--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Honoured sir, poverty is not a vice…" description: "\"Honoured sir, poverty is not a vice, that's a true saying. Yet I know too that drunkeness is not a virtue, and that's even truer. But beggary, honoured..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e10/fyodor-dostoevsky-342_beggary_honoured-sir-poverty-is-not-a-vice-that_347633.jpg" --- # Honoured sir, poverty is not a vice, that's a true saying… ![“Honoured sir, poverty is not a vice, that's a true saying. Yet I know too that drunkeness is not a virtue, and that's even truer. But beggary, honoured sir, beggary is a vice. In poverty you may still retain your innate nobility of soul, but in beggary--never--no one. For beggary a man is not…” quote by Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e10/fyodor-dostoevsky-342_beggary_honoured-sir-poverty-is-not-a-vice-that_347633.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e10/fyodor-dostoevsky-342_beggary_honoured-sir-poverty-is-not-a-vice-that_347633.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e10/fyodor-dostoevsky-342_beggary_honoured-sir-poverty-is-not-a-vice-that_347633.jpg) > “Honoured sir, poverty is not a vice, that's a true saying. Yet I know too that drunkeness is not a virtue, and that's even truer. But beggary, honoured sir, beggary is a vice. In poverty you may still retain your innate nobility of soul, but in beggary--never--no one. For beggary a man is not chased out of human society with a stick, he is swept out with a broom, so as to make it as humiliating as possible; and quite right, too, forasmuch as in beggary as I am ready to be the first to humiliate myself.” [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoevsky/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poverty can preserve dignity, but extreme beggary strips humanity and invites humiliation. **In simple terms:** Being very poor may keep honor; being a beggar degrades it. Key Takeaway Recognize the moral difference between poverty and destitution. Themes poverty humility social stigma human dignity morality Mood somber reflective critical Type philosophical ethical When to use this quote - social policy debates - charitable work - personal reflection - literary analysis Key Concepts ethical philosophy social inequality human rights Questions to Reflect On - How do societies treat the destitute? - Can dignity survive extreme poverty? A Different Perspective The line between poverty and beggary can be blurred in practice. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Beggary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beggary/) [Beggary Vice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beggary-vice-3216700/) [Brooms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brooms/) [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Drunkeness Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drunkeness-virtue-3216701/) [Firsts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firsts/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Humiliate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humiliate/) [Humiliating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humiliating/) [May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Nobility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nobility/) [Poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poverty/) [Poverty Vice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poverty-vice-896261/) [Ready](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ready/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Sticks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sticks/) [Stills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stills/) [True saying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/true-saying/) [Vice Poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vice-poverty-3165506/) [Vices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vices/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/) ## Related quotes > [“poverty is not a vice, that’s a true saying. 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Rider Haggard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-rider-haggard/) > [Learn how to treasure those people who exert effort just to make you feel important. because ignoring them is not their loss, it's yours!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melchor-lim/learn-how-to-treasure-those-people-who-exert-effort-just-to-make-you/) [Melchor Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melchor-lim/) > [True is the saying: 'In order to make the world tranquil and happy, the nation must first be well governed!'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-yat-sen/true-is-the-saying-in-order-to-make-the-world-tranquil-and-happy-the/) [Sun Yat-sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-yat-sen/) ## More by Fyodor Dostoevsky > [Believe to the end, even if all men went astray and you were left the only one faithful; bring your offering even then and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoevsky/believe-to-the-end-even-if-all-men-went-astray-and-you-were-left-the/) [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoevsky/) > [... you are a man still young, so to say, in your first youth and so put intellect above everything ...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoevsky/you-are-a-man-still-young-so-to-say-in-your-first-youth-and-so-put/) [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoevsky/) > [“There is only one salvation for you: take yourself up, and make yourself responsible for all the sins of men. 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