“There is a saying that no man has tasted the full flavour of life until he has known poverty, love and war. The justness of this reflection commends it to the lover of condensed philosophy. The three conditions embrace about all there is in life worth knowing. A surface thinker might deem that wealth should be added to the list. Not so. When a poor man finds a long-hidden quarter-dollar that has slipped through a rip into his vest lining, he sounds the pleasure of life with a deeper plummet than any millionaire can hope to cast.” MenShouldLongWarPhilosophyMightThreeSoundWealthPleasurePoorKnownPovertyKnowingConditionsLoversReflectionEmbraceDollarsCastsDeeperSurfaceListsThinkerQuartersRipMillionairePoor ManFlavourPleasures Of LifeVestsLove And War Book:Delphi Complete Works of O. Henry (Illustrated) Source: Delphi Complete Works of O. Henry (Illustrated)
“Famine, poverty, abuse, you can't keep that all blocked out. If you let those things teach you, influence you, change you, those are the events that transition you without you even knowing it to become more compassionate.” IfsPovertyTeachKnowingInfluenceEventsAbuseTransitionCompassionateWithout YouFamineBlocked Author:Richard Rohr
“Our status as a land of equal opportunity has made us a rich and powerful nation, but it has also transformed lives. It has given people like me the chance to grow up knowing that no dream was too big and no goal out of reach.” PeopleMadeDreamBigsOpportunityGivenNationsGrowsGoalChancePowerfulPovertyGrowing UpKnowingRichLandEqualLike MeTransformedEqual Opportunity Book:American Dreams: Restoring Economic Opportunity for Everyone Source: American Dreams: Restoring Economic Opportunity for Everyone
“Dream of a world where poverty is history, dream of a world where we don't spend those obscene billions on arms, knowing full well that a tiny fraction of those budgets of death would ensure that children everywhere had clean water to drink, could afford the cheap inoculations against preventable diseases, would have good schools, adequate healthcare and decent homes.” WorldWellsChildrenHomeDreamSchoolWaterPovertyKnowingArmsDrinkDiseaseCleanBillionsTinyBudgetsDecentHealthcareAdequateFractionsObsceneClean WaterGood School Author:Desmond Tutu
“Many people theorize poverty, but so many elements of poverty, individually, for most people who theorize about poverty would be really difficult to even comprehend the individual things. Just take homelessness. If you are homeless, what does it mean not to have a post box where people can contact you; what does it mean not knowing where you're going to sleep at the end of the day; what does it mean not having a place where you can store what little you might possess. So dealing with homelessness in itself is a huge thing for most people who are commentators [on] or benefactors to poverty.” PeopleIfsMeanLittlesDoeEndsMightWould BeIndividualDifficultSleepPovertyKnowingHugeElementsBoxesStoresContactPostsThe End Of The DayNot KnowingHomelessHomelessnessGoing To SleepCommentatorsBenefactors Author:Kumi Naidoo
“Imagine living in abject poverty and not knowing anything other than that for generations. Or alternatively, imagine being born into a really wealthy family, but there was no real love. Everyone's living these extraordinary, interesting lives whether they know it or not.” KnowsRealBornInterestingPovertyKnowingImagineGenerationsExtraordinaryWealthyReal LoveNot KnowingLove EveryoneInteresting Life Author:Annie Lennox
“If you stay in the mainstream of life, in other words, you let in the suffering of the world that invariably enters all of our lives by the time we're in our middle years, when we've experienced a few deaths and read a few headlines. Famine, poverty, abuse, you can't keep that all blocked out. If you let those things teach you, influence you, change you, those are the events that transition you without you even knowing it to become more compassionate. In other words, you hold onto your values, but you do it much more inclusively, humbly and in an open ended way. Suffering takes you there.” IfsWorldWayYearsSufferingValuesPovertyTeachKnowingOur LivesInfluenceMiddleEventsAbuseLive ByTransitionCompassionateMainstreamWithout YouFamineHeadlinesBlocked Author:Richard Rohr
“We need to recognise that what really matters isn't buying more and more consumer goods, but family, friends, and knowing that we are doing something worthwhile with our lives. Helping to reduce the appalling consequences of world poverty should be part of that reassessment.” WorldNeedsShouldMatterHelpingPovertyKnowingOur LivesConsequenceConsumersBuyingGoodsWorthwhileRecogniseFamily FriendsWorld Poverty Author:Peter Singer
“I've been making a list of the things they don't teach you at school. They don't teach you how to love somebody. They don't teach you how to be famous. They don't teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. They don't teach you how to walk away from someone you don't love any longer. They don't teach you how to know what's going on in someone else's mind. They don't teach you what to say to someone who's dying. They don't teach you anything worth knowing.” KnowsLoveMindRealitySchoolWealthWalksPoorPovertyTeachKnowingRichDyingListsOptimisticHow To Love Author:Neil Gaiman
“Sufficiency isn't two steps up from poverty or one step short of abundance. It isn't a measure of barely enough or more than enough. Sufficiency isn't an amount at all. It is an experience, a context we generate, a declaration, a knowing that there is enough, and that we are enough.” TwoEnoughStepsPovertyKnowingAmountAbundanceDeclarationStep UpSufficiency Author:Brené Brown