Quotes About Poverty

There's so little money in my bank account, my scenic checks show a ghetto.

It would seem that something which means poverty, disorder, and violence every single day should be avoided entirely, but the desire to beget children is a natural urge.

Era come una mano di colore data sul venticello, sui muri gialletti della borgata, sui prati, sui carretti, sugli autobus coi grappoli agli sportelli. Una mano di colore ch'era tutta l'allegria e la miseria delle notti dell'estate del presente e del passato.

I, too, head for the Baths of Caracalla, thinking—with my old, magnificent privilege of thinking… (And let there still be a god in me that thinks, lost, weak, and childish, yet whose voice is so human it is almost a song.) Oh, to leave this prison of poverty! To be free of the yearning that makes these ancient nights so splendid! He who knows yearning, and he who does not, have something in common: man's desires are humble.

Poor as the poor myself, I cling tight, like them, to demeaning hopes; like them, every day of my life I fight/just to live/Yet in my disheartening condition as one of the dispossessed, I still possess--and it's the most thrilling of bourgeois possessions, the ultimate state of being. Yet as I possess history, I am possessed by it, I am enlightened by it: but what good is the light?

OH, YO JOVENCITO! Yo quería ser mi madre que me amaba, pero no quería amargarme a mí mismo. Y entonces fingía ser un joven pobre. No podía convencerme de que también en un burgués hubiera algo para amar: aquello que amaba mi madre en mí, puro y despreciado. Nada ha cambiado: me veo todavía pobre y joven; y amo sólo a aquéllos como yo. Los burgueses tienen un cuerpo maldito.

Poor as the poor I cling, like them, to humiliating hopes; like them, each day I nearly kill myself just to live.

Une cour des miracles dans un labyrinthe de luxe.

In an affluent society there ought to be an income floor under every man below which society will not allow him to go – and this ought to come as a right and not as a charity.

You can't just pillory the teachers unions and sound the free market trumpet. We must visit the failing schools. We must talk to the mother who desperately wants more for her child and offer a constructive way out. We can't simply lambaste... food stamps or decry dependency.

The fact is, many poor patients visit ERs simply because they don't have a family doctor.

Congress Yuvraj Rahul Gandhi's visit to houses of poor sharing food with them or night stays will not alleviate poverty. Nor can poverty be tackled by implementation of rural employment scheme.

In 1962, when I was 19, I visited India. With introductions from people involved in the U.S. civil rights movement, I was able to visit with several of the leading Gandhians there. The hundred-to-one difference in average per capita income between America and India at the time was a stark reality for the people who became my friends there.

I've been to Australia, Russia and many of places I wanted to see as a child. But I've never visited India. I've had many invitations to play there but it hasn't worked out. People say it's beautiful, but I think I'd react badly to the poverty.

Cooking requires time, effort and fuel: increasing numbers of people I've visited can't even afford to turn on the kettle for a cup of tea as they eke out every penny to feed their extortionate gas and electric meters.

I travel the world visiting global health programs as an ambassador for the global health organization, PSI, and sometimes the disconnect I see is truly striking: people can get cold Coca Cola, but far too infrequently malaria drugs; most own mobile phones, but don't have equal access to pre-natal care.

The global phenomenon of poverty tourism - or 'poorism' - has become increasingly popular during the past few years. Tourists pay to be guided through the favelas of Brazil and the shantytowns of South Africa. The recently opened Los Angeles Gang Tour carries visitors through battle-scarred territories of urban violence and deprivation.

For just a few dollars a dose, vaccines save lives and help reduce poverty. Unlike medical treatment, they provide a lifetime of protection from deadly and debilitating disease. They are safe and effective. They cut healthcare and treatment costs, reduce the number of hospital visits, and ensure healthier children, families and communities.

When I was seven months pregnant with my son, my mother and I took a trip to El Salvador, where she's from. Frequent visits with her to see my extended family have taught me how different life can be if you are born into poverty.

Microwork gives marginalized people a chance to earn a living by playing a vital role in the business processes of big companies. In parallel, the organization assists local entrepreneurs in running microwork centers, helping to grow a new pool of business talent across the developing world.

Making money is marvelous, and I love doing it, and I do it reasonably well, but it doesn't have the gripping vitality that you have when you deal with the happiness of human life and with human deprivation.

When I say dirt-poor, I mean Mom made maybe $25,000 a year. I remember buying milk with food stamps. Vividly. So, growing up, I was the minority.

I became a soldier, not because I had a military vocation initially, but because it was the only way that that young, poor-class child from the provinces could go to the center of the country: through baseball, which was my dream.

I wanted to raise the voice of a lot of the people that I knew growing up, and this was, for the most part, poor people who had extraordinary dreams but also very amazing obstacles.