In
every Indigenous community I’ve been in, they
absolutely do want community infrastructure and
they do want development, but they want it on
their own terms. They want to be able to use their
national resources and their assets in a way that
protects and sustains them. Our territories are
our wealth, the major assets we have. And Indigenous
people use and steward this property so that they
can achieve and maintain a livelihood, and achieve
and maintain that same livelihood for future generations.’
-- Rebecca Adamson
"We
must not only control the weapons that can kill
us, we must bridge the great disparities of wealth
and opportunity among the peoples of the world,
the vast majority of whom live in poverty without
hope, opportunity or choices in life. These conditions
are a breeding ground for division that can cause
a desperate people to resort to nuclear weapons
as a last resort. Our only hope lies in the power
of our love, generosity, tolerance and understanding
and our commitment to making the world a better
place..."
-- Muhammad Ali
*
"As
labor creates the wealth of the country, we demand
the passage of such laws as may be necessary to
protect it in all its rights."
-- John Peter
Altgeld
"...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
"No
man can tell if he is rich or poor by turning
to his ledger.
It is the heart that makes a man rich.
He is rich according to what he is, not according
to what he has."
-- Henry Ward
Beecher
The
American fast food diet and the meat eating habits
of the wealthy around the world support a world
food system that diverts food resources from the
hungry. A diet higher in whole grains and legumes
and lower in beef and other meat is not just healthier
for ourselves but also contributes to changing
the world system that feeds some people and leaves
others hungry.
-- Dr.Walden Bello
"The
nature of the economic system should be a matter for
public choice, and free market capitalism should not
be accepted without any discussion of the rich variety
of alternatives ... Unlike civil laws, economic laws
are imposed on people with all the authority of immutable
laws of nature. But the economy is created by people,
supported by government intervention, regulation, statute
and subsidy, and implemented in such a way that it gives
substantial wealth and power to a privileged few, while
the majority face a life of relentless work, stress
and periodic financial insecurity."
-- Tony Benn
When
we all relate to each other as we would like to receive
if our roles are reversed, we move closer to utopia.
Every one of us can bring this closer, starting now.
This includes how we relate to our own family, our neighbors
and how we use our wealth and opportunities to help
entire nations that lack our advantages. -- Bill Blackman
I
learned that the interior of life was as rewarding as
the exterior of life,
and that my richest moments occurred when I was absolutely
still.
-- Richard Bode
*
Today social justice represents one of the most
serious challenges to the conscience of the world.
The abyss between those who are within the world
'order' and those who are excluded is widening
day by day. The use of leading-edge technologies
has made it possible to accumulate wealth in a
way that is fantastic but perverse because it
is unjustly distributed. Twenty-percent of humankind
control eighty percent of all means of life. That
fact creates a dangerous imbalance in the movement
of history.
-- Leonardo Boff
My
riches consist not in the extent of my possessions but
in the fewness of my wants.
-- J. Botherton
"If
we lived in a desert and our lives depended on a water
supply that came out of a steel tube, we would inevitably
watch that tube and talk about it understandingly. No
citizen would need to be lectured about his duty toward
its care and spurred to help if it were in danger. Teachers
of civics in such a community might develop a sense
of public responsibility, not only by describing the
remote beginnings of the commonwealth, but also how
that tube got built, how long it would last, how vital
the intake might be if the rainfall on the forested
mountains nearby ever changed in seasonal habit ot amount.
It would be a most unimaginative person, or a stupid
one, who could not see the vital relation between the
mountains, the forests, that tube and himself."
-- Isaiah Bowman
"We
can have a democracy in this country
or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands
of a few, but we cannot have both."
-- Justice Louis D. Brandeis
"One
of the most distressing consequences of globalization
is the increase in the wealth of a few while hundreds
of millions of people still live in poverty. However,
microfinance is a powerful tool to begin to change that."
-- Marilou van Golstein Brouwers
Surplus
wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is
bound to administer in his lifetime for the good
of the community.
~ Andrew Carnegie
To
live content with small means; to seek elegance rather
than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to
be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not, rich;
to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with
open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly,
talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word,
to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow
up through the common--this is my symphony.
