quotations about beggars & begging
None but beggars live at ease.
FRANCIS DAVISON
Song
Beggars are a sure indicator that there are no Christians, or else very few and dispirited ones, in any town in which beggars are seen.
ANDREAS KARLSTADT
On the Removal of Images
Well, whiles I am a beggar I will rail
And say there is no sin but to be rich;
And being rich, my virtue then shall be
To say there is no vice but beggary.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
King John
Beggars should be no choosers.
JOHN HEYWOOD
Proverbs
Borrowing is not much better than begging.
GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM LESSING
Nathan the Wise
There are in all towns, in the countries where begging flourishes, what might be termed recognized or established beggars.... By tacit, unofficial agreement they have the right to certain fat places, to sunny corners where one is comfortable, by church doors where the takings are sure to be large. Whether such positions descend by inheritance or are subject to sale, or are open when vacant to merit and age is excessively difficult for the foreign investigator to determine.
HARRISON RHODES
"The Business of Begging", Harper's Weekly, December 13, 1913
I fear no plots against me, I live in open cell;
Then who would be a king, when beggars live so well?
And a-begging we will go, will go,
And a-begging we will go!
UNKNOWN
The Jovial Beggar
All in all, the beggars are like everyone else, living the life that more or less suits them, not entirely understanding it, not entirely satisfied with it.
JOHN ALFRED TAYLOR
Rogues in Arden: A Study of Elizabethan Newgate Pastoral
Pity the sorrows of a poor old man,
Whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door,
Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span;
Oh give relief, and Heaven will bless your store.
THOMAS MOSS
The Beggar
To become a good beggar one should undoubtedly begin young; old people who turn to the profession only when the pinch of poverty actually drives them never attain quite the finished technique nor the tenacity of purpose of those trained from childhood.
HARRISON RHODES
"The Business of Begging", Harper's Weekly, December 13, 1913
It is safer to beg than to take, but it is finer to take than to beg.
OSCAR WILDE
The Soul of Man Under Socialism
Beggar that I am, I am even poor in thanks.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Hamlet
A beggar is loathed and shunned; he is hated and persecuted. He is an outcast. He is detested by honest people because he busies himself at his trade; he is scorned by thieves because he is humble enough to do honest work.
ISAAC KAHN FRIEDMAN
The Autobiography of a Beggar
Better a living beggar than a dead emperor.
LA FONTAINE
La Matrone d'Ephese
Old beggars in stories are never really old beggars.... They're always a witch or a prince or an angel or something. In real life old beggars are almost always old beggars.
PATRICK ROTHFUS
The Wise Man's Fear
A shamefaced man makes a bad beggar.
HOMER
The Odyssey
Nowadays there is more begging done through the mails than with tin cups.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
In this avaricious world, even a beggar needs money in his bowl to be heard.
JAWWAD ZAFAR
attributed, goodreads
It is far easier to see brave men die than to hear a coward beg for life.
JACK LONDON
The Iron Heel
Beggars do not work, it is said; but, then, what is WORK? A navvy works by swinging a pick. An accountant works by adding up figures. A beggar works by standing out of doors in all weathers and getting varicose veins, chronic bronchitis, etc. It is a trade like any other; quite useless, of course--but, then, many reputable trades are quite useless.
GEORGE ORWELL
Down and Out in Paris and London