--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If they took the idea that they could…" description: "\"If they took the idea that they could escape poverty through education, I think it would make a more basic and long-lasting change in the way things ha..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df1/kareem-abdul-jabbar-1909_basketball_if-they-took-the-idea-that-they-could-es_2040796.png" --- # If they took the idea that they could escape poverty… ![“If they took the idea that they could escape poverty through education, I think it would make a more basic and long-lasting change in the way things happen. What we need are positive, realistic goals and the willingness to work. Hard work and practical goals.” quote by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df1/kareem-abdul-jabbar-1909_basketball_if-they-took-the-idea-that-they-could-es_2040796.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df1/kareem-abdul-jabbar-1909_basketball_if-they-took-the-idea-that-they-could-es_2040796.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df1/kareem-abdul-jabbar-1909_basketball_if-they-took-the-idea-that-they-could-es_2040796.png) > “If they took the idea that they could escape poverty through education, I think it would make a more basic and long-lasting change in the way things happen. What we need are positive, realistic goals and the willingness to work. Hard work and practical goals.” [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Education can create lasting, systemic change if seen as a realistic path out of poverty, paired with hard work and practical goals. **In simple terms:** Education plus effort can reshape society. Key Takeaway Invest in education and set achievable goals. Themes education poverty reduction hard work goal setting Mood hopeful determined Type motivational inspirational When to use this quote - policy design - community programs - personal development Key Concepts social mobility systemic change pragmatism Questions to Reflect On - How can we ensure education translates to real opportunities? - What practical goals support sustainable change? A Different Perspective Education alone won’t solve inequality without supportive structures. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Basketball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/basketball/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Education Think](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education-think-268072/) [Escape Poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/escape-poverty-579645/) [Goal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goal/) [Happens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happens/) [Hard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hard/) [Hard work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hard-work/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Lasting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lasting/) [Lasting change](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lasting-change/) [Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long/) [Long lasting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-lasting/) [Needs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/needs/) [Poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poverty/) [Poverty Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poverty-education-1753060/) [Practical Goals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/practical-goals-515801/) [Practicals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/practicals/) [Realistic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realistic/) [Realistic goals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realistic-goals/) [Things happen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things-happen/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/) [Willingness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/willingness/) [Work hard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/work-hard/) ## Related quotes > [What we need are positive, realistic goals and the willingness to work. Hard work and practical goals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareem-abdul-jabbar/what-we-need-are-positive-realistic-goals-and-the-willingness-to-work/) [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) > [“Money comes to money, and poverty to poverty. Education comes to education, and ignorance to ignorance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/money-comes-to-money-and-poverty-to-poverty-education-comes-to/) [Yuval Noah Harari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-noah-harari/) > [Science will stagnate if it is made to serve practical goals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/science-will-stagnate-if-it-is-made-to-serve-practical-goals/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [Like most genres of literary expression, science fiction in China was subject to instrumentalist impulses and had to serve practical goals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liu-cixin/like-most-genres-of-literary-expression-science-fiction-in-china-was/) [Liu Cixin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liu-cixin/) > [My mom grew up in poverty in Oklahoma - like Dust Bowl, nine people in one room kind of place - and the way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-garner/my-mom-grew-up-in-poverty-in-oklahoma-like-dust-bowl-nine-people-in/) [Jennifer Garner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-garner/) > [Think about it: Every educated person is not rich, but almost every education person has a job and a way out of poverty. So…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathleen-blanco/think-about-it-every-educated-person-is-not-rich-but-almost-every/) [Kathleen Blanco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathleen-blanco/) > [Food poverty comes in two strands. The first is not having enough money to buy food for yourself and your family. The second is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-monroe/food-poverty-comes-in-two-strands-the-first-is-not-having-enough/) [Jack Monroe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-monroe/) > [True education is concerned not only with practical goals but also with values. Our aims assure of us of our material life, our values…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-mies-van-der-rohe/true-education-is-concerned-not-only-with-practical-goals-but-also/) [Ludwig Mies van der Rohe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-mies-van-der-rohe/) > [I write to escape ... to escape poverty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-rice-burroughs/i-write-to-escape-to-escape-poverty/) [Edgar Rice Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-rice-burroughs/) > [Poverty must not be a bar to learning and learning must offer an escape from poverty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyndon-b-johnson/poverty-must-not-be-a-bar-to-learning-and-learning-must-offer-an/) [Lyndon B. Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyndon-b-johnson/) > [Education is not a way to escape poverty, it is a way of fighting it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julius-nyerere/education-is-not-a-way-to-escape-poverty-it-is-a-way-of-fighting-it/) [Julius Nyerere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julius-nyerere/) > [The Right insists that anyone can escape poverty by working hard but that is simply not the case.