#poverty

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread. ↗

— Anatole France

#poverty #wealth #equality

All agree that, the first responsibility for the alleviation of poverty and distress and for the care of the victims of the depression rests upon the locality — its individuals, organizations and Government. It rests, first of all, perhaps, upon the private agencies of philanthropy, secondly, other social organizations, and last, but not least, the Church. Yet all agree that to leave to the locality the entire responsibility would result in placing the heaviest burden in most cases upon those who are the least able to bear it. In other words, the communities that have the most difficult problem, like Detroit, would be the communities that would have to bear the heaviest of the burdens. And so the State should step in to equalize the burden by providing for a large portion of the care of the victims of poverty and by providing assistance and guidance for local communities. Above and beyond that duty of the States the national Government has a responsibility. ↗

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

#communities #depression #distress #government #philanthropy

The faith a movement proclaims doesn't count: what counts is the hope it offers. All heresies are the banner of a reality, an exclusion. Scratch the heresy and you will find the leper. Every battle against heresy wants only this: to keep the leper as he is. ↗

— Umberto Eco

#heresy #leprosy #poverty #faith

Poverty frees them from ordinary standards of behaviour, just as money frees people from work. ↗

— George Orwell

#freedom #george-orwell #money #poverty #freedom

It was possible, no doubt, to imagine a society in which wealth, in the sense of personal possessions and luxuries, should be evenly distributed, while power remained in the hands of a small privileged caste. But in practice such a society could not long remain stable. For if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realise that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away. In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance. ↗

— George Orwell

#fear-of-the-future #inequality #poverty #society #imagination

In Kilanga, people knew nothing of things they might have had- A Frigidaire? a washer-dryer combination? Really, they'd sooner imagine a tree that could pull up it's feet and go bake bread. It didn't occur to them to feel sorry for themselves. ↗

— Barbara Kingsolver

#happiness #poverty #imagination

Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible. ↗

— Mother Teresa

#poverty #inspirational

La verdadera pobreza no es la falta de pan, ni de techo, la verdadera pobreza viene de la sensación de no ser nadie. ↗

— María Teresa de Calcuta

#inspirational #poverty #inspirational

En el aspecto social, la inclusión es el principio básico. Nuestro lema son los pobres primero y para los pobres los mejores instrumentos, los mejores maestros, las mejores infraestructuras. La cultura para los pobres no puede ser una pobre cultura. Debe ser grande, ambiciosa, refinada, avanzada, nada de sobras. Además, ellos multiplican su efecto, porque son enormemente agradecidos ante el esfuerzo. No es práctico incorporar a su vida esa faceta como si fuera un florero. ↗

— José Antonio Abreu

#inspirational #national-system-of-orchestra #orchestra #poverty #venezuela

You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace. ↗

— Frank McCourt

#mind #poverty #intelligence