Poverty

It is, at all events, plain that wealth contributes nothing great either toward strangers or otherwise to those who possess it, but on the contrary is wont for the most part to make them niggardly and parsimonious rather than poverty does.

And many times, indeed, on other occasions too I had learned in such circumstances — being in continual wandering — and so then in particular, that poverty is in truth a thing sacred and inviolable, and that no one wrongs it, far less indeed than those who bear the herald's wand;

And yet I knew the houses and tables of the wealthy, not only of private men, but also of satraps and kings, who then seemed to me most wretched — having seemed so before, but still more now, as I looked upon the poverty and freedom there, and saw that they fell short in nothing, not even of the pleasure of eating and drinking, but in these too they had well-nigh the advantage.

There is no reason why poverty should call us back from philosophy—no, nor even destitution.

Will anyone hesitate to bear poverty, that he may free his mind from madness?

And, that Fortune may not catch us unprepared, let poverty become familiar to us.

and blessed too are the poor, whether in spirit or in substance, for the sake of righteousness, that is plain.

One must flee poverty, even into the deep-monstered sea to hurl oneself, Cyrnus, and down the sheer rocks.

—while he looks with indifference on my daughters, who are doomed through poverty to grow old in maidenhood with none to dower them.

And I beg and entreat and implore you, do not suffer my daughters and myself through our poverty to become a source of malicious joy to my own slaves and to his flatterers.

If Phormio had been poor, and it had been our fortune to be wealthy, and if, in the course of nature, anything had happened to me, this fellow’s sons would have claimed my daughters in marriage—the sons of the slave would have claimed the daughters of the master!

whereas poverty and lowliness are attended by sobriety and great moderation;

for they turned the needier towards farming and trade, knowing that poverty comes about through idleness, and evil-doing through poverty.

But the greatest difference lies in the fact that in that day no one of the citizens lacked the necessaries of life nor shamed the city by begging from passers-by, whereas today those who are destitute of means outnumber those who possess them.

When these conditions have been realized, and when we have been freed from the poverty which afflicts our lives—a thing that breaks up friendships, perverts the affections of kindred into enmity, and plunges the whole world into war and strife —then surely we shall enjoy a spirit of concord, and the good will which we shall feel towards each other will be genuine.

Lest you think that I am only making use of the precepts of the wise to make light of the mishaps of poverty—which no one feels grievous save him who thinks it so—first look at how much the greater part of mankind is poor, and yet you will mark them in no way sadder or more anxious than the rich;

O what darkness of mind, what ignorance of truth blinds those whom the fear of poverty harasses, while for pleasure's sake they imitate it!

This poor little body, the prison and fetter of the mind, is tossed this way and that;

she tries fire upon Mucius, poverty upon Fabricius, exile upon Rutilius, torture upon Regulus, poison upon Socrates, death upon Cato.

Despise poverty:

And what doubt is there that for the wise man there is here a greater matter for the unfolding of his soul in riches than in poverty, since in poverty there is but one kind of virtue—not to be bowed down or crushed—whereas in riches temperance and liberality and diligence and orderly management and magnificence have an open field?

you, as though someone had promised you eternal possession of them, grow used to them and cling to them, the wise man most of all meditates upon poverty at the very moment when he stands in the midst of riches.

Because, sirs, I conceive that people’s wealth and poverty are to be found not in their real estate but in their hearts.

Again, I am told of certain despots, also, who have such a greedy appetite for riches that they commit much more dreadful crimes than they who are afflicted with the direst poverty.

Come, now, Antisthenes, said Socrates, take your turn and tell us how it is that with such slender means you base your pride on wealth.