Home / Topics / Poverty Quotes

Poverty Quotes

Browse 6296 quotes about Poverty.

Poverty Quotes

“We wanted to describe society from our left point of view. Per had written political books, but they'd only sold 300 copies. We realised that people read crime and through the stories we could show the reader that under the official image of welfare-state Sweden there was another layer of poverty, criminality and brutality.”

People Book States Stories Shows Wanted Political Left Views Poverty Written Crime Reader Point Of View Welfare Officials Copies Layers Realised Brutality Sweden Welfare State Criminality

Author:Maj Sjowall

“To me the early childhood story is an ecumenical one. You take poverty seriously. You take seriously maternal depression. You take seriously children under stress and you take seriously the effects of extended hours participation in poor quality care. Those are the facts I begin with.”

Children Facts Stories Care Hours Poor Quality Poverty Childhood Effects Stress Participation Early Childhood Under Stress Poor Quality Quality Care

Author:Robert Manne

“While some multimillionaires started in poverty, most did not. A study of the origins of 303 textile, railroad and steel executives of the 1870s showed that 90 percent came from middle- or upper-class families. The Horatio Alger stories of "rags to riches" were true for a few men, but mostly a myth, and a useful myth for control.”

Men Stories Wealth Class Poverty Study Middle Percent Myth Riches Executives Steel Rags Railroads Upper Class Horatio Textiles Rags To Riches

Book:A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present

Source: A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present

“The issue I focus on the most is extreme poverty. I think it's kind of out of sight out of mind. I wish there would be more stories about that to connect people to what's happening. To personalize it, to make it real to people, to inspire them to action.”

People Thinking Mind Kind Real Stories Would Be Action Wish Poverty Issues Focus Inspire Happenings Sight Extremes Extreme Poverty Of Sight Out Of Mind

Author:John Legend

“Confronted with the unhappy facts of exclusion, we sometimes reassure ourselves by telling stories: the poor boys who made it, theblacks who became a "credit to their race," the women elected to high office, the handicapped who made "useful contributions" to our society.... Just as we believe in the self-sufficient family, we also believe that any child with enough grit and ability can escape poverty and make a rewarding life. But these stories and beliefs clearly reflect the exceptions.”

Source: All Our Children: The American Family Under Pressure

“My family moved to the Philippines when I was 14. While living there, I learned that my mom grew up very poor. Seeing that kind of abject poverty firsthand during my travels deeply shaped my life. Seeing those living conditions motivated me to want to tell inspiring stories of struggle and triumph.”

Want Kind Stories Poor Poverty Struggle Seeing Conditions Grew Mom Grew Up My Family Moved My Mom Triumph Motivated Philippines Living Conditions Inspiring Stories

Author:Manny Pacquiao

“Istanbul is certainly in the process of transforming itself into an attractive cultural, tourist and financial center. But there are also millions of sad stories in this giant sea of immigration, poverty, misery and contradictions. So much anger, frustration and fury.”

Stories Process Poverty Millions Sea Misery Financial Immigration Attractive Giants Contradiction Frustration Fury Transforming Tourists Istanbul Sad Story Anger Frustration

Author:Orhan Pamuk

“The thing about superheroes is that they don't have problems, right? A feminist hooker superhero wouldn't have to worry about assault, or pregnancy, or poverty, or disease, or eating and shelter, or police. In order to make her a superhero, you have to divorce her of the very context that makes her story possible. You have to gloss over the trauma.”

Stories Problem Order Poverty Worry Disease Eating Police Feminist Divorce Trauma Pregnancy Shelter Assault Superhero Gloss

Author:Daphne Gottlieb

“That same night, I wrote my first short story. It took me thirty minutes. It was a dark little tale about a man who found a magic cup and learned that if he wept into the cup, his tears turned into pearls. But even though he had always been poor, he was a happy man and rarely shed a tear. So he found ways to make himself sad so that his tears could make him rich. As the pearls piled up, so did his greed grow. The story ended with the man sitting on a mountain of pearls, knife in hand, weeping helplessly into the cup with his beloved wife's slain body in his arms.”

Source: The Kite Runner

“And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”

Men Trying Humans Long War God Stories Religion Christianity Class Poverty Terrible Ambition Slavery Mere Empires Hopeless Human History Prostitution

Book:A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis

Source: A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis