Regina Spektor Quotes

I grew up in a poor family. I had to cut everyone's hair, because we didn't have money for entertainment.

You never know how you'll turn out till you've been down to half a dollar and no prospects.

I think being poor has been good for me. I saw how my mom and dad struggled, and how they could stretch a dollar farther than you could begin to imagine.

I've always been the person to look at any turmoil as temporary. I recall times where my mom was working five and six jobs, and there's still no food in the house.

They were not easy years. You have to understand, I was raised in a lovely neighborhood, as was Mitt, and at BYU, we moved into a $62-a-month basement apartment with a cement floor and lived there two years as students with no income... Neither one of us had a job, because Mitt had enough of an investment from stock that we could sell off a little at a time.

It is difficult to describe in short the enthusiasm and devotion provoked by and given to my research. We lived almost in poverty. I used pencils, two for a nickel, and could not buy a fountain pen, when I lost mine.

In the Depression especially, I think you learn to face problems and not run away from them.

As far as I was concerned, the Depression was an ill wind that blew some good. If it hadn't occurred, my parents would have given me my college education. As it was, I had to scrabble for it.

I didn't have any extra money. But I can't say that I had a hard early career.

I think the credit crunch is a brilliant thing. We should all stop moaning and start celebrating. When times are tough, it's an opportunity to start looking at life in a different way.

People who are living in economic struggle are more than their circumstances. They're majestic and creative and beautiful.

Going through economic hard times is something I know firsthand.

I can go back to poverty if a situation comes. I have sailed through the worst days of my life, and I am prepared for any crisis.

The kids who take up athletics actually come from modest to poor backgrounds. They make it on their own steam; some of them don't even have the basic means like shoes and enough food to eat.

Of all the advantages which come to any young man ... poverty is the greatest.

I was pretty poor for a long time. Not *poor* poor. But college student poor. I lived for most of my adult life living on student wages, then after I got my MA and started teaching, I lived on teacher's wages, which isn't much better.

Poverty often hides her charms under an ugly mask; yet thousands have been forced into greatness by their very struggle to keep the wolf from the door.

My family endured a big crisis after my father's business went bankrupt and we went from having a comfortable life to having virtually nothing. I saw from that moment how fragile and precarious life can be and you have to work very hard not just to survive but also to accomplish something in life and fulfill your dreams.

Being broke is a very efficient educational agency.

Poverty sits by the cradle of all our great men and rocks all of them to manhood.

Being broke is against my religion.

Poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor.

Poverty is a lot like childbirth - you know it is going to hurt before it happens, but you'll never know how much until you experience it.

Poverty's potential for character building is far overrated.

I was happy, I wasn't beaten, and I lacked nothing. But it wasn't what people expect - it was very much sort of pinching and scraping. I don't know how my mother did it.