Russell Simmons Quotes

Being broke is not a disgrace, it is only a catastrophe.

When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money.

My father had a series of blue-collar jobs and never made more than $20,000 a year. When I was seven, he got injured on a job. That was a very important point - because of the injury, he couldn't walk, and the company he was working for did not pay him. There was no compensation. So there was no money and no food.

The problem with not saving is it can often mean you're - a crisis away from, as we've seen in some cases, living in your car or losing your home or - having your lights shut off.

When I was a deacon, the ominous signs of the Great Depression began to appear. Tens of thousands lost their jobs. Money was scarce. Families had to do without. Some young people did not ask their mothers, 'What's for dinner?' because they knew all too well that their cupboards held very little.

I've always found it very sanitary to be broke.

There's no advice for when you're out of money, and there's none coming in, and nobody's going to give you any.

I didn't have a dollar to my name in 2006.

I almost went broke. I didn't file bankruptcy, but I had some miserable times there for two or three years.

When you start off broke - and we weren't broke, we were negative broke - you never forget that. You stay appreciative.

Economy is too late when you are at the bottom of your purse.

Natural fact is, I can't pay my taxes. Make me wanna holler and throw up on my hands.

Poverty became something one could see and experience firsthand, no matter where one was on the economic ladder; it became something you could viscerally experience through the lives of friends, family, neighbors, colleagues. I'd venture to say it's a rare person in 2013 America who knows nobody who lost a job in the recession, or knows nobody whose home went underwater or who went into foreclosure.

The people who are filing for bankruptcy in increasing numbers every year, it's not the poorest. It's not the people at the economic fringes. It's people who worked hard and played by the rules.

When you ain’t got no money, you got the blues.

I had this lump in my throat, but I couldn't even cry. I thought, I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. I was just sitting there in my car that I was two months behind on payments for, knowing I didn't have money for rent.

It is hard to apply oneself to study when there is no money to pay for food and lodging. I almost never explain these things when folks are asking me why I don't do this or that.

I had to pawn my clothes just to pay my rent.

I was having trouble making ends meet, and my beginnings weren't meeting either.

There was a time in L.A. when I drove to 7-Eleven to go grocery shopping, and I locked my keys in my car, which wasn't insured. My wallet was in there, and I couldn't call AAA, because I only had $7 in my bank account. It was one of those moments where I was like, 'O.K., I literally have nothing right now.'

Poverty of course is no disgrace, but it is damned annoying.

We sometime didn't get enough to buy oats for our horses. Most banks had very little money in them.

You and I can be busy, and we take a vacation from work. You can't take a break from being poor. You can't say, 'Hey I've had enough of worrying about money, I'm just going to be rich for a couple of weeks until I've recovered.'

When I was born, the economy wasn't in a great state; it was the Depression, and my father had to be quick to try and find work.