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"Wars
against nations are fought to change maps; wars
against poverty are fought to map change."
-- Muhammad
Ali |
"Poverty
devastates families, communities and nations.
It causes instability and political unrest and
fuels conflict."
-- Kofi
Annan |
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Whether
our task is fighting poverty, stemming the spread
of disease or saving innocent lives from mass murder,
we have seen that we cannot succeed without the leadership
of the strong and the engagement of all.
-- Kofi
Annan
"Let
us work in partnerships between rich and poor to improve
the opportunities of all human beings to build better
lives."
-- Kofi
Annan
"On
this International Day for the Eradication of Poverty,
let us recognize that extreme poverty anywhere is
a threat to human security everywhere. Let us recall
that poverty is a denial of human rights. For the
first time in history, in this age of unprecedented
wealth and technical prowess, we have the power to
save humanity from this shameful scourge. Let us summon
the will to do it."
-- Kofi
Annan
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
I
know that government doesn't have the all solutions
that real solutions do not come from the top down.
Instead, the ways to end poverty come from all of
us. We are part of the solution.
-- Governor Kathleen Blanco
Think
about it: Every educated person is not rich, but almost
every education person has a job and a way out of
poverty. So education is a fundamental solution to
poverty.
-- Governor Kathleen Blanco
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This
is not about charity, it's about justice...
The war against terror is bound up in the
war against poverty - I didn't say that, Colin
Powell said that . . . In these disturbing
and distressing times, surely it's cheaper,
and smarter, to make friends out of potential
enemies than it is to defend yourself against
them..Justice is the surest way to get peace.
-- Bono
Do
we have the will to make poverty history?
-- Bono
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On
trade, our hypocrisy is at its most appalling. Trade
reform isn't about charity, it's about justice, and
this campaign, Trade Justice is an unstoppable idea.
-- Bono
It
wouldn't cost too much to change the rules of trade
so that poor countries can work their way out of poverty.
But the world's leaders won't act unless they hear
enough people telling them. And every day they fail
to act, thousands of people die because they can't
afford the basics of survival.
-- Bono
Everywhere
I go, I see very much the same thing. I see the same
compassion for people who live half a world away.
I see the same concern about events beyond these borders.
And, increasingly, I see the same conviction that
we can and we must join together to stop the scourge
of AIDS and poverty.
-- Bono
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The
combined efforts of millions of concerned citizens
could do wonders to help the impoverished. The
American people are ready for action!
-- Barbara
Boxer |
Peace
is something more than the absence of war, although
some nations would be thankful for that alone
today. A durable and equitable peace system
requires equal development opportunities for
all nations.
-- Willy
Brandt |
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Peace
is no mere matter of men fighting or not fighting.
Peace, to have meaning for many who have known
only suffering in both peace and war, must be
translated into bread or rice, shelter, health,
and education, as well as freedom and human
dignity - a steadily better life. If peace is
to be secure, long-suffering and long-starved,
forgotten peoples of the world, the underprivileged
and the undernourished, must begin to realize
without delay the promise of a new day and a
new life.
-- Ralph
J. Bunche |
When
you give food to the poor, they call you a saint.
When you ask why the poor have no food, they call
you a communist.
--Archbishop Helder Camara
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
There
was never a war on poverty. Maybe there was a skirmish
on poverty.
-- Andrew Cuomo
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"Peace
can only last where human rights are respected,
where the people are fed, and where individuals
and nations are free."
-- 14th
Dalai Lama
The
problems we face today, violent conflicts,
destruction of nature, poverty, hunger and
so on, are human-created problems which can
be resolved through human effort, understanding
and the development of a sense of brotherhood
and sisterhood. We need to cultivate a universal
responsibility for one another and the planet
we share.
--
14th
Dalai Lama
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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 |
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Just
because a child's parents are poor or uneducated
is no reason to deprive the child of basic
human rights to health care, education and
proper nutrition.
-- Marian
Wright Edelman
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"I
believe it is wrong, in a country of such wealth
and prosperity, to have 36 million Americans
living in poverty."
