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Poor Quotes

On scarcity, sympathy, and getting by with less.

These poor quotes move between genre commentary on bad decisions in horror movies, a pointed observation about selective sympathy during the Gulf War, and the practical mindset that comes from having very little. One entry also touches on the limited, poorly written roles once offered to certain actresses in Hollywood casting. For related themes, see Life quotes.

Besides being a prime cause of poor economic growth, poor governance breeds corruption, which cripples investment, wastes resources, and diminishes confidence.

Quotes by Ahmed Zewail

I am the son of poor peasants who came at a very young age to live in Algeria. I only recently saw the place where they were born, near the city of Marrakech.

Quotes by Ahmed Ben Bella

The universe lies before you on the floor, in the air, in the mysterious bodies of your dancers, in your mind. From this voyage no one returns poor or weary.

Quotes by Agnes de Mille

Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth.

Quotes by Aesop

Family Quotes

If you look around Brazil you see pregnant women everywhere. Here you don't see that as much. There the only thing they do is babies, babies, babies! Especially the poor families.

Quotes by Adriana Lima

The real tragedy of the poor is the poverty of their aspirations.

Quotes by Adam Smith

Democracies are poor breeding grounds for terrorism and war.

Quotes by Adam Schiff

When you're poor, you don't want anyone to know you're poor.

Quotes by Adam Rapp

In theory, parents are supposed to empathize with one other - find common cause in the fervent desire to preserve and protect the world for the next generation, and connect on some deep, almost mystical level that those poor souls...

Quotes by Adam Mansbach

Good Quotes

In poor countries, the rich and powerful crush the poor and powerless.

Quotes by Adam Davidson

I was born in Jerusalem with a religious background and a rabbi as a father... it was rather poor, but what we did have, we did have books.

Quotes by Ada Yonath

I was born in Jerusalem in 1939 to a poor family that shared a rented four-room apartment with two additional families and their children.

Quotes by Ada Yonath

Pride in the case of a rich man is bad, but pride in the case of a poor man is worse.

Quotes by Abu Bakr

This is why I have always said that it would be better if Muslims were poor.

Quotes by Abu Bakar Bashir

Life Quotes

The seminaries must be like the churches' poor relations, prolonging their existence with austerity.

Quotes by Abraham Kuyper

My father was a factory worker, and we were really poor. But everything I earned peddling papers and working in stores, he made me put aside for education.

Quotes by Abraham A. Ribicoff

My parents were not poor, I mean we were a very average middle-class family of academics, but my grandfather happened to have built house literally next to one of Kolkata's largest slum.

Quotes by Abhijit Banerjee

Corruption is a huge problem and the poor and the powerless are often its most egregious victims. But it is not an accident that the most effective bureaucracies in the world rely much more on internal controls rather than on...

Quotes by Abhijit Banerjee

One problem with globalisation is that bad ideas seem to travel faster than good ones; first there was smearing tomato ketchup on everything; then drinking sugar-soaked cocktails ('Cosmo'-politanism) instead of our traditional whisky soda, and now this idea that we...

Quotes by Abhijit Banerjee

Man Quotes

Well-designed subsidies help the poor make the best of whatever opportunities they have; poorly designed ones either do very little or actually make things worse for them.

Quotes by Abhijit Banerjee

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the quote about horror films say about "poor" decisions?
It observes that "Poor decisions and bad luck are contingencies of most horror films" — in other words, characters making bad choices under pressure is a common ingredient in the genre. If you enjoy quotes about people and their choices, our Man quotes are worth a look.
What historical event does one of these quotes reference?
One quote refers to the Gulf War era, when Iraq's Saddam Hussein launched Scud missile attacks on Israel — a real historical episode. The quote itself observes a pattern in public opinion around it: "As soon as, say, Saddam Hussein started bombing Israel with Scuds, everyone was like, 'Poor Israel.' But when Israel retaliates - and most of the time they then win - people turn against them." This is presented here strictly as the speaker's own observation about how sympathy can shift depending on who appears to be winning, not as commentary on any current conflict.
Is there a quote about what it means to be poor financially?
Yes — one quote simply states, "When you are poor, you'll have to think of ways to be better off." Financial hardship often ties closely to family life — see our Family quotes for more.
Does one quote mention turning down film roles?
Yes. One quote explains that after a well-known martial arts film, the speaker turned down a lot of Hollywood offers because they were "victim roles - poor girls sold to America to be a..." — the speaker's own account of why they declined those parts, without going further into what the roles depicted beyond that description.
What's a common thread across these "poor" quotes?
They use "poor" in very different senses — bad luck in movies, a specific historical episode and shifting public opinion, financial hardship, and difficult roles turned down in a career — showing how flexible the word can be depending on context. For more on facing tough circumstances with perspective, see our Good quotes or Life quotes.

Several also connect poverty to Family and what it takes to build a better life, pair this page with our Good collection for more on resilience.