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“It was as though some stubborn god spent their time in an immutable and absurd balancing act between life and death, prosperity and poverty.”
Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“3908. Poverty is not a Shame ; but the being asham'd of it, is.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) first seen 1749 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Compare Poor Richard's Almanack (1749) : Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.
“Poets are being pursued by the philosophers today, out of the poverty of philosophy. God damn it, you might think a man had no business to be writing, to be a poet unless some philosophic stinker gave him permission.”
William Carlos Williams (1883–1963) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to James Laughlin (January 14, 1944), published in The Selected Letters of William Carlos Williams (1957) edited by John C. Thirlwall, p. 219
“Socialism was the only means of freeing the world from war and poverty. Socialism stood as a third alternative to a barbaric Communism and capitalism in a state of decay. Communism was a falsification of the principles of Socialism.”
Clement Attlee (1883–1967) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the Swedish Social Democratic Party congress in Stockholm (5 June 1952), quoted in The Times (6 June 1952), p. 5
“One day our grandchildren will go to museums to see what poverty was like.”
Muhammad Yunus (born 1940) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Prof. Muhammad Yunus" Australian Broadcasting Corporation (25 March 1997)
“The direct elimination of poverty should be the objective of all development aid. Development should be viewed as a human rights issue, not as a question of simply increasing the gross national product GNP.”
Muhammad Yunus (born 1940) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When other sects speak well of Zen, the first thing that they praise is its poverty.”
Dōgen (1200–1253) said by 1253 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are those... who enter the world in such poverty that they are deprived of both the means and the motivation to improve their lot. Unless these unfortunates can be touched with the spark which ignites the spirit of individual enterprise and determination, they will only sink back into renewed apathy, degradation and despair. It is for us, who are more fortunate, to provide that spark.”
Aga Khan IV (1936–2025) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the Innauguration of the Aga Khan Baug, Versova, India (17 January 1983) <!-- ***Source: Selection of Speeches: 1976-1984
“A proper home can provide the bridge across that terrible gulf between poverty and a better future.”
Aga Khan IV (1936–2025) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Princess Zahra quoting His Highness the Aga Khan in her acceptance speech upon receiving the World Habitat Award, Kazan, Russian Federation (4 October 2006)
“This "Clash of Civilizations" has led to a "Clash of Religions", leading in turn to war, terror and extreme poverty.”
Begum Aga Khan (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The most powerful tool to lift families out of extreme poverty is to grant micro-loans to women.”
Begum Aga Khan (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In his defense of Ambassador John Bolton and repudiation of the United Nations and the Third World, referring to the Third World, "That latter group includes a huge number of so-called nations, little more than spots on the map that would get invaded, taken over, subsumed, eliminated, except no-one wants to get stuck with their problems of poverty, disease and corruption.”
John Gibson (media host) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: http://www.newshounds.us/2005/04/06/john_gibson_oozes_hate_and_contempt_for_third_world_nations_un.php
“It is not often that one encounters so complete an expression of poverty and so, right then and there I got the idea for a painting. I told them to come to my studio the next morning.”
Gustave Courbet (1819–1877) first seen 1850 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote, 1850's explaining to Champfleury and the writer Francis Wey; as cited on Wikipedia; Masanès, Fabrice 2006, p. 31
“No young woman should be placed in circumstances such as to make marriage an only refuge from poverty or dependence upon her friends or a life of ennui”
Benjamin Fish Austin (1850–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One of the girls who was among my best friends came from a poverty-stricken home. Her family was delightful and I used to wonder how such things could happen...”
Frances Perkins (1880–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What is the trouble? How can we cure this? ...What can be done? ...I had to do something about unnecessary hazards to life, unnecessary poverty. It was sort of up to me. This feeling... sprang out of a period of great philosophical confusion which overtakes all young people...”
Frances Perkins (1880–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We still have wars and we still have poverty — as long as these things exist, there's always going to be something to do. But that cannot distract from the fact that we're on the way.”