-- John
Edwards
|
While we fight poverty in the Gulf, we also have to
fight poverty across America. We should begin by returning
to a promise once kept and now broken: If you work
full-time, you shouldn't have to raise your children
in poverty.
-- John
Edwards
But
will this attention to poverty be sustained or transient?
That depends on our leaders - whether we step up and
sustain our moral commitment as the country's conscience
would naturally want us to do.
-- John
Edwards
...stand
with me today and pledge to work for an America that
doesn't ignore those in need and lifts up those who
wish to succeed. Pledge to hold your government accountable
for ignoring the suffering of so many for far too
long. And pledge to do your part to build the America
that we have dreamed of - where the bright light of
opportunity shines on every person - an America where
the family you are born into, or the color of your
skin, will never control your destiny.
-- John
Edwards
To
live in poverty is to live with constant uncertainty,
to accept galling indignities, and to expect
harassment by the police, welfare officials
and employers, as well as by others who are
poor and desperate.
-- Barbara
Ehrenreich |
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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.
-- Dwight
D. Eisenhower |
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A
pacifism which can see the cruelties only
of occasional military warfare and is blind
to the continuous cruelties of our social
system is worthless.
-- Mohandas
K. Gandhi
"There
is enough for everybody's need, but not for
everybody's greed."
-- Mohandas
K. Gandhi
"Poverty
is the worst form of violence."
-- Mohandas
K. Gandhi
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We’re
looking at the singular condition of poverty.
All the other individual problems spring from
that condition... doesn’t matter if it’s death,
aid, trade, AIDS, famine, instability, governance,
corruption or war. All of that is poverty. Our
problem is that everybody tries to heal each
of the individual aspects of poverty, not poverty
itself.
-- Bob
Geldof |
But
the poor person does not exist as an inescapable fact
of destiny. His or her existence is not politically
neutral, and it is not ethically innocent. The poor
are a by-product of the system in which we live and
for which we are responsible. They are marginalized
by our social and cultural world. They are the oppressed,
exploited proletariat, robbed of the fruit of their
labor and despoiled of their humanity. Hence the poverty
of the poor is not a call to generous relief action,
but a demand that we go and build a different social
order.
-- Gustavo Gutierrez
Poverty
is a scourge that must be overcome, and this can only
be accomplished through concerted international efforts
involving effective partnerships between developed
and developing countries and between government, the
private sector and civil society.
-- Dr. HAN Seung-soo, Former President of the UN General
Assembly
We
must work to ensure the human dignity that comes with
a life free from hunger and poverty."
-- Julian R. Hunte Former President of the UN General
Assembly
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Experience
declares that man is the only animal which
devours his own kind, for I can think of no
milder term to apply to?the general prey of
the rich on the poor.
-- Thomas
Jefferson
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No
one who works for a living should live in poverty.
-- Senator Edward Kennedy
The
world is very different now. For man holds
in his mortal hands the power to abolish all
forms of human poverty, and all forms of human
life.
-- John
F. Kennedy
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I
believe that, as long as there is plenty, poverty
is evil.
-- Robert
Kennedy |
True
compassion is more than flinging a coin
at a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice
which produces beggars needs restructuring.
-- Martin
Luther King Jr
"We
have ancient habits to deal with, vast structures
of power, indescribably complicated problems
to solve. But unless we abdicate our humanity
altogether and succumb to fear and impotence
in the presence of the weapons we have ourselves
created, it is as possible and as urgent
to put an end to war and violence between
nations as it is to put an end to poverty
and racial injustice."
-- Martin
Luther King Jr (1929-1968)
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"Peace
does not fare well where poverty and deprivation
reign. It does not flourish where there is ignorance
and a lack of education and information. Repression,
injustice and exploitation are inimical with
peace. Peace is gravely threatened by inter-group
fear and envy and by the unleashing of unrealistic
expectations. Racial, class and religious intolerance
and prejudice are its mortal enemies."
-- Frederik
W. de Klerk |
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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
In
this new century, many of the world's poorest
countries remain imprisoned, enslaved and
in chains. They are trapped in the prison
of poverty. It is time to set them free. 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
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"Trade
justice for the developing world and for this generation
is a truly significant way for the developed countries
to show commitment to bringing about an end to global
poverty."
