Abbe Pierre Quotes

I got a degree in sociology, didn't read much fiction in college, and I was a pretty political, left-wing type of guy. I wanted to do some kind of work in social change and make things better for the poor man, and I was very romantic and passionate about it.

In politics heaven lies at the feet of the poor masses.

Without an advocate for the poor, without a new state of mind in America, the country lies on the brink of anarchy.

I came to the conclusion that in order to end racial barriers, I needed to run for the office of the president and put forth an agenda of social justice and world peace. In addition, I concluded that someone needed to run and challenge the liberal orthodoxy.

You can't just lecture the poor that they shouldn't riot or go to extremes. You have to make the means of legal redress available.

There is one class of men, whom it especially behoves to be tenacious of the right of free discussion. I mean the poor.

The peace and justice movement has to expand and not run away from the plight of gang members.

I think we've made tremendous progress on racism. We've even made progress on war. We've made almost no progress on poverty.

I feel it's part of my job to make the problems of the poor compelling.

This nation has always struggled with how it was going to deal with poor people and people of color. Every few years you will see some great change in the way that they approach this. We've had the war on poverty that never really got into waging a real war on poverty.

In many cases democracy has not been able to solve the social problems like poverty.

We will not settle for a state that will settle for an underclass.

What the working-classes really need is to be allowed some part in the direction of public affairs.

A New Dealer regrets poverty and deplores the fact that it is necessary for society to slough off its misfits as an individual sheds his impurities and his diseases. But New Dealers believe that human want and human distress should be prevented or at least ameliorated.

A change of mentality is needed, no longer seeing the poor as a burden, or as intruders trying to profit from others, but as people seeking to share the goods of the world so that we can create a just and prosperous world for all.

The meek are a hell of a long way from inheriting the earth.

I am more than ever satisfied that this has been a war against the Aristocracy of the South, and that the poor, the great mass of the population, are loyal to the core. This war will do vastly more than enfranchise the blacks: it will knock off the shackles from millions of poor whites, whose bondage was really worse than African. These poor, suffering families had one grain of consolation, and what do you think it was? Why it was a source of comfort to them to know that the rich nabobs who had kept them in poverty and ignorance, were now as poor as they. They mentioned this fact with great delight.

Boxing is for the poor man. A lot of people don't know what's going on, but I've been able to see it first-hand, and if I can speak out on the behalf of fighters going through problems, I will, because... it's important to create awareness. Everyone should speak up. Because if people are aware, maybe there can be change.

The Government should be taking notice of the youth of today so much more. They're trying to keep the rich, rich and the poor, poor. If I sat down with David Cameron in a room, I would ask him how he feels about it and what the hell he's doing about it.

Anything that is not good for the poor people of India is not the policy of the Congress Party.

The social justice movement of the 21st century is economic development.

There are so many people and organisations that work quietly and diligently for the poor and the disadvantaged. We should also work with unity and purpose to ensure that the benefits of government policies reach all sections of society.

We've got to tell our stories to influence culture, and we have to get more people elected who have faced challenges like domestic violence, working minimum-wage jobs, wondering how to get food on the table... regular people.

If everyone simply ignores the caste system, it will go away overnight.

God chooses to arrive among the poor and the insignificant and the politically awkward, so what are we missing when we overlook them?