Poverty Has Been Praised by Poets (Autosaved)

8/13/2019 Poverty Has Been Praised by Poets (Autosaved)

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Poverty has been praised by poets, recommended by saints, and welcomed by philosophers. Again

and again, we have heard it being said that the poor are blessed, for them the kingdom of God is

assured. The poor live plainly but their mind is filled with noble thoughts. When one hears wise

people become lyrical over all the blessings of poverty, one begins to wonder whether these people

know what poverty really means and causes.

Dr. Johnson, when knew by experience what exactly poverty was, had nothing but contempt for the

fashionable philosophers seeking, naked, unrelieved want. It means want of food for a growing

family, want of clothes in the season of cold, want of shelter against the blows of hostile weather,

want of medical help in sickness, want of the means to carry on one's studies. Who but a hypocrite or

a fool will say that such a life of want is a blessing? Poverty is one long temptation to crimes of all

kinds. The jail records will show that people have committed crimes under the pressure of poverty,

even sold their bodies, due to dire want.

It is said that the poor man, who is free from the distractions of wealth, is better able to devote

himself to high thoughts. Poverty is a curse,

let there be no mistake about that and contentment

with poverty is a crime if not a sin.

The society that quietly thinks of poverty has lost the power of feeling. When people contemplate the

dazzling splendour of the rich man's home, they come to acquire a sort of unspoken contempt for the

drab ugliness of the poor man's cottage. That is why the poor labour almost as hound to push

themselves into the notice of their more fortunate brethren. Yet it is poverty, which impels one more

to struggle against adverse circumstance, without compromising dignity.

The man who is comparatively poor has hope of being not so poor; it gives him the energy to

struggle, the zest for action. But the genuinely poor man is in a pitiable condition. Social conditionsare against him. He loses human dignity and self-respect.

Poverty is the curse of a capitalist society where there is very little economic justice, where those who

are willing, do not get work. Therefore, every thoughtful man today courses this system of capitalism

that gives rise to poverty and makes the rich richer and the poor poorer.

In a welfare state the Government, the missionary organisations and benevolent private persons set

about alleviating poverty. The sovereign way to end poverty is to ensure equitable distribution of

wealth and opportunities. If the amount that different countries spend each year on War and

Defence is cut down by a small percentage, there will be no poverty. Poverty will be a thing of the

past if the national income could be increased by six percent and the wealth is fairly distributed

Poverty is curse as far as developing and underdeveloped countries are concerned. Developed

countries such as US are not faced with poverty as their population is provided well with material

things, food, clothes and shelter. In fact, these countries enjoy luxuries rather than comforts.


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Developing nations such as India and underdeveloped African nations face acute poverty. Some of these

countries are over populated and are unable to feed their millions. Many people experience starvation

and are malnourished.

Nations that experience poverty have fewer natural resources and even if they have they are unable to

exploit them to the maximum. Much concern is expressed by world bodies such as United Nations,

World Bank about the seriousness about the poverty levels in these backward nations.

How poverty affects a nation?

People suffer from malnutrition.

Disease spreads.

People are either starved or semi-starved.

Lack of proper medical facilities.

Educational opportunities are less.

It is difficult to build a proper infrastructure within the country to ensure adequate economicfacilities for the people.

Availability of sophisticated technology for industries can be inadequate as it is difficult for

these countries to provide the necessary technical know- how.

Per capita income is low.

Industrial growth can be stagnant due to lack of necessary resources.

Depend upon outside financial assistance such as aid from World Bank etc.

Why developed countries do not face poverty?

Developed countries have plenty of resources on hand. They are able to manage their industries well.

They are able to provide sufficient food, clothing and shelter to their population. They have plenty offinancial resources at their disposal to set up industries and experiment with new technology. People

are well educated and are able to contribute to the economy in a positive way. They are not a burden,

but an asset. The standard of living in these countries is very high.

Poverty is indeed a curse. Countries faced with this economic problem are also experiencing social

problems. Poverty would mean more crimes, health problems.

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Emotions & Psychology Pain & Suffering Food & E

Money is soul-energy, it represents the very energy of life itself; depending

how you use it can either free you or enslave you-- The Rebbe

A man once set out to visit a great sage in the town of Mezritch. When he

arrived, he asked where to find the man, and was shown to a tiny, decrepit

shack at the edge of town. Inside, there was nothing but a broken-down bed

and a table full of books, where an old man was studying. The traveler was

shaken. Where does the sage live? he asked the old man.

It is I, said the old man. What is disturbing you so?

I dont understand. You are a great sage, with so many disciples that your

name is known all across the country. It doesnt seem fitting that you should

be living in a room like this. You should be living in a palace.

Where doyoulive? the old man asked.I live in a palace, a grand home with magnificent furnishings.

And how do you make a living?

The man explained that he was a businessman, traveling twice a year to a

large city to buy materials that he brought back and sold to local merchants.

The sage asked him where he stayed when he was in the city.

I stay in a small room in a small hotel, he answered.

If someone were to walk into that small room, might they not say, Why

are you, a wealthy businessman, living in such a small room? And you

would say, I am only on the road for a short time, so this is all I need.

