Poverty Quotes

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  Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.

  Nelson Mandela

  Men, Justice, Overcoming

  Nelson Mandela (2012). “Notes to the Future: Words of Wisdom”, p.141, Simon and Schuster

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  Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life . . .

  Nelson Mandela

  Justice, Overcoming, Fundamentals

  Nelson Mandela (2012). “Notes to the Future: Words of Wisdom”, p.141, Simon and Schuster

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  The measure of a society is found in how they treat their weakest and most helpless citizens.

  Jimmy Carter

  Citizens, Treats, Found

  182 Copy quote

• In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.

  Confucius

  Country, Countries Of The World, Government

  45 Copy quote

• Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.

  James A. Baldwin

  Inspirational, Black, Wealth

  Nobody Knows My Name (1961) "Fifth Avenue, Uptown: a letter from Harlem"

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• Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice... Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.

  Nelson Mandela

  Inspiring, Fall, Greatness

  Nelson Mandela's speech in London's Trafalgar Square for the campaign to end poverty in the developing world, news.bbc.co.uk. February 3, 2005.

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• Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice.

  Nelson Mandela

  Hunger And Poverty, Hunger Poverty, Justice

  Twitter post from Jan 21, 2016

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• A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Greatness, Treats, Members

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• Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.

  Aristotle

  Inspiration, Parent, Politics

  Aristotle, Stephen Everson (1996). “Aristotle: The Politics and the Constitution of Athens”, p.41, Cambridge University Press

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• No man can worship God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach.

  Woodrow Wilson

  Men, Worship, Neighbor

  29 Copy quote
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  If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Success, Helping Others

  Inaugural Address, 20 Jan. 1961

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• We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.

  Mother Teresa

  Motivational, Wise, Peace

  119 Copy quote

• Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.

  Frederick Douglass

  Peace, Patriotic, Ignorance

  Speech on the twenty-fourth anniversary of emancipation in the District of Columbia,Washington, D.C., Apr. 1886

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• Once poverty is gone, we'll need to build museums to display its horrors to future generations. They'll wonder why poverty continued so long in human society - how a few people could live in luxury while billions dwelt in misery, deprivation and despair.

  Muhammad Yunus

  Business, Museums, Luxury

  Muhammad Yunus (2007). “Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism”, p.223, PublicAffairs

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• Poverty is dishonorable, not in itself, but when it is a proof of laziness, intemperance, luxury, and carelessness; whereas in a person that is temperate, industrious, just and valiant, and who uses all his virtues for the public good, it shows a great and lofty mind.

  Plutarch

  Luxury, Mind, Use

  Plutarch (2013). “Plutarch's Lives”, p.280, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Poverty is the worst form of violence.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Inspirational, Peace, Hunger And Poverty

  113 Copy quote

• Poverty is not natural; it is man-made

  Nelson Mandela

  Love, Life, Family

  Nelson Mandela (2012). “Notes to the Future: Words of Wisdom”, p.141, Simon and Schuster

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• Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! - I have as much soul as you, - and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you!

  Charlotte Bronte

  Heartbreak, Saying Goodbye, Thinking

  Charlotte Brontë “Jane Eyre”, W. W. Norton & Company

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• If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.

  Charles Darwin

  Inspirational, Nature, Science

  Charles Darwin (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated)”, p.859, Delphi Classics

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• 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

  Love, Mother, Work

  Mother Teresa (2001). “Mother Teresa: Essential Writings”

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• Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Peace, Children, Military

  Speech in Washington, 16 Apr. 1953, in Public Papers of Presidents 1953 (1960) p. 182

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• Poverty is everyone's problem. It cuts across any line you can name: age, race, social, geographic or religious. Whether you are black or white; rich, middle-class or poor, we are ALL touched by poverty

  Kathleen Blanco

  Religious, Cutting, Rich Or Poor

  49 Copy quote

• I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be 'protectors' of creation, protectors of God's plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.

  Pope Francis

  Responsibility, Men, Political

  Pope Francis, McDonagh, Sean (2016). “On Care for Our Common Home, Laudato Si': The Encyclical of Pope Francis on the Environment”, p.11

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  Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity.

  Coco Chanel

  Fashion, Courage, Thinking

  98 Copy quote

• An empty stomach is not a good political adviser.

  Albert Einstein

  Love, Inspirational, Life

  Albert Einstein, George Bernard Shaw (2012). “Einstein on Cosmic Religion and Other Opinions and Aphorisms”, p.107, Courier Corporation

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