-- William Henry Channing
*"Democracy
is just a word. You have to give it meaning. The
US is not a democracy. Most Americans do not vote.
We haven't had a real choice for a long, long time
now. Wealth rules. Corporations rule. The US is
a plutocracy -- government by wealthy people. Certain
people control multinational corporations. You couldn't
get elected in the US without lots of money."
-- Ramsey Clark
All
riches have their origin in mind. Wealth is in ideas
- not money.
-- Robert Collier
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
"In
the same way that we today think that the slave
trade and colonial exploitation were inhuman and
inconceivably bestial ways of acquiring riches,
there is no doubt that coming generations will
think that our form of world trade and distribution
of the world's benefits were just as inconceivable
and inhuman."
-- Erik Dammann
Gratitude
is riches. Complaint is poverty.
-- Doris Day
It
is inconceivable that, in the richest nation in the
world,
we have 30 million people at risk of hunger.
I believe that, if we truly make a commitment as a nation,
we can defeat hunger.
-- Bo Derek
The
greatest good you can do for another is not just share
your riches, but reveal to them their own.
-- Benjamin Disraeli
*
The
native American has been generally despised by
his white conquerors for his poverty and simplicity.
They forget, perhaps, that his religion forbade
the accumulation of wealth and the enjoyment of
luxury... Furthermore, it was the rule of his
life to share the fruits of his skill and success
with his less fortunate brothers. Thus he kept
his spirit free from the clog of pride, cupidity,
or envy, and carried out, as he believed, the
divine decree—a matter profoundly important to
him.
-- Charles Eastman
(Ohiyesa)
Never
work just for money. Money alone won't save your
soul or build a decent family life or help you
sleep at night. We're the richest nation on Earth,
with the highest number of imprisoned people in
the world. Our drug addictions and child poverty
are among the highest in the industrialized world.
So don't ever confuse wealth or fame with character.
-- Marian
Wright Edelman
*
"America's
leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon
our unmatched material progress, riches and military
strength, but on how we use our power in the interests
of world peace and human betterment."
-- Dwight D.
Eisenhower
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.
-- Epictetus
Early
to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy,
wealthy and wise.
-- Benjamin Franklin
*
"It
is health that is real wealth and not pieces of
gold and silver.”
-- Mohandas K. Gandhi
*
There's
enough on this planet for everyone's needs but
not for everyone's greed.
~ Mohandas Gandhi
So
long as all the increased wealth which modern progress
brings goes but to build up great fortunes, to increase
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
*
No
one has yet fully realized the wealth of sympathy,
kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a
child. The effort of every true education should
be to unlock that treasure."
*
"The
answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based
fuels...
If
we succeed, we create booming new industries,
wealth, clean secure energy and maybe we prevent
the greatest disaster so far in human history,
saving millions of lives while improving billions
more. If we fail, basically it's business as usual
while things slowly get worse all around us."
~ Al Gore
"I'm
not against the corporations. They are our wealth.
But they are getting too greedy. I don't want
to do away with corporations. I want them to make
our cars, however, not our laws." -- Doris
Haddock (Granny D)
Do
you realize that $150 billion of our tax money
is given to the corporations, unions and wealthy
people for tax breaks, special subsidies and special
regulations? That money would be available for
health and education and building bridges. -- Doris
Haddock (Granny D)
Recognizing
that the current form of globalization is nothing more
than a generalized downward leveling in which global
corporations are extracting more and more of the wealth,
power, and productive energies from communities and
the environment is the right approach... And knowing
that in every specific battle, what we are fighting
for is merely the substitution of the human agenda for
the corporate agenda is what can guide and sustain us.
-- Robin Hahnel
If
you have health, you probably will be happy,
and if you have health and happiness, you have all the
wealth you need,
even if it is not all you want.
~ Elbert Hubbard
It's
appalling that there should be hunger anywhere,
but particularly in a country like America, where there
is also such great wealth.
-- Elizabeth Hurley
The
wealth of a soul is measured by how much it can feel;
its poverty by how little.
-- W. R. Inge
It
is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquillity
and occupation which give happiness.
-- Thomas
Jefferson
“We
have words for racism and sexism, but wealth
discrimination isn’t fully recognized. It is
a bias in favor of the wealthy and against labor,
the environment, and the community. Concern
for the public good must become the animating
force of our economic order.”