Come to my real home, and you will see that it is entirely different.

My friend, the same is here, the old man continued. I am also only on the

road. This material world is just a road. In my home, too, it is very different.Come to my spiritual home, and you will see that I live in a palace.

Is money a blessing or a curse?

Most people measure their self-worth by their bank account. The bigger it is,

the better they feel about themselves. Because we put so much energy into

earning money, it represents the very energy of life as we see it.

Some people feel that they and they alone are responsible for their success,

that their intelligence and abilities made it so. This is the serious challenge

of wealth: to not be deceived by your own ego but to remember that it is G-

d who gives us the power to become prosperous.

This is not to say that your success is not a result of your efforts; of course

it is. And you must do everything possible to ensure success, not just sit

back and wait for money tocome your way. But you must acknowledge that

it is G-ds blessing, and not your effort alone, that creates wealth.

On its own, money can be a curse. Money can cause endless anxiety, for no

matter how much you have, you can never be sure that youwill not

somehow lose it all.
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When you put money in perspective and recognize why it was given to you,

it becomes a blessing instead of a curse. And by using your wealth for

charitable and philanthropic purposes instead of spending it all on the desire

of the moment, your money becomes eternal.

How does giving charity turn money into a blessing?

The power of charity does not allow you to become bogged down in your

own self-interest. Acts of goodness and kindness are virtuous, but giving

money to charity is the most powerful way to elevate your soul, for it means

giving a piece of everything that you are -- your abilities, your efforts, your

ambitions, your compassion.

The key to charity lies in understanding that it is not just a gift to the

receiver, but to the giver as well. The need to be charitable is one of the

most fundamental human needs; just as we need food and protection and

love, we need to share what has been given to us. If a wealthy person gives

arrogantly, thinking that he is doing a great favor, he is sadly mistaken: the

favor is being done to him.More than the rich man does for the pauper,

say the sages, the pauper does for the rich man.

If I give charity, wont there be less for me?

From a pure business perspective, one may argue that charity simply

reduces ones financial resources. But when we recognize that G-ds blessing

is the ultimate source of wealth, charity becomes the wisest investment

there is. If someone is having financial difficulty in his business, he should

increase the amount of his charitable contributions in order to increaseG-ds

blessing for wealth. As the sages say, Give charity, so that you may

prosper. Charity opens up new channels of wealth from above.

It is the call of our generation to increase charity in any way possible. We

should all be inspired -- and inspire others -- to make charity a regular part

of our lives.

ACTION

There are many practical ways to encourage regular charity-giving, no

matter how small it may be.

Place a charity box in the various rooms of your home, in your office, in your

car.

Teach your children to give money and time to others.

Schools should cultivategenerosity by regularly distributing money and goods

that their students can pass on to those in need, and companies should do thesame for their employees.

Look around and ask yourself, What do I have to give that can help

someone else? Do not worry that you cannot be as generous as you would

like, or that you dont have the time to spare. When it comes to giving of

yourself, there is nothing too small, and nothing too great.

This is an excerpt from Toward a Meaningful Life The Wisdom of the


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Rebbe by Rabbi Simon Jacobson.

WEALTH QUOTESquotations about wealth

Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.

OLIVER GOLDSMITH, "The Deserted Village"

Wealth makes an ugly person beautiful to look on and an incoherent speech eloquent; and wealth alonecan enjoy pleasure even in sickness and can conceal its miseries.

SOPHOCLES, The Sons of Aleus[fragment]There is a saying that no man has tasted the full flavour of life until he has known poverty, love and war.The justness of this reflection commends it to the lover of condensed philosophy. The three conditions


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embrace about all there is in life worth knowing. A surface thinker might deem that wealth should beadded to the list. Not so. When a poor man finds a long-hidden quarter-dollar that has slipped through arip into his vest lining, he sounds the pleasure of life with a deeper plummet than any millionaire canhope to cast.

O. HENRY, "The Complete Life of John Hopkins"Wealth held by a class and used ambitiously becomes as despotic as an absolute monarchy, and has inits hands manners, customs, laws, institutions, and governments themselves.

HENRY WARD BEECHER, Proverbs from Plymouth PulpitWealth is nothing more or less than a tool to do things with. It is like the fuel that runs the furnace or thebelt that runs the wheel -- only a means to an end.

HENRY FORD, TheosophistMagazine, Feb. 1930The first wealth is health.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON, "Power," The Conduct of LifeIn every well-governed state, wealth is a sacred thing; in democracies it is the only sacred thing.

ANATOLE FRANCE, Penguin IslandCapitalist production, therefore, develops technology, and the combining together of various processesinto a social whole, only by sapping the original sources of all wealth -- the soil and the labourer.

KARL MARK, CapitalWealth which breeds idleness ... is only a sort of human oyster-bed, where heirs and heiresses areplanted, to spend a contemptible life of slothfulness in growing plump and succulent for the grave-worm'sbanquet.

HORACE MANN,A Few Thoughts for a Young ManBehind the deceptive words designed to entice people into supporting violence -- words like democracy,freedom, self-defense, national security-- there is the reality of enormous wealth in the hands of a few,while billions of people in the world are hungry, sick, homeless.

