Bill Gates Quotes

Throughout human history, the American Idea has done more to help the poor than any other economic system ever designed.

It is because of capitalism that we can pay for services to poor people that we don't even know.

I am profoundly disturbed by any attempt to take government responsibility away from government … it is government’s responsibility to educate all of our children …. The fundamental responsibility for poverty of this country does not belong to the churches; it belongs to the government.

It is our sacred obligation to eliminate the curse of poverty in the shortest possible time. This is non-negotiable for the Republic.

If you want to help the poor, don't be poor

No solution [to the problem of poverty] is so effective as providing income to the poor. Whether in the form of food, housing, health services, education or money, income is an excellent antidote for deprivation. No truth has spawned so much ingenious evasion.

You can't help the poor by becoming one of them.

I want to work for the poor in my country.

We have to realize that this country in its private sector has been fighting the most successful war on poverty the world has seen for the last 200 years.

Now, you might say – “But why should we pay people for doing what they’re supposed to do?” It’s a fair question – but think of it this way: Every other anti-poverty program that’s been tried has failed to get the national poverty rate below 11 percent... Why shouldn’t we experiment with a program built around the one strategy that has proven time and again to work wonders – capitalism?

Capitalism and market forces are very powerful in producing wealth and innovation. But we need to ensure that these forces act in the common interest.

The world needs a person like me so that many other rich people will be able to follow my role model. If they do, many poor people will be helped.

Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community.

Anticipate charity by preventing poverty.

Taking responsible steps to reduce poverty is not merely a moral imperative but an economic one.

Nigeria has no business with poverty. With our human and material resources, we shall strive to eradicate poverty from our country.

There are many programs specifically aimed at helping people in poverty start a business.

Poverty-fighting programs are not handouts - they are investments.

Trickle-down theories do not address the legitimate aspirations of the poor. We must lift those at the bottom so that poverty is erased from the dictionary of modern India.

Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.

There's nothing wrong with the free-enterprise system. But it has to have some compassion.

Reducing poverty is in our own interest.

The best social programs we've had in this country are those that have united the middle class and the poor.

We justify the greater and greater accumulation of capital because we believe that therefrom flows the support of all science, art, learning, and the charities which minister to the humanities of life, all carrying their beneficent effects to the people as a whole. Unless this is measurably true our system of civilization ought to stand condemned.

The entrepreneurial spirit is the hallmark of the American economic system