Harry Belafonte (1927–2023) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview excerpted in "Singer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte dies at 96", NBC News (25 April 2023)
“In the Western media and in Western popular thinking, the term "fundamentalist" is almost restricted to Islamic groups, and yet the New World Order is characterized by the upsurge of so-called fundamentalist religious movements. Fundamentalism is a universal phenomenon, which increases with increasing poverty and racism.”
Nawal El Saadawi (1931–2021) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Why Keep Asing Me About My Identity?" (1996)
“Fanaticism and extremism cannot grow on an earth whose soil is embedded in the spirit of tolerance, moderation, and balance. Good governance can eliminate injustice, destitution and poverty.”
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (1924–2015) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks at a Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Summit 5 December 2005.
“The good Socialist works with religious zeal for the redemption of mankind from the evils of poverty and ignorance. ... He is conscious of the beauty of the ideal ... he works on ... for the deliverance of the human spirit from the enslavement of material things.”
Herbert Morrison (1888–1965) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Manchester Guardian (2 July 1934), quoted in Bernard Donoughue and George Jones, Herbert Morrison: Portrait of a Politician (2001), p. 184
“It is no mere coincidence that there is both an historic and a present relationship between community (people assisting each other) and a poverty of power due to financial recession.”
Bill Mollison (1928–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Not a nut or bolt shall reach Chile under Allende. Once Allende comes to power we shall do all within our power to condemn Chile and all Chileans to utmost deprivation and poverty.”
Edward M. Korry (1922–2003) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Upon hearing of Allende's election, in a report to Henry Kissinger, 1970.
“In this framework we can make clear what co-existence means. It means living in peace and friendship with another kind of society—a fully integrated society where the people control their destinies, where poverty and illiteracy have been eliminated and where new kinds of human beings develop in the framework of a new level of social living.”
Paul Robeson (1898–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To constrain the brute force of the people, the European governments deem it necessary to keep them down by hard labor, poverty and ignorance, and to take from them, as from bees, so much of their earnings, as that unremitting labor shall be necessary to obtain a sufficient surplus to sustain a scanty and miserable life.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) first seen 1823 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Justice William Johnson (12 June 1823)
“Parsons always seem to be specially horrified about things like sunbathing and naked bodies. They don't mind poverty and misery and cruelty to animals nearly as much.”
Susan Ertz (1887–1985) first seen 1931 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Story of Julian (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1931), p. 246.
“This bill, if passed into law, will serve as a deterrent to those who will take advantage of the poverty situation in order to profit from selling our women and children. This is one of the most repulsive crimes in society today, and we must not allow our women and children to fall prey to these vultures.”
Francis Escudero (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let us agree on our common goal. As public servants, we serve the highest interests of our people. Primarily, we seek to eliminate poverty and improve the quality of life of every Filipino.”
Francis Escudero (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is particularly galling to read a United Nation country report released in April 2008 that "poverty reduction in the Philippines has logged far behind that of Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and China.”
Francis Escudero (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is direct correlation between a society lacking in artistic vision to lack of social conscience, i.e., crime, poverty, and senseless, violent atrocities, materialism.”
Vanna Bonta (1958–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no greater poverty than oblivion to self and others.”
Vanna Bonta (1958–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Negro poverty is unique is every way. It grows out of a long American history, and it expresses itself in a subculture that is buit up on an interlocking base of economic and racial injustice. It is a fact imposed from without, from white America.”
Michael Harrington (1928–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our affluent society contains those of talent and insight who are driven to prefer poverty, to choose it, rather than to submit to the desolation of an empty abundance. It is a strange part of the other America that one finds in the intellectual slums.”
Michael Harrington (1928–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The laws against color can be removed, but that will leave the poverty that is the historic and institutionalized consequence of color. As long as this is the case, being born Negro will continue to be the most profound disability that the United States imposes upon a citizen.”