-- Nelson
Mandela
Massive
poverty and obscene inequality are such terrible scourges
of our times -- times in which the world boasts breathtaking
advances in science, technology, industry and wealth
accumulation -- that they have to rank alongside slavery
and apartheid as social evils.
-- Nelson
Mandela
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Wars
are bred by poverty and oppression. Continued
peace is possible only in a relatively free
and prosperous world.
-- George
C. Marshall
"Our
policy is directed not against any country
or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation
and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival
of a working economy in the world so as to
permit the emergence of political and social
conditions in which free institutions can
exist."
-- George
C. Marshall (1880-1959)
|
We
live in the richest country in the world. There's
plenty to spare and for no man, woman, or child to
be in want. And in addition to this our country was
founded on what should have been a great , true principle
-- the freedom, equality, and rights of each individual.
Huh! And what has come of this start? There are corporations
worth billions of dollars--and hundreds of thousands
of people who don't get to eat.
-- Carson McCullers
Pay
attention to the hungry, both in this country
and around the world. Pay attention to the poor.
Pay attention to our responsibilities for world
peace. We are our brother’s keeper...
-- George
McGovern |
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The
international trading system was devised by the rich
to suit their needs; it ignores those of the poor.'
-- Pope Paul VI
By
the time this concert ends this evening, 30,000 Africans
will have died because of extreme poverty. By this
time tomorrow evening, another 30,000. This does not
make sense.
-- Brad Pitt
An
imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and
most fatal ailment of all republics.
-- Plutarch
He
who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and
he who gives gifts to the rich--both come to poverty.
-- Proverbs 22:16
How
unthinkable that, in a country of such bursting
plenty, so many people are facing ongoing hunger
and poverty. If we are truly each other's keepers,
let's support school lunches, food stamps, neighborhood
garden projects, and so many other wonderful
programs working to put an end to this cruel
and needless blight once and for all.
-- Bonnie
Raitt |
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The
test of our progress is not whether we add
more to the abundance of those who have enough;
it is whether we provide enough for those
who have too little."
-- Franklin
Delano Roosevelt
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“It’s
quite possible to arrive in the year 2030
where people are no longer dying of poverty.
We could actually help lead a global end-not
a reduction, but an end-to absolute poverty…I
have always found that a committed, powerful
group of leaders, can make a huge difference.”
-- Jeffrey
Sachs
|
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All
of the incessant debate about development assistance,
and whether the rich are doing enough to help the
poor, actually concerns less than 1% of rich world
income. The effort required of the rich is indeed
so slight that to do less is to announce brazenly
to a large part of the world: 'You count for nothing.'
We should not be surprised, then, if in later years
the rich reap the whirlwind of that heartless response.
-- Jeffrey
Sachs
Our
interconnectedness on the planet is the dominating
truth of the 21st century. One stark result is that
the world's poor live, and especially die, with the
awareness that the United States is doing little to
mobilise the weapons of mass salvation that could
offer them survival, dignity and eventually the escape
from poverty. -- Jeffrey
Sachs
The
rich do not have to invest enough in the poorest countries
to make them rich; they need to invest enough so that
these countries can get their foot on the economic
ladder . . . Economic development works. It can be
successful. It tends to build on itself. But it must
get started.
-- Jeffrey
Sachs
The
essence of Africa's crisis is fundamentally its extreme
poverty and therefore its inability to mobilize out
of its own resources even the barest of minimum resources
to address any of the public health crises that Africa
faces.
-- Jeffrey
Sachs
"When
the rich make war, it's the poor that die."
-- Jean-Paul Sartre
Security,
the chief pretense of civilization, cannot exist where
the worst of dangers, the danger of poverty, hangs
over everyone's head
-- George
Bernard Shaw
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The
first world is going to have to account for
this sort of horrible poverty in our midst.
We have to, first of all, become aware of
it. We have to take responsibility for it.
And then we have to do something about it
for our own freedom, for our own salvation,
for our own humanity.
-- Martin
Sheen
We
think of violence as being conflict and fighting
and wars and so forth, but the most ongoing
horrific measure of violence is in the horrible
poverty of the Third World… and the poverty
in the United States as well. We have our
own Third World here. And we have to first
become aware of that and how to help and solve
that.
