We are rich only through what we give, and poor only through what we refuse.

There are few ways in which a man can be more innocently employed than in getting money.

When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.

I do remember how it was to be poor. I do remember that in my early years, we had to grow and raise all of our food, even our animals. And I remember in my early life, we didn’t even have electricity. So it was very, very hard times then.

The common argument that crime is caused by poverty is a kind of slander on the poor.

I was poor white trash, no glitter, no glamour, but I’m not ashamed of anything.

It shows nobility to be willing to increase your debt to a man to whom you already owe much.

If only the people who worry about their liabilities would think about the riches they do possess, they would stop worrying.

Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants.

Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. That’s the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system.

When a man says money can do anything, that settles it: he hasn’t got any.

The poor are discussed as this homogeneous mash, like porridge. The idea that they might be individuals, and be where they are for very different, diverse reasons, again seems to escape some people.

Do something for somebody everyday for which you do not get paid.

I don’t mind saying, you know, that I don’t take a salary from the church, and God has blessed me with more money than I could imagine from my books.

Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor.

Whereas it has long been known and declared that the poor have no right to the property of the rich, I wish it also to be known and declared that the rich have no right to the property of the poor.

I refuse to feel guilty. I feel guilty about too much in my life but not about money. I went through periods when I had nothing, so somebody in my family has to get stinkin‘ wealthy.

It is a no-fail, incontrovertible reality: If you get, give. If you learn, teach. You can’t do anything with that except do it.

It put our energies to sleep and made visionaries of us – dreamers and indolent… It is good to begin life poor; it is good to begin life rich – these are wholesome; but to begin it prospectively rich! The man who has not experienced it cannot imagine the curse of it.

Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway.

He does not possess wealth; it possesses him.

Money has no utility to me beyond a certain point.

If the people are happy, united, wealthy, and powerful, we presume the rest. We conclude that to be good from whence good is derived.

You lose your individuality a huge amount when you have no money, and I certainly had that experience.

Funny thing is that the poorer people are, the more generous they seem to be.

Don’t matter how much money you got, there’s only two kinds of people: there’s saved people and there’s lost people.

Money’s important. Everyone cares about money. And when you don’t have money, money becomes the overriding obsession of your life.

Poverty breeds despair. We know this. Despair breeds violence. We know this. In turbulent times, isn’t it cheaper, and smarter, to make friends out of potential enemies than to defend yourself against them later?

The giving of love is an education in itself.

Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.

The reason why I wear gold – I wear gold for three reasons. One, when Jesus was born, three wise men came from the east: one brought frankincense, one brought myrrh, the other one brought gold. The second reason I wear gold is I can afford it. The third reason I wear it, it’s symbolic of my African heritage.

Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.

To free a person from error is to give, and not to take away.

There is no class so pitiably wretched as that which possesses money and nothing else.

We are the only real aristocracy in the world: the aristocracy of money.

It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.

Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get – only with what you are expecting to give – which is everything.

Some of these Ivy League kids want to have it both ways. They want to be baby members of the 1 percent, which they most certainly are, and yet still portray themselves as the oppressed.

He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.

Wealthy men can’t live in an island that is encircled by poverty. We all breathe the same air. We must give a chance to everyone, at least a basic chance.

As a kid, I got three meals a day. Oatmeal, miss-a-meal and no meal.

I was not raised with wealth or resources or any social standing to speak of.

You give before you get.

Your successes and happiness are forgiven you only if you generously consent to share them.

When you give, it comes back to you.

For many, Christmas is also a time for coming together. But for others, service will come first.

Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame.

The reason we want to go on and on is because we live in an impoverished present.

To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one’s own in the midst of abundance.

As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously.

Money is not the only answer, but it makes a difference.

That man is rich whose pleasures are the cheapest.

When the human race neglects its weaker members, when the family neglects its weakest one – it’s the first blow in a suicidal movement. I see the neglect in cities around the country, in poor white children in West Virginia and Virginia and Kentucky – in the big cities, too, for that matter.

The highest use of capital is not to make more money, but to make money do more for the betterment of life.

You know, T can stand for anything. T stand for working hard. T stand for loving thy neighbor. T stand for feeding the hungry. T stand for just working, working, working, being happy on the set, you know, lifting everybody’s spirits. T stands for just a nice guy.

Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant.

If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.

Riches don’t make a man rich, they only make him busier.

The main message of Climate Revolution is that climate change is caused by the rotten financial system we’ve got, designed to create poverty and rip off any profits for a small amount of rich people. Meanwhile, it destroys the earth.

There are two types of poor people, those who are poor together and those who are poor alone. The first are the true poor, the others are rich people out of luck.

I was born in a very poor family. I used to sell tea in a railway coach as a child. My mother used to wash utensils and do lowly household work in the houses of others to earn a livelihood. I have seen poverty very closely. I have lived in poverty. As a child, my entire childhood was steeped in poverty.