All Quotes By Tag: Poor

“At six years old we didn’t have any money;there was my mother, my brother and I.We had a deadbeat dad; left us before we weretwo, but she took us at Christmas-time todowntown Los Angeles.We had little cars going around in circles,it was pretty cool, and decorations in thewindow.She gave my brother and I a dime and toldus, “Boys whole half of it each, give it tothe man ringing the bell in the bucket.”We put it in this bucket, we said, “Mom, whydid we give that man a dime?That’s like two soda pops.”This is 1951, two soda pops, three candy bars.And mom said, “Boys, that’s the SalvationArmy.They take care of people that have no placeto live and no food.And we don’t have a lot of money, but we canafford a dime this year.Boys, always remember in life: give a littlesomething to those in need, they’ll alwaysbe somebody that’s not as well-off as youare. No matter where you are or how far down youare, try and help someone along the way.”It stuck with me.”

“Some people are way less tortured by poverty than some are tormented by wealth.”

“Money isn’t everything. The same is true of the lack of it.”

“In a materialistic society, being poor but happy is a political statement.”

“When you optimize your talents very well, you can pick money from people’s pockets and nobody will ever get the guts to call you a thief.”

“Being wealthy isn’t just a question of having lots of money. It’s a question of what we want. Wealth isn’t an absolute, it’s relative to desire. Every time we seek something that we can’t afford, we can be counted as poor, how much money we may actually have.”

“Religion is one of the oils with which we alleviate the friction between those who have a lot and those who have nothing.”

“It’s ok to be a fool once or twice but never let it be a third time. Be smart and pretend to be a fool and at the end of the hunt make sure you’re the one that has the gun.”

“The world is a goddamned evil place, the strong prey on the weak, the rich on the poor; I’ve given up hope that there is a God that will save us all. How am I supposed to believe that there’s a heaven and a hell when all I see now is hell.”

“Some of the most beautiful things we have in life comes from our mistakes.”

“Am I right in suggesting that ordinary life is a mean between these extremes, that the noble man devotes his material wealth to lofty ends, the advancement of science, or art, or some such true ideal; and that the base man does the opposite by concentrating all his abilities on the amassing of wealth?’Exactly; that is the real distinction between the artist and the bourgeois, or, if you prefer it, between the gentleman and the cad. Money, and the things money can buy, have no value, for there is no question of creation, but only of exchange. Houses, lands, gold, jewels, even existing works of art, may be tossed about from one hand to another; they are so, constantly. But neither you nor I can write a sonnet; and what we have, our appreciation of art, we did not buy. We inherited the germ of it, and we developed it by the sweat of our brows. The possession of money helped us, but only by giving us time and opportunity and the means of travel. Anyhow, the principle is clear; one must sacrifice the lower to the higher, and, as the Greeks did with their oxen, one must fatten and bedeck the lower, so that it may be the worthier offering.”

“Good works is giving to the poor and the helpless, but divine works is showing them their worth to the One who matters.”

“America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, ‘It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but it might as well be.’ It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: ‘if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?’ There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand – glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register.Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say Napoleonic times. Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.”