Poverty consist in feeling poor.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Do not ask the name of the person who seeks a bed for the night. He who is reluctant to give his name is the one who most needs shelter.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
A poor man with nothing in his belly needs hope, illusion, more than bread.
—Georges Bernanos (1888–1948) French Novelist, Polemicist
Poverty is a wonderful thing. It sticks to a man after all his friends have forsaken him.
—Hebrew Proverb
Four specters haunt the Poor—Old Age, Accident, Sickness and Unemployment. We are going to exorcise them. We are going to drive hunger from the hearth. We mean to banish the workhouse from the horizon of every workman in the land.
—David Lloyd George (1863–1945) British Liberal Statesman
We are not concerned with the very poor. They are unthinkable, and only to be approached by the statistician or the poet.
—E. M. Forster (1879–1970) English Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist
Too poor for a bribe, and too proud to importune, he had not the method of making a fortune.
—Thomas Gray (1716–71) English Poet, Book Collector
You lose your manners when you’re poor.
—Lillian Hellman (1905–84) American Dramatist, Memoirist
I thank fate for having made me born poor. Poverty taught me the true value of the gifts useful to life.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
Who ever mocks the poor insults his maker; and he that is glad at calamities shall not go unpunished.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Poverty makes you sad as well as wise.
—Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) German Poet, Playwright, Theater Personality
Here we all live in a state of ambitious poverty.
—Juvenal (c.60–c.136 CE) Roman Poet
In going to America one learns that poverty is not a necessary accompaniment to civilization.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
It is easy enough to say that poverty is no crime. No; if it were men wouldn’t be ashamed of it. It is a blunder, though, and is punished as such. A poor man is despised the whole world over.
—Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) English Humorous Writer, Novelist, Playwright
Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.
—Mother Teresa (1910–97) Roman Catholic Missionary, Nun
Only in relationship can you know yourself, not in abstraction and certainly not in isolation. The movement of behavior is the sure guide to yourself. It’s the mirror of your consciousness: this mirror will reveal its content, the images, the attachments, the fears, the loneliness, the joys and sorrow. Poverty lies in running away from this, either in its sublimations or its identities.
—Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) Indian Philosopher
To be shelterless and alone in the open country, hearing the wind moan and watching for day through the whole long weary night; to listen to the falling rain, and crouch for warmth beneath the lee of some old barn or rick, or in the hollow of a tree; are dismal things—but not so dismal as the wandering up and down where shelter is, and beds and sleepers are by thousands; a houseless rejected creature.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
I am a poor man, but I have this consolation: I am poor by accident, not by design.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
One of the strangest things about life is that the poor, who need the money the most, are the ones that never have it.
—Finley Peter Dunne (1867–1936) American Author, Writer, Humorist
Poverty is an anomaly to rich people. It is very difficult to make out why people who want dinner do not ring the bell.
—Walter Bagehot (1826–77) English Economist, Journalist
You can’t get rid of poverty by giving people money.
—P. J. O’Rourke (1947–2022) American Journalist, Political Satirist
Empty pockets make empty heads.
—William Carlos Williams (1883–1963) American Poet, Novelist, Cultural Historian
Poor is the man whose pleasures depend on the permission of another.
—Madonna (b.1958) American Pop Singer, Actress
A rich child often sits in a poor mother’s lap.
—Danish Proverb
Poor is the man who does not know his own intrinsic worth and tends to measure everything by relative value. A man of financial wealth who values himself by his financial net worth is poorer than a poor man who values himself by his intrinsic self worth.
—Sidney Madwed (1926–2013) American Poet, Author
Poverty is the worst form of violence.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
He that has pity on the poor lends to the Lord.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
There’s no scandal like rags, nor any crime so shameful as poverty.
—George Farquhar (1677–1707) Irish Dramatist
With virtue you can’t be entirely poor; without virtue you can’t really be rich.
—Chinese Proverb
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
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