Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Kishore Mahbubani

Quote by Kishore Mahbubani

“John Norberg of the Cato Institute notes: 'If someone had told you in 1990 that over the next twenty-five years world hunger would decline by 40 per cent, child mortality would halve, and extreme poverty would fall by three quarters, you'd have told them they were a naive fool. But the fools were right. This is truly what has happened.' Having experienced Third World poverty as a child, I know that nothing drags down the human spirit more than a sense of helplessness, uncertainty and fear of the future. A small regular income and access to basic goods like TV sets and refrigerators also improve one's sense of well-being. In short, the eradication of poverty is spiritually uplifting.”

Quote by Kishore Mahbubani

Book:Has the West Lost It?: A Provocation
Create image

Work

Has the West Lost It?: A Provocation

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Kishore Mahbubani
Kishore Mahbubani

Kishore Mahbubani is a renowned academic specializing in international relations and global politics. Born on October 24, 1948, he has made substantial contributions to the field through his extensive research and thought leadership. Mahbubani has held various academic positions and is recognized for his insightful analyses of Asia's role in the global order. more

You May Also Like

“To occupy the time I talked with a rather superior tramp, a young carpenter who wore a collar and tie, and was on the road, he said, for lack of a set of tools. He kept a little aloof from the other tramps, and held himself more like a free man than a casual. He had literary tastes, too, and carried one of Scott’s novels on all his wanderings. He told me he never entered a spike unless driven there by hunger, sleeping under hedges and behind ricks in preference. Along the south coast he had begged by day and slept in bathing-machines for weeks at a time. We talked of life on the road. He criticized the system which makes a tramp spend fourteen hours a day in the spike, and the other ten in walking and dodging the police. He spoke of his own case – six months at the public charge for want of three pounds’ worth of tools. It was idiotic, he said. Then I told him about the wastage of food in the workhouse kitchen, and what I thought of it. And at that he changed his tune immediately. I saw that I had awakened the pew-renter who sleeps in every English workman. Though he had been famished along with the rest, he at once saw reasons why the food should have been thrown away rather than given to the tramps. He admonished me quite severely. ‘They have to do it,’ he said. ‘If they made these places too pleasant you’d have all the scum of the country flocking into them. It’s only the bad food as keeps all that scum away. These tramps are too lazy to work, that’s all that’s wrong with them. You don’t want to go encouraging of them. They’re scum.’ I produced arguments to prove him wrong, but he would not listen. He kept repeating: ‘You don’t want to have any pity on these tramps – scum, they are. You don’t want to judge them by the same standards as men like you and me. They’re scum, just scum.’ It was interesting to see how subtly he disassociated himself from his fellow tramps. He has been on the road six months, but in the sight of God, he seemed to imply, he was not a tramp. His body might be in the spike, but his spirit soared far away, in the pure aether of the middle classes.”

PovertyHomelessnessWastage
Book:Essays
Create image

“The rich individuals are increasingly hoarding everything. If the billionaires want to go to space, they could at least leave their money on Earth to solve the critical Earthbound problems. We now have an estimated 2,775 billionaires with a combined net worth of around $13.1 trillion. I have it on good authority that you don't need more than $1 billion to live comfortably. Even if every billionaire kept $1 billion, that would leave around $10 trillion for ending hunger, poverty, and environmental destruction. We should be taxing the vast and rapidly growing billionaire wealth to help finance a civilized world.”

WealthPovertyWealth InequalityCharitable GivingWealth Distribution99 PercentCharitable Acts
Author:Jeffrey Sachs
Create image

“One of the surest ways to end generational poverty for good is by investing in real estate — buying land for commercial purposes with proper documentation.”

PovertyInvestingFinanceOwnershipReal EstateOlawale DanielReal Estate InvestmentGenerational WealthInvesting Your Money
Book:True Ownership: How to Buy Generational Land: A Practical Guide to Building Lasting Land Legacy in Nigeria
Create image

“Нищета заставляет человека заботиться о выживании, думать не о перспективах, а о том, что он будет есть завтра. В таком ритме жизни сложно заставить себя получать образование, тем не менее потребность в эмоциях и чувствах остается, но она не находит себе выхода и отползает в чулан сознания. Часто это приводит к эмоциональному уплощению на фоне нищеты и монотонности жизни, но бывает и иначе. Иногда эти потребности настолько не реализованы и закинуты в такой дальний угол, что трансформируются в нечто поистине уродливое. В 27 лет Александр осознал, что дальше его жизнь будет скользить по наклонной и ничего лучшего его впереди не ждет.”

PovertyHopelessness
Book:Битцевский маньяк. Шахматист с молотком (Мир глазами убийцы)
Create image