Hand to Mouth Existence Quotes

I wasn't born with a golden spoon in my mouth. It was a really tough life.

People come up to me in bars and on street corners and they say to me, 'Hey, Paulsen, have you got any change?'

I lived on couches for something like six months. I had no home. I was totally broke. I would stay at a friend's house for two weeks, then move because I didn't want to become this permanent mooch.

I ain't got nothing. I've got this watch, and these shoes, and that's about it.

It's panhandling... That's the system we have, though. It's based on bribery.

Contrary to any claim of a systematically “neutral” effect of taxation on production, the consequence of any such shortening of roundabout methods of production is a lower output produced. The price that invariably must be paid for taxation, and for every increase in taxation, is a coercively lowered productivity that in turn reduces the standard of living in terms of valuable assets provided for future consumption. Every act of taxation necessarily exerts a push away from more highly capitalized, more productive production processes in the direction of a hand-to-mouth-existence.

I used to live off of nothing.

I grew up in poverty. For 25 years I was fed on aid.

Poverty diminishes confidence. So if someone offers you a grain store, even if you really need a plough, you take what is offered to you.

Originally, I came from Texas, and we lived on - I guess you'd call it welfare, what we called relief.