#pov

Our poverty will be brought home to us to its full extent only after the war. ↗

— Joseph A. Schumpeter

#brought #extent #full #home #only

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. ↗

— Khaled Hosseini

#cring #fables #greed #poverty #sorrow

It is very expensive to give bad medical care to poor people in a rich country. ↗

— Paul Farmer

#poverty #rights #science #science

Hunger and necessity are poor teachers of morality. A society that cannot provide the basics of life does not get its laws obeyed. ↗

— A.J. Quinnell

#laws #poverty #societal-breakdown #society #life

Real poverty is when hunger pangs force from my mind all thoughts but those of food. Real poverty is when the children are not dressed warmly enough for winter. Real poverty is when the housing we can afford is not adequate to the needs of our families. On the other hand, real poverty is - equally - when I have eaten so much that I am uncomfortable, and again, my thoughts center on food. Or when I have so many clothes that I have to spend a lot of mental energy making choices among them or finding ways to store them. Or when, regardless of my living conditions, I am discontent and brooding about how to have more. Real poverty is when material things are uppermost and pressing - whether because we have too few or too many of them. It is poverty, because the human mind and spirit are made for higher things, worthier pursuits. ↗

— Maxine Hancock

#poverty #prosperity #wealth #equality

Recent evidence confirms that retail prices of essential consumer goods in poor countries are not appreciably lower than in the United States or Western Europe. In fact, with deregulation and "free trade", the cost of living in many Third World cities is now higher than in the United States. My experience in Latin America and Haiti is that the prices of meat, fish and fresh vegetables are about the same as in the United States. Can you imagine eating on less than one dollar a day? ↗

— Vincent A. Gallagher

#globalization #injustice #poverty #experience

And every historic effort to forge a democratic project has been undermined by two fundamental realities: poverty and paranoia. The persistence of poverty generates levels of despair that deepen social conflict the escalation of paranoia produces levels of distrust that reinforce cultural division. Rae is the most explosive issue in American life precisely because it forces us to confront the tragic facts of poverty and paranoia despair, and distrust. In short, a candid examination of race matters takes us to the core of the crisis of American democracy (p. 107). ↗

— Cornel West

#democracy #poverty #race #life

When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist. ↗

— Hélder Câmara

#christianity #communism #compassion #food #hunger

Feel what it's like to truly starve, and I guarantee that you'll forever think twice before wasting food. ↗

— Criss Jami

#considerate #consideration #environment #experience #famine

A community that is growing rich and seeks only to defend its goods and its reputation is dying. It has ceased to grow in love. A community is alive when it is poor and its members feel they have to work together and remain united, if only to ensure that they can all eat tomorrow! ↗

— Jean Vanier

#poverty #wealth #love