Michael Harrington (1928–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The means are at hand to fulfill the age-old dream: poverty can now be abolished. How long shall we ignore this underdeveloped nation in our midst? How long shall we look the other way while our fellow human beings suffer? How long?”
Michael Harrington (1928–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Give a beggar a dime and he'll bless you. Give him a dollar and he'll curse you for withholding the rest of your fortune. Poverty is a bag with a hole at the bottom.”
Anzia Yezierska (1880–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This ancient past that I had despised and rejected with the ruthlessness of youth now had me by the throat. I had never really broken away. I had only denied that which I was in my blood and bones. “Poverty ... an ornament . . . like a red ribbon on a white horse. . . .” Those were my father’s words.”
Anzia Yezierska (1880–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Spring was in the air. But such radiant, joyous spring as one coming out of the dark shadows of the Ghetto never could dream. Earth and sky seemed to sing with the joy of an unceasing holiday. Rebecca Yudelson felt as if she had suddenly stepped into fairyland where the shadow of sorrow or sickness, where the black blight of poverty had never been. (beginning of "Dreams and Dollars")”
Anzia Yezierska (1880–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One of the motivations was killing black babies, because they didn't want to deal with the problems of illiteracy and poverty.”
Herman Cain (1945–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So long as a single one amongst your brothers has no vote to represent him in the development of the national life, so long as a single man, able and willing to work, languishes in poverty through want of work to do, you have no country in the sense in which country ought to exist-the country of all and for all.”
Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872) said by 1872 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How well a posse policy will fare in a world with 3 billion people below the poverty line and nuclear warheads scattered around a dozen or more regions like melons in a field, is not easy to imagine.”
Herbert Schiller (1919–2000) said by 2000 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Decoupling growth from is the number one challenge facing governments in a world of rising numbers of people, rising incomes, rising consumption demands and the persistent challenge of poverty alleviation.”
Achim Steiner (born 1961) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: UN urges global move to meat and dairy-free diet", , (June 2, 2010)
“I will not appeal your decision. You have already denied me justice by not letting me have a proper defense in this trial. I have done what you say, but I am not guilty. Ethiopia has been standing still, while our African brothers are moving ahead in the struggle to overcome poverty. What I did was in the best interests of my country.”
Mengistu Neway (1919–1961) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Donald Levine, Haile Selassie's Ethiopia: Myth or Reality?, Africa Today, May 1961
“If I wanted, I could have changed cars on a daily basis. I could drink selected French Champagne everyday. When thousands of people would queue-up to enter the grounds of the Imperial Palace I had unfettered access to the Emperor. I chose to forfeit these privileges and opportunities and decided to free my people and country from darkness, poverty and underdevelopment. I had no other ambition.”
Mengistu Neway (1919–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Dr. Yacob Haile-Mariam (January 2007) Open Letter to the People of Ethiopia and the Judges
“It was Lazarus faith, not his poverty, which brought him into Abraham's bosom.”
Richard Chenevix Trench (1807–1886) said by 1886 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 455.
“The biggest lie and dishonesty about change or the impact of projects is created by the lords of poverty who profit from the business and industry of aid.”
Michael Elmore-Meegan (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The European Commission uses an explicit relative poverty line of 60 per cent of national average income.”
Nicholas Barr (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The fake love of ressentiment man offers no real help, since for his perverted sense of values, evils like “sickness” and “poverty” have become goods.”
Max Scheler (1874–1928) said by 1928 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: L. Coser, trans. (1961), p. 92
“Alia poverty poche cose fallano, ma all’ avarizia tutte.”
Bartholomew of San Concordio (1262–1347) said by 1347 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 246.
“The tragedy of tragedies is that man continues to live in poverty when he might have riches, in weakness when he might have strength, in sorrow when he might have joy, in despair when he might have hope.”
Kirby Page (1890–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whatever knowledge of the question is manifested herein comes largely from my work in a variety of movements intended either to diminish the number of dependents or to ameliorate the conditions of poverty.”
Robert Hunter (author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source