HOWARD ZINN, preface, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train Competition, founded upon the conflicting interests of individuals, is in reality far less productive of wealth

and enterprise than co-operation, involving though it does the constant apparent sacrifice of theindividual to the common interests.

ROBERT HUGH BENSON,A City Set on a Hill


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There is no road to wealth so easy and respectable as that of matrimony.

ANTHONY TROLLOPE, Doctor ThorneFocusing your life solely on making a buck shows a poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Andit will leave you unfulfilled.

BARACK OBAMA, speech, Jul. 12, 2006Real estate is at the core of almost every business, and it's certainly at the core of most people's wealth.In order to build your wealth and improve your business smarts, you need to know about real estate.

DONALD TRUMP, Think Like a BillionaireSo long as all the increased wealth which modern progress brings goes but to build up great fortunes, toincrease luxury and make sharper the contrast between the House of Have and the House of Want,progress is not real and cannot be permanent.

HENRY GEORGE, Progress and PovertyMy conception of America is a land where men and women may walk in ordered freedom in theindependent conduct of their occupations; where they may enjoy the advantages of wealth, notconcentrated in the hands of the few but spread through the lives of all; where they build and safeguardtheir homes, and give to their children the fullest advantages and opportunities of American life; where

every man shall be respected in the faith that his conscience and his heart direct him to follow; where acontented and happy people, secure in their liberties, free from poverty and fear, shall have the leisureand impulse to seek a fuller life.

HERBERT HOOVER, speech, Oct. 22, 1928We may lack riches, but the greatest fortune is what lies in our hearts.

DEAN KOONTZ, Odd Thomas


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If you do not appreciate what you now have you will never appreciate what you will have. LEWIS F. KORNS, Thoughts

He who has wealth has friends.CHANAKYA, Vridda-Chanakya

Wealth is power, and power is the only thing about which contemporary culture cares.DEAN KOONTZ, Brother Odd

Three courses open lie to wealth, to give, enjoy, or lose,Who shrinketh from the former two, perforce the third doth choose.

BHARTRHARI, "On Wealth"Great wealth may be to its owner a blessing or a curse. Alas! I fear it is too often the latter. It hardens theheart, blunts the finer susceptibilities, and transforms into a fiend what under more favourablecircumstances might have been a human being.

ARNOLD BENNETT,A Question of SexThe wealthy seldom possess wealth: oftener they are possessed by it.

IVAN PANIN, ThoughtsThe loss of wealth is loss of dirt, As sages of all times assert;The happy man's without a shirt.

JOHN HEYWOOD, Be Merry FriendsOnce more, in the matter of wealth: if thou throw thine all on a chance,Men will come around thee, and wait, and watch the turning of the wheel; And if, in the lottery of life, thou draw a splendid prize,What foresight hadst thou, and skill! yea, what enterprize and wisdom!But, if it fall out against thee, and thou fail in thy perilous endeavour,Behold, the simple did sow, and hath reaped the right harvest of his folly.And the world will be gladly excused, nor will reach out a finger to help;For why should this speculative dullard be a whirlpool to all around him?


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Go to, let him sink by himself: we knew what the end of it would be. For the man hath missed his mark, and his fellows look no further.

MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER, Proverbial PhilosophyPoor is the man who can boast of nothing more than gold.

WILLIAM SCOTT DOWNEY, ProverbsThe way to cure hatred of the rich is to accumulate some property yourself.

LEWIS F. KORNS, ThoughtsWealth is a tool of freedom. But the pursuit of wealth is the way to slavery.

FRANK HERBERT, God Emperor of DuneIt is far more easy to acquire a fortune like a knave, than to expend it, like a gentleman.

CHARLES CALEB COLTON, LaconThere is no get-rich-quick scheme equal to a poor girl marrying a rich man.

EDGAR WATSON HOWE, Country Town SayingsWealth is an inborn attitude of mind, like poverty. The pauper who has made his pile may flaunt his spoilsbut cannot wear them plausibly.

JEAN COCTEAU, Les Enfants TerriblesLet me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early,and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, ina way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts,that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life forourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are betterthan we are. They are different.

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, "The Rich Boy" Those who spend too fast never grow rich.

HONORE DE BALZAC,At the Sign of the Cat and RacketBeing wealthy when no one else is is like being the only one at the party with a drink.

TIM ALLEN, Esquire, Nov. 2011When a fortune comes without calling, it's apt to leave without asking.

GEORGE HORACE LORIMER, Old Gorgon Graham


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That which can be lost cannot be deemed riches. LEONARDO DA VINCI, Thoughts on Art and Life

Let none admireThat riches grow in Hell; that soil may bestDeserve the precious bane.

JOHN MILTON, Paradise LostWealth is the Conjurer's Devil,Whom, when he thinks he hath, the Devil hath him.

GEORGE HERBERT, The Church-PorchWe may see the small value God has for riches by the people he gives them to.

ALEXANDER POPE, "Thoughts on Various Subjects"He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has.

HENRY WARD BEECHER, Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit

Poverty Has Been Praised by Poets (Autosaved)

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