-- Martin
Sheen
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Most
of the poverty and misery in the world is
due to bad government, lack of democracy,
weak states, internal strife, and so on.
-- George
Soros
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I
am weary seeing our laboring classes so
wretchedly housed, fed, and clothed, while
thousands of dollars are wasted every year
over unsightly statues. If these great man
must have outdoor memorials, let them be
in the form of handsome blocks of buildings
for the poor
--
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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Unions
have been the best anti-poverty program that actually
worked and did not cost the government a dime. But
as unions grow smaller- not stronger- our ability
to act as an economic mechanism to distribute the
gains of our work and raise all workers' wages and
benefits up is disappearing.
-- Andy Stern, SEIU President
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It
is a poverty to decide that a child must die
so that you may live as you wish.
-- Mother
Teresa |
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A
society is judged by the way it cares for
its most vulnerable citizens. As an American,
I am ashamed that we have turned out backs
on millions of our children. I want to do
my part to rectify this terrible situation.
-- Marlo
Thomas
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Peace
will never be entirely secure until men everywhere
have learned to conquer poverty without sacrificing
liberty or security.
-- Norman Thomas
"Poverty
is not something people impose on themselves for want
of effort and community organisation. It is constructed
by divisive and discriminatory laws, inflexible organisations,
acquisitive ideologies of wealth, a deeply rooted
class system and policies which serve privilege in
the short term and destroy society in the long term."
-- Peter Townshend
"We
must live more simply so that the poor may simply
live."
-- F.E. Trainer
Let's
share our abundance and make our country stronger.
-- John Travolta
|
Because
there is global insecurity, nations are engaged
in a mad arms race, spending billions of dollars
wastefully on instruments of destruction,
when millions are starving. And yet, just
a fraction of what is extended so obscenely
on defense budgets would make a real difference
in enabling God's children to fill their stomachs,
be educated, and be given the chance to lead
fulfilled and happy lives.
-- Desmond
Tutu
|
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"The
arms race can kill, though the weapons themselves
may never be used...by their cost alone, armaments
kill the poor by causing them to starve."
-- Vatican statement to the U.N., 1976
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Poverty
is multidimensional. It extends beyond money
incomes to education, health care, political
participation and advancement of one's own
culture and social organisation.
-- Atal
Bihari Vajpayee
|
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There's
a moral convergence happening among religious
leaders on the issue of poverty"
-- Rev.
Jim Wallis
|
The
freest government cannot long endure when the tendency
of the law is to create a rapid accumulation of property
in the hands of a few, and to render the masses poor
and dependent.
-- Daniel Webster
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What
a devil art thou, Poverty! How many desires
- how many aspirations after goodness and
truth - how many noble thoughts, loving wishes
toward our fellows, beautiful imaginings thou
hast crushed under thy heel, without remorse
or pause!
-- Walt
Whitman
|
The
issue of poverty is not a statistical issue. It is
a human issue.
-- James Wolfensohn
What
we need to do is increase the totality of money that
is given to the poorest areas and then we can do more
on prevention but we have crucial needs at the moment
just to get people out of poverty and to get the eight
hundred million people that go to bed at night hungry,
give them some food and some hope.
-- James Wolfensohn
I
was deeply concerned then, and have become more concerned
since, that unless we can deal with the questions
of development and the questions of poverty, there's
no way that we're going to have a peaceful world for
our children.
-- James Wolfensohn
Too
many of the conflicts which are caused today are caused
by the problems that emerge from people who are in
poverty.
-- James Wolfensohn
The
first thing that you need to deal with is the issue
of equity and poverty.
-- James Wolfensohn
My
vision for the future? Two things: to make credit
a human right so that each individual human being
will have the opportunity to take loans and implement
his or her ideas so that self-exploration becomes
possible. And second: that it will lead to a world
where nobody has to suffer from poverty - a world
completely free from poverty.
-- Muhammad
Yunus
This
is not charity. This is business: business with a
social objective, which is to help people get out
of poverty.
-- Muhammad
Yunus
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