The greatest of evils and the worst of crimes is poverty.
- George Bernard Shaw
A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilisation.
- Samuel Johnson, quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson, 1770.
Anticipate charity by preventing poverty.
- Maimonides
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
- John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 1961.
The truth is we are all caught in a great economic system which is heartless.
- Woodrow Wilson, The New Freedom.
In a comment respond to one or several of these quotations. If you like, write a couple of comments.
- Is there a quotation that you especially like? Which one? Why?
- Is there one that you dislike? Why?
- Do you have any questions about them? What?
- ?
- And question 4 in Quest: In your culture are there any famous saying or proverbs about poverty?
__________
References
I like Samuel Johnson's quotation: "A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilisation." I think poverty exists because of people have greed. In true civilised society, we can expect people have very less greed and provide more help for others which could solve poverty problem.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I still question this quote; if there are decent provisions in society, is it civilized? What if a politician, who corrupts government budgets or receives a bribe, donate large amount of money for poverty, that is surely not a civilisation.
About Maimonides's quote: Anticipate charity by preventing poverty. Is that means we can do a charity by preventing poverty? And can we assume that only charity cannot stop poverty?
ReplyDeleteIn Woodrow Wilson's quote, does he mean only capitalism or any economic systems, which have no empathy?
What do you think?
I found one of Thai Buddhism' proverb - I'm not sure if it come from Buddhadasa or 36 Mongkhol-Chewit - saying about poverty: having self-sufficiency, you will become a millionaire in a pauper's house; having a greed, you will become a pauper in a millionaire's house.
ReplyDeleteDig,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thoughtful questions for people to address, and hopefully answer.
Since we are doing exercise C. (p. 92 - 93) of Quest, I also have a question.
Which of the OALD definitions of anticipate is closed in meaning to the idea in the quotation from Maimonides that Dig has commented on? (August 27, 2011 12:36 AM) How close is it? What do you think is the correct meaning of this word in the quotation?
Dig (August 27, 2011 12:36 AM),
ReplyDeleteI guess that Wilson had capitalism in mind.
Communism and the other forms of state controlled economies (socialist, or whatever) are even more heartless and much worse for everyone - as the historical record shows. Communistic government control of things like rice prices, oil prices, land ownership and so on, makes life worse for everyone, but especially for the poorest people. For example, look how the poorest in Thialand suffer because of unjust restrictions on the building of supermarkets. The only people who benefit are small shop owners who continue charging higher prices for worse service to poor farmers, and the entire economy has to suffer for their greed supported by government interference. Also disastrously bad for the poorest are restrictions on to whom they can sell their land. And very bad for the entire economy are unjust laws discriminating against non-Thai businesses, which serve to encourage inefficient, exploitative and monopolistic practices so that a tiny elite get filthy rich by forcing everyone else to pay for their bad management and government supported greed. Capitalism would not allow such injustices and economic damage.
In fact, I think that socialist thinking is more greed based than capitalism, which is not inherently greedy. (I think there is another argument about definitions here: What precisely is capitalism? I think it's a system where human beings are respected and allowed to make their own decisions, for which they are responsible. And greed is no part of this definition.)
I like Dig's Buddhist proverb.
ReplyDeleteIt reminded me of the similar idea in David Copperfield, a famous novel by Charles Dickens. The quotation, spoken by the character Wilkins Micawber, is: "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."
And following up Dig's first comment, I think that people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, who follow a long history of very wealthy Americans giving very generously to society, is a sign that they are civilized people, and that the society that created them is civilized. Conspicuously, that society's economic base is capitalist, not state controlled. I think there is a reason for that - personal commitment and effort are killed when the government starts to control everything.
ReplyDeleteGiving away a little money you have not earned is nothing very wonderful, but that's not what the great American philanthropists do - they earn their wealth by creating real value for other people, which benefits the entire economy.
For me, I like the quotation of George Bernard Shaw that “The greatest of evils and the worst of crimes is poverty.” I like it because this quotation has a good meaning and I really agree with him. When I read this quotation, it makes me see many pictures of poverty such as slum, begging, and so on in my mind.
ReplyDeleteThe quotation that I less like than others is “Anticipate charity by preventing poverty.” by Maimonides. The cause that I dislike it is I prefer doing rather than saying, so if someone would like to solve problem about something, they should try to do something more than only talk or hope other will do that. If every people only think, but not do anything, our society will stay at the same place and can’t grow up.
In Thai proverbs have one proverb say that “tia aum com”(เตี้ยอุ้มค่อม). If we translate to English language, it can be “a short man holding a hunchback”. It means the people who are poor are also help others who more poor than them. I present this proverb because I think it show to the real situation in Thailand. Many people who are poor, when they have some money, they also share to others who more poor than them. In contrast, many people who are rich don’t care about poor people. Some people think it is not their business and ignore with this problem. That thinking is one cause of the gap in our society which is a big problem and can be a starting point of many problems in the future.