-- Marjorie
Kelly
"It
is our task in our time and in our generation,
to hand down undiminished to those who come after
us, as was handed down to us by those who went
before, the natural wealth and beauty which is
ours."
~
John F. Kennedy
I
look forward to a great future for America - a
future in which our country will match its military
strength with our moral restraint, its wealth
with our wisdom, its power with our purpose. --
John
F. Kennedy
"What
we are fighting for is not just the fishes and
the birds. We protect nature not for nature's
sake but for our own sake because it's the infrastructure
of our communities, and if we want to meet the
obligations of our civilization and our culture
which are to create communities for our children
that provide them with the same opportunities
for dignity and enrichment as the communities
that our parents gave us, we've got to start by
protecting that infrastructure; the air that we
breathe, the water that we drink, the landscapes
that enrich us. We're not protecting nature for
nature's sake. We're protecting it because it
enriches us, yes, it enriches our economy and
we ignore that at our peril. But it is also enriching
us aesthetically, recreationally, culturally,
historically and spiritually. Human beings have
other appetites besides money. And if we don't
feed them, we're not going to grow up…we're not
going to become the kind of beings that our creator
intended us to become."
~ Robert
Kennedy, Jr.
A
true revolution of values will soon cause us to
question the fairness and justice of many of our
present policies... True compassion is more than
flinging a coin to a beggar. A true revolution
of values will soon look on uneasily upon the
glaring contrast of poverty and wealth with righteous
indignation. --
Martin Luther
King, Jr
I
see in the near future a crisis approaching that
unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety
of my country....corporations have been enthroned
and an era of corruption in high places will follow,
and the money of the country will endeavor to
prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices
of the people until all wealth is aggregated in
a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel
at this moment more anxiety for the safety of
my country than ever before, even in the midst
of war.
-- Abraham Lincoln
*
"All
wealth is the product of labor."
-- John Locke
*
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
"To
accept what you are is to be content, and contentment
is the greatest wealth.
To work with patience is to gather power."
-- Vimalia McClure
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
Biodiversity
is our nation's natural wealth.
The Endangered Species Act safeguards these riches.
- Judy L. Meyer
"A
person's true wealth is the good he or she does in the
world."
-- Mohammed
Riches
are not from abundance of worldly goods, but from a
contented mind.
- Mohammed
*
We
are the richest country in the world. We spend more
on health care than any other country. Yet we have
the worst health care in the Western world. Come
on. We can do better than this.
-- Michael Moore
When
all the people in the world love one another, then the
strong will not overpower the weak, the many will not
oppress the few, the wealthy will not mock the poor,
the honored will not disdain the humble, and the cunning
will not deceive the simple.
-- Motsi (463-401 BC)
*
“Charity is commendable; everyone should be charitable.
But justice aims to create a social order in which,
if individuals choose not to be charitable, people
still don’t go hungry, unschooled or sick without
care. Charity depends on the vicissitudes of whim
and personal wealth; justice depends on commitment
instead of circumstance.”
-- Bill Moyers
It
is an embarrassment that the United States, the wealthiest
nation, has people that go hungry.
-- Craig T. Nelson
I
think those of us who have extraordinary wealth
have an opportunity to leverage that wealth to
stimulate a just and sustainable economy. I know
it goes against the grain but I know it's possible.
It's just about deciding what kind of choices
we want to make.
-- Carol Newell
This
is the moment when we must build on the wealth
that open markets have created, and share its
benefits more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone
of our growth and global development. But we will
not be able to sustain this growth if it favors
the few, and not the many.
-- Barack Obama
"Leave the old and dying America and use your
creative energies to help form a new America,
which would be demilitarized, more humanistic,
where the police are less hostile and closer to
the community, where the wealthy are not given
unleashed power for the exploitation of the people,
and mostly because it's now a matter of life and
death, reassert an ecological balance with the
environment, which means the people in the oil
companies and the car companies and the space
industry will have to be brought into account,
so there will be a new definition of government
which has to be closer to the people and less
close to special interests which are far more
harmful that any revolutionaries.
-- Phil Ochs
*
The
labor movement means just this: It is the last noble
protest of the American people against the power
of incorporated wealth.
