the poor we will always have with us

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English[edit]

Proverb[edit]

the poor we will always have with us

  1. Poverty for some is inevitable.
    • 1894, Henry Demarest Lloyd, Wealth Against Commonwealth, page 398:
      These beggars on horseback — the poor we will always have with us as long as we give such alms - are forever at the elbows of the secretaries, representatives, senators. The people who pay are at work in their fields, out of sight, scattered over thousands of miles.
    • 1973, Neil W. Chamberlain, Contemporary Economic Issues, page 54:
      When the poor are taken by definition to be the lowest 10th or the lowest 5th, or the lowest 3rd, we will, of course, arrive at the not very startling conclusion, “the poor we will always have with us.”
    • 2013, Jason Byassee, Discerning the Body: Searching for Jesus in the World:
      The poor we will always have with us.” / And some will come to church.