Quotes About Poverty

I was born and raised in the ghetto, on welfare, two minutes from homeless.

We were on welfare, and my mom thought you needed the government to survive. 'Don't try to make it on your own, because it won't be enough. The kids won't be fed:' My mom believed that lie. So I've lived with a poverty mentality. But after I got my first job, at a local McDonald's, and I got my first check, I felt such a sense of pride.

I believe welfare makes you lazy and unproductive.

Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.

I came from nothing. I came from the projects and welfare and ended up a millionaire with no frame of reference. I was bound to hit a wall sooner or later.

The most important social welfare program in America is a job.

People from both political parties have long recognized that welfare without work creates negative incentives that lead to permanent poverty. It robs people of self-esteem.

While Obama's economic policies have failed to spur growth, our anti-poverty programs have long failed to promote upward mobility and move people from welfare to work.

My childhood was rough, we were poor and my parents were alcoholics, but nobody was mean. I knew I was loved. We were on welfare, but I never felt abandoned or unloved.

I understand welfare because I lived it. I understand the difference between a want and a need. The Republican Party promised to bring welfare change. We must deliver on this promise.

I'd go to, like, six different schools in one year. We were on welfare, and my mom never ever worked.

I don't believe in welfare.

So it's a mistake for someone to think that they bailed New York out. They did assist us, for which we are grateful, but it's a mistake to say we bailed New York out by giving them a grant of money to help those poor people who throw it away on welfare.

The welfare system in the United States is vile.

The 1996 welfare reform law, for the first time, connected welfare benefits with an expectation that recipients would work or participate in training. That work requirement led to record increases in employment and earnings and a record decrease in poverty and welfare dependence after it was enacted.

My views on everything from welfare to a balanced budget to affirmative action can be traced to what Buddy and Helen Watts taught me as a young boy growing up poor but proud in Eufaula.

All of my childhood, we were on welfare. My mom received Aid for Families with Dependent Children - welfare. Without that, we wouldn't have had subsidized housing. Most of my childhood, we had a two-bedroom apartment, but eventually we got into the projects, where we had four bedrooms. That was great.

My mother really struggled when we were young. She was on food stamps and welfare. Looking back, I know we didn't have a lot, but I never felt I was at a loss for anything.

My mother and I were on welfare and food stamps until I was 18, so I've always had this ethos of, like, 'try and make a little bit of money now because you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.'

I got songs about being broke, being on welfare, being poor, Section 8.

States with better-educated citizens also see economic benefits. These states have better luck recruiting and retaining quality employers, and they enjoy lower overall rates of unemployment, poverty, and welfare dependency.

For women who turn to welfare, Big Brother becomes Husband.

We were on welfare when we were kids. Thanks for reminding me of that.

For many of those who had historically supported welfare programs in the broadest sense, it was perfectly reasonable to enact legislation in which poor people were the objects of efforts to assist them.