People in places many of us never heard of, whose names we can’t pronounce or even spell, are speaking up for themselves.  They speak in languages we once classified as exotic but whose mastery is now essential for our diplomats and businessmen.  But what they say is very much the same the world over.  They want a decent standard of living.  They want human dignity and a voice in their own futures.  They want their children to grow up strong and healthy and free.
~Hubert H. Humphrey

Hungry for love, He looks at you. Thirsty for kindness, He begs of you. Naked for loyalty, He hopes in you. Homeless for shelter in your heart, He asks of you. Will you be that one to Him?
~Mother Teresa

Women do two thirds of the world’s work.  Yet they earn only one tenth of the world’s income and own less than one percent of the world’s property.  They are among the poorest of the world’s poor.
~Barber B. Conable, Jr.

Happiness is not about getting what you want all the time, it’s about appreciating what you already have.

Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! – I have as much soul as you.
~Charlotte Bronte, Jane Erye

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
~Franklin D. Roosevelt

Every life deserves a certain amount of dignity, no matter how poor or damaged the shell that carries it.
~Rick Bragg

You can’t get rid of poverty by giving people money.
~P.J. O’Rourke

The poor love life as passionately as the rich do. Perhaps more, for the effort it takes to cling to it.
~Joan Thomas