-- Wendell Phillips
"What
may be possible for a minority of humankind, albeit
at great cost, simply cannot work for the humankind.
Our kind of progress depends on lacerating the Earth,
on gouging out its riches, on stripping is life-sustaining
skin of soil and forest, on poisoning its pure air,
on defecating copiously in its pure water... the single
most important indicator of environmental decline is
the extent to which the damage done is reversible. The
most heinous ecological crime of all is for any one
generation so seriously to assault the web of life that
the damage done is literally irreversible for every
generation that follows."
~ Jonathon Porritt
He
who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he
who gives gifts to the rich--both come to poverty.
-- Proverbs 22:16
The
only way in which a nation can make itself wealthy
and prosperous is by good housekeeping: that is,
by providing for its wants in the order of their
importance, and allowing no money to be wasted
on whims and luxuries until necessities have been
thoroughly served.
-- George Bernard
Shaw
*Childhood
hunger in America is as much a paradox as it is
a tragedy. Why, in the wealthiest country in the
world, should hunger darken the lives and dreams
of 12 million children and their families? I believe
that, when Americans learn the facts and understand
how their involvement can make a difference, banishing
childhood hunger will be a national, local and personal
priority.
-- Martin Sheen
American
families have always shown remarkable resiliency, or
flexible adjustment to natural, economic, and social
challenges. Their strengths resemble the elasticity
of a spider web, a gull's skillful flow with the wind,
the regenerating power of perennial grasses, the cooperation
of an ant colony, and the persistence of a stream carving
canyon rocks. These are not the strengths of fixed monuments
but living organisms. This resilience is not measured
by wealth, muscle or efficiency but by creativity, unity,
and hope. Cultivating these family strengths is critical
to a thriving human community.
-- Ben Silliman
Exactly
what brings happiness is a mystery for most people.
Some try to find the answer by pursuing wealth,
love, adventure and climbing the corporate ladder.
Many who reach the goals that they've convinced
themselves they need to reach to be happy, however,
find themselves still searching for happiness.
The conclusion that many heroes for a better world
have discovered, is that helping others to be
happy is the surest way to find happiness. --
Robert Alan Silverstein
If
only we could have a wealth of literature and
music and art that would inspire and encourage
us and show us how wonderful peace on earth could
be, perhaps we would be more excited about working
together to create a better world. If you are
a writer, artist, musician or filmmaker, and you
dream of peace on earth, please use your creativity
to help create a better world.
-- Robert Alan Silverstein
"Labour
was the first price, the original purchase - money that
was paid for all things.
It was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that
all wealth of the world was originally purchased."
-- Adam Smith
"Contentment
is natural wealth."
-- Socrates (c 470- 399 BC)
*
People
are ready to say, 'Yes, we are ready for single-payer
health insurance.' We are the only industrialized
country in the world that does not have national
health insurance. We are the richest in wealth
and the poorest in health of all the industrial
nations.
-- Studs Terkel
That
man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.
-- Henry David
Thoreau
"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
Let's
share our abundance and make our country stronger. We
can encourage programs that collect and distribute excess
prepared food to local organizations that are helping
the hungry in our own communities. We can also support
programs that supply commodities to food banks. It's
all part of committing our country's wealth and resources
to end childhood hunger.
-- John Travolta
The
greatest wealth is health.
~ Virgil
"Cruelty
to animals is one of the most significant vices of a
low and ignoble people. Wherever one notices them, they
constitute a sign of ignorance and brutality which cannot
be painted over even by all the evidence of wealth and
luxury."
-- Alexander Von Humbolt
"This
is what you should do;
love the Earth and sun and the animals, despite riches, give alms to everyone that
asks,
stand up for the stupid and crazy,
devote your income and labour to others,
hate tyrants, argue not concerning God,
have patience and indulgence towards the people,
take off your hat to nothing known or unknown
or to any many or number of men...
re-examine all you have been told at school
or church or in any book,
dismiss what insults your soul,
and your very flesh shall be a great poem."
~ Walt Whitman
*
It
is not great wealth in a few individuals that
proves a country is prosperous, but great general
wealth evenly distributed among the people. .
.
-- Victoria Woodhull
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