Maybe this is the wrong question. Let's instead focus on the antithesis of poverty, which is human flourishing. Here we explore the economic, social, political, and spiritual foundations for sustainable development rooted in the creative capacity of the poor.
"For all of the charitable institutions that we've seen in the last century, these things do not account for the rise out of poverty of the poorest…"
"The first thing I would say to those who say that we must come and give, otherwise these people are incapable of improving their situation or…"
"I don’t know of any country in the world where a bunch of foreigners came and developed the country. I don’t know one: Japan? Korea? No! No…"
"The absence of land title absolutely hurts the poorest of the poor... You can't start an economy without ownership not being in question. This is my…"
"I would describe an entrepreneur like a person who sees an additional color. Everybody sees chaos. An entrepreneur sees patterns."
"The highest level of charity is when you can help someone get on their own feet, use their own God-given abilities to provide for their family."
"It is a great source of frustration for me when I see the unwillingness of the donor community and other players in development to support SMEs.…"
"We've been colonized for far too long ... that cultural enslavement where we think we've got to look to Europe for standards, to America for help…"
"The United States gives subsidies to its farm industry ... so they overproduce. Now the NGOs are shipping this aid, and you’re putting farmers all…"
"Once you settle the issue of who lives where and who does what with who, people start understanding the value of standard rules. "
"The poor need to be given these access to markets, and need to create their own possibilities, because they will. It's not that people don't have…"
"Globalization is the tsunami wave that’s coming up on the shores of every nation. And all the rules are changing."
"There’s a false notion that poor countries are poor because rich countries are rich."
"There will always be a resistance to measuring results as long as the people who are in power to serve poor people have perverse incentives to…"
"Business not only creates valuable goods and services, but we’re creating employment for people that allows them to have a whole different sense…"
"Aid agencies, instead of enforcing and supporting corrupt political regimes, actually have to help people at the ground examine the question of what…"
"An issue or problem should be dealt with by the people who are closest to it."
"Human beings have the spark of divinity in them and poverty degrades and defaces the image of God in people. That’s why it’s a scandal."
"We should see giving as a form of investment and we should be expecting a return from our giving. We should want to see the metrics of…"
"The singular issue is improving human capital."
"Today’s poor need all the connections they can get...Often the poor are better off moving from rural isolation to dense urban networks where…"
"It is extremely offensive that someone in an office in Europe will decide that no more black babies should be born or no more Latin American babies…"
"Business is the normative way in which people rise out of poverty."
"Those who are selling all those malaria tablets... some of them supposedly given to us for free. But we know very well that nothing comes for free…"
