Quotes about poverty-and-the-poor

The forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

When the rich wage war it is the poor who die.

— Jean-Paul Sartre

The rich become richer and the poor become poorer is a cry heard throughout the whole civilized world.

— Johann Friedrich Von Schiller

Not he who has little, but he whose wishes more, is poor.

— Seneca

There is a noble manner of being poor, and who does not know it will never be rich.

— Seneca

O world, how apt the poor are to be proud!

— William Shakespeare

The seven deadly sins... food, clothing, firing, rent, taxes, respectability and children. Nothing can lift those seven millstones from Man's neck but money; and the spirit cannot soar until the millstones are lifted.

— George Bernard Shaw

The greatest evils and the worst of crimes is poverty; our first duty, a duty to which every other consideration should be sacrificed, is not to be poor.

— George Bernard Shaw

Poverty is no disgrace to a man, but it is confoundedly inconvenient.

— Sydney Smith

I believe the war on poverty is a more American idea than the war on the war on poverty. I believe that most people feel like that. And I believe that it ain't over till it's over.

— Bruce Springsteen

America is an enormous frosted cupcake in the middle of millions of starving people.

— Gloria Steinem

Virtue often trips and falls over the sharp edge of poverty.

— Eugene Sue

No one is poor who does not think they are, however, if in prosperity with impatience they desire more, and proclaim their wants they disclose their beggarly condition.

— Taylor Jeremy

Give me the poverty that enjoys true wealth.

— Henry David Thoreau

I've never been poor, only broke. Being poor is a frame of mind. Being broke is only a temporary situation

— Mike Todd

Being broke is a temporary situation. Being poor is a state of mind.

— Mike Todd

He who ashamed of his poverty would be equally proud of his wealth.

— Source Unknown

As poverty has been reduced in terms of mere survival, it has become more profound in terms of our way of life.

— Raoul Vaneigem

At present cats have more purchasing power and influence than the poor of this planet. Accidents of geography and colonial history should no longer determine who gets the fish.

— Derek Wall

What a devil art thou, Poverty! How many desires -- how many aspirations after goodness and truth -- how many noble thoughts, loving wishes toward our fellows, beautiful imaginings thou hast crushed under thy heel, without remorse or pause!

— Walt Whitman

Who, being loved, is poor?

— Oscar Wilde

As for the virtuous poor, one can pity them, of course, but one cannot possibly admire them. They have made private terms with the enemy, and sold their birthright for very bad pottage. They must also be extraordinarily stupid.

— Oscar Wilde

In going to America one learns that poverty is not a necessary accompaniment to civilization.

— Oscar Wilde

Empty pockets make empty heads.

— William Carlos Williams

No man can worship God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach.

— Woodrow T. Wilson

I am my brother's keeper, and he's sleeping pretty rough these days.

— Archbishop Derek Worlock

The opposite of poverty is enough.

— Source Unknown