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Quote by Saki

“The little stone Saint and the Goblin got on very well together, though they looked at most things from different points of view. The Saint was a philanthropist in an old fashioned way; he thought the world, as he saw it, was good, but might be improved. In particular he pitied the church mice, who were miserably poor. The Goblin, on the other hand, was of opinion that the world, as he knew it, was bad, but had better be let alone. It was the function of the church mice to be poor.”

Quote by Saki

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Reginald in Russia and Other Sketches

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Saki

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“The American Negro saw, in the land from which he had been snatched and thrown into slavery, a great pageant of political progress. He realized that just thirty years ago there were only three independent nations in the whole of Africa. He knew that by 1963 more than thirty-four African nations had risen from colonial bondage. The Negro saw black statesmen voting on vital issues in the United Nations—and knew that in many cities of his own land he was not permitted to take that significant walk to the ballot box. He saw black kings and potentates ruling from palaces—and knew he had been condemned to move from small ghettos to larger ones. Witnessing the drama of Negro progress elsewhere in the world, witnessing a level of conspicuous consumption at home exceeding anything in our history, it was natural that by 1963 Negroes would rise with resolution and demand a share of governing power, and living conditions measured by American standards rather than by the standards of colonial impoverishment.”

“Thus when people object, as they do, to me and others pointing out that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer—by commenting that wealth is not finite, that statist and globalist solutions and handouts will merely strip the poor of their human dignity and vocation to work, and that all this will encourage the poor toward a sinful envy of the rich, a slothful escapism, and a counterproductive reliance on Caesar rather than God—I want to take such commentators to refugee camps, to villages where children die every day, to towns where most adults have already died of AIDS, and show them people who haven't got the energy to be envious, who aren't slothful because they are using all the energy they've got to wait in line for water and to care for each other, who know perfectly well that they don't need handouts so much as justice. I know, and such people often know in their bones, that wealth isn't a zero-sum game, but reading the collected works of F. A. Hayek in a comfortable chair in North America simply doesn't address the moral questions of the twenty-first century.”

“Wisdom and wealth are not necessarily twins. Solomon was blessed with wisdom, he was also blessed with riches. His wealth did not result from his wisdom. Jesus was so wise that it was said of him, "never has another man spoken like this". Yet he was materially poor. He had to borrow money to illustrate Caesar's things. Next time you mock a poor man to convert his wise ideas to cash, think twice.”

“Many officers of the obvious have commented that poverty makes people do terrible things. And indeed they are right, but you know what? Their acts are nothing compared to the atrocities of the wealthy. And the irony of the matter is, wrongdoings caused by poverty can be reduced exponentially if we improve the living conditions of those people and help them become self-reliant, whereas there's nothing we can do to reduce the atrocities committed by the wealthy, except for legally taking away their wealth beyond necessity altogether. That is why I say. Always stay as far away as possible from luxury. It's a terrible, terrible thing.”

“Poverty is an age-old concept , which is corelated with enjoyment of necessities of life and that it is an evil which the world is fighting till date. Poverty alleviating shibboleths such as philanthropy, social service schemes, social reforms, reformative policies etc, seem fatuous yielding exiguous results.”