failure. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Air](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/air/) [Caves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/caves/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream/) [Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) [Dropping](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dropping/) [Dry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dry/) [Feet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feet/) [Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart/) [Impulse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/impulse/) [Like Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-death/) [Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poverty/) [Poverty Smells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poverty-smells-1775049/) [Rotting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rotting/) [Rotting Feet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rotting-feet-1775050/) [Seasons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seasons/) [Shoes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shoes/) [Smell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smell/) [Smells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smells/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Soul life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul-life/) [Too long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/too-long/) ## Related quotes > [There is something about poverty that smells like death.Dead dreams dropping off theheart like leaves in a dry season and rotting around thefeet; impulses…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zora-neale-hurston/there-is-something-about-poverty-that-smells-like-death-dead-dreams/) [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) > [There is something about poverty that smells like death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zora-neale-hurston/there-is-something-about-poverty-that-smells-like-death/) [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) > [It smells terrible in here.' 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My soul. My life-force. I have spent forever with him.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/krista-ritchie/he-is-my-breath-my-soul-my-life-force-i-have-spent-forever-with-him/) [Krista Ritchie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/krista-ritchie/) > [“Be patient with the faults of others. Forgive quickly to have a happy soul and life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/be-patient-with-the-faults-of-others-forgive-quickly-to-have-a-happy/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“...wanting soul life without the dark, warming intelligence of personal doubt is like expecting an egg without the brooding heat of the mother hen.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-whyte/wanting-soul-life-without-the-dark-warming-intelligence-of-personal/) [David Whyte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-whyte/) > [The soul lives forever by giving, not receiving. This is the grand paradox. You get most by giving most. Conversely, by receiving much you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-johnson/the-soul-lives-forever-by-giving-not-receiving-this-is-the-grand/) [Julian Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-johnson/) > [“Burdened no more is soul for whom life flows through dance like breath.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shah-asad-rizvi/burdened-no-more-is-soul-for-whom-life-flows-through-dance-like-breath/) [Shah Asad Rizvi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shah-asad-rizvi/) > [Once again your mind explodes with a searing pain. A floodgate of memories bursts wide. Yet it is her face that keeps haunting you.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/todd-mcfarlane/once-again-your-mind-explodes-with-a-searing-pain-a-floodgate-of/) [Todd McFarlane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/todd-mcfarlane/) > [“We lose our soul, to find our life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanne-crisner/we-lose-our-soul-to-find-our-life/) [Joanne Crisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanne-crisner/) ## More by Zora Neale Hurston > [It seemed to me that the human beings I met reacted pretty much the same to the same stimuli. Different idioms,yes. Circumstances and conditions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zora-neale-hurston/it-seemed-to-me-that-the-human-beings-i-met-reacted-pretty-much-the/) [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) > [“Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zora-neale-hurston/ships-at-a-distance-have-every-man-s-wish-on-board-for-some-they-come/) [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) > [Please God, please suh, don't let him love nobody else but me. Maybe Ah'm is uh fool, Lawd, lak dey say, but Lawd, Ah…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zora-neale-hurston/please-god-please-suh-don-t-let-him-love-nobody-else-but-me-maybe-ah/) [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) > [“But mostly she lived between her hat and her heels, with her emotional disturbances like shade patterns in the woods—come and gone with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zora-neale-hurston/but-mostly-she-lived-between-her-hat-and-her-heels-with-her-emotional/) [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) > [Light came to me when I realized that I did not have to consider any racial group as a whole. God made them duck…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zora-neale-hurston/light-came-to-me-when-i-realized-that-i-did-not-have-to-consider-any/) [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) > [Gods always behave like the people who make them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zora-neale-hurston/gods-always-behave-like-the-people-who-make-them/) [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) > [Love, I find, is like singing. Everyone can do enough to satisfy themselves, though it may not impress the neighbors as being very much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zora-neale-hurston/love-i-find-is-like-singing-everyone-can-do-enough-to-satisfy/) [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) > [“The woman took the faded shirt and muddy overalls and laid them away from remembrance. It was a weapon against her strength and if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zora-neale-hurston/the-woman-took-the-faded-shirt-and-muddy-overalls-and-laid-them-away/) [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) > [“They plan and they fix and they do, and then some kitchen-dwelling fiend slips a scorchy, soggy, tasteless mess into their pots and pans…So…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zora-neale-hurston/they-plan-and-they-fix-and-they-do-and-then-some-kitchen-dwelling/) [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) > [“Years ago, she had told her girl self to wait for her in the looking glass. It had been a long time since she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zora-neale-hurston/years-ago-she-had-told-her-girl-self-to-wait-for-her-in-the-looking/) [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) > [“Ah jus lak uh chicken. Chicken drink water, but he don’t pee-pee.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zora-neale-hurston/ah-jus-lak-uh-chicken-chicken-drink-water-but-he-don-t-pee-pee/) [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) > [“Like the pecking-order in a chicken yard. Insensate cruelty to those you can whip, and groveling submission to those you can’t. Once having set…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zora-neale-hurston/like-the-pecking-order-in-a-chicken-yard-insensate-cruelty-to-those/) [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) > [The Haitian people are gentle and lovable except for their enormous and unconscious cruelty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zora-neale-hurston/the-haitian-people-are-gentle-and-lovable-except-for-their-enormous/) [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) > [Now, suppose a Negro does something really magnificent, and I glory, not in the benefit to mankind, but in the fact that the doer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zora-neale-hurston/now-suppose-a-negro-does-something-really-magnificent-and-i-glory-not/) [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) > [Anybody depending on somebody else's gods is depending on a fox not to eat chickens.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zora-neale-hurston/anybody-depending-on-somebody-else-s-gods-is-depending-on-a-fox-not/) [Zora Neale Hurston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) [Explore all 326 Zora Neale Hurston quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zora-neale-hurston/) ## More Air quotes > [I will be a tireless advocate for our District's defense priorities including Sheppard Air Force Base, Pantex, Bell Helicopter, universities conducting important research, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronny-jackson/i-will-be-a-tireless-advocate-for-our-district-s-defense-priorities/) [Ronny Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronny-jackson/) > [I have lifted my plane . . . for perhaps a thousand flights and I have never felt her wheels glide from the Earth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beryl-markham/i-have-lifted-my-plane-for-perhaps-a-thousand-flights-and-i-have/) [Beryl Markham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beryl-markham/) > [If U.S. air, naval, missile, and ground forces were not in and around Korea, and if we were not treaty-bound to fight alongside South…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-buchanan/if-u-s-air-naval-missile-and-ground-forces-were-not-in-and-around/) [Pat Buchanan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-buchanan/) > [The cooler days have brought a wistful mood upon him. 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