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-louis-gates/the-right-insists-that-anyone-can-escape-poverty-by-working-hard-but/) [Henry Louis Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-louis-gates/) > [We tried to provide more for the poor and produced more poor instead. We tried to remove the barriers to escape poverty, and inadvertently…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-murray/we-tried-to-provide-more-for-the-poor-and-produced-more-poor-instead/) [Charles A. Murray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-murray/) > [Compassion, however, should mean providing a mechanism to escape poverty rather than simply maintaining people in an impoverished state by supplying handouts. By doing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/compassion-however-should-mean-providing-a-mechanism-to-escape/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“But to die to escape from poverty or love or anything painful is not the mark of a brave man, but rather of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-ross/but-to-die-to-escape-from-poverty-or-love-or-anything-painful-is-not/) [David Ross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-ross/) ## More by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar > [I saw Islam as the correct way to live, and I chose to try to live that way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareem-abdul-jabbar/i-saw-islam-as-the-correct-way-to-live-and-i-chose-to-try-to-live/) [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) > [Justice should be blind especially color-blind and able to fairly deal with the very real need for honest law enforcement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareem-abdul-jabbar/justice-should-be-blind-especially-color-blind-and-able-to-fairly/) [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) > [I think Kwame will be an asset to the Lakers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareem-abdul-jabbar/i-think-kwame-will-be-an-asset-to-the-lakers/) [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) > [I think a lot of people, if they get the opportunity to do some acting, they think, 'I might be a star.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareem-abdul-jabbar/i-think-a-lot-of-people-if-they-get-the-opportunity-to-do-some-acting/) [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) > [LeBron James can get a shot off under any and all circumstances and he makes them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareem-abdul-jabbar/lebron-james-can-get-a-shot-off-under-any-and-all-circumstances-and/) [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) > [People still cheat on their wives, that hasn't fallen out of fashion. We all speak of it badly, but it has not fallen out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareem-abdul-jabbar/people-still-cheat-on-their-wives-that-hasn-t-fallen-out-of-fashion/) [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) > [If not shown appreciation, it gets to you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareem-abdul-jabbar/if-not-shown-appreciation-it-gets-to-you/) [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) > [Yoga is somewhat hard to quantify in terms of benefits because you see them in all the injuries you don't get.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareem-abdul-jabbar/yoga-is-somewhat-hard-to-quantify-in-terms-of-benefits-because-you/) [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) > [“The person who has some awareness of the past knows how to fashion a rudder and which direction land is.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareem-abdul-jabbar/the-person-who-has-some-awareness-of-the-past-knows-how-to-fashion-a/) [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) > [ Common decency demands that \[NCAA athletes\] should be paid, but the only way it will happen is the same way workers got paid throughout… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareem-abdul-jabbar/common-decency-demands-that-ncaa-athletes-should-be-paid-but-the-only/) [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) > [Your mind is what makes everything else work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareem-abdul-jabbar/your-mind-is-what-makes-everything-else-work/) [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) > [I listen to jazz mainly. Mainstream jazz.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareem-abdul-jabbar/i-listen-to-jazz-mainly-mainstream-jazz/) [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) > [When a rap song glorifies violence, death and sadness and loss is inflicted because of the violence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareem-abdul-jabbar/when-a-rap-song-glorifies-violence-death-and-sadness-and-loss-is/) [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) > [As brilliant an individual that Michael Jordan was, he was not successful until he got with a good team unit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareem-abdul-jabbar/as-brilliant-an-individual-that-michael-jordan-was-he-was-not/) [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) > [If I hadn't become a professional basketball player, I would have become a history teacher. There's so much to learn from history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kareem-abdul-jabbar/if-i-hadn-t-become-a-professional-basketball-player-i-would-have/) [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) [Explore all 199 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/) ## More Basketball quotes > [We love playing together and we love adversity. You know, back-to-back, the two best teams in the East.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-nash/we-love-playing-together-and-we-love-adversity-you-know-back-to-back/) [Steve Nash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-nash/) > [I don't look at myself as a basketball coach. I look at myself as a leader who happens to coach basketball.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-krzyzewski/i-don-t-look-at-myself-as-a-basketball-coach-i-look-at-myself-as-a/) [Mike Krzyzewski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-krzyzewski/) > [There is no doubt in my mind and I know in my time, there will be a Canadian basketball player playing for Toronto Raptors, 100%](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masai-ujiri/there-is-no-doubt-in-my-mind-and-i-know-in-my-time-there-will-be-a/) [Masai Ujiri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masai-ujiri/) > [I learned so much from Sue about the Xs and Os of the game of basketball.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-summitt/i-learned-so-much-from-sue-about-the-xs-and-os-of-the-game-of/) [Pat Summitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-summitt/) > [ I failed, I think, seven \[or\] eight times before I finally got my first \[championship\]. It was just, you know, just about me growing… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shaquille-o-neal/i-failed-i-think-seven-or-eight-times-before-i-finally-got-my-first/) [Shaquille O'Neal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shaquille-o-neal/) > [It's not how big you are, it's how big you play](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-wooden/it-s-not-how-big-you-are-it-s-how-big-you-play/) [John Wooden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-wooden/) > [Basketball isn't just a sport to me ; it's my ecstasy !](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamira-robinson/basketball-isn-t-just-a-sport-to-me-it-s-my-ecstasy/) [Jamira Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamira-robinson/) > [It's similar to basketball: when you go to different gyms and win or lose, you learn something new. So when kids get out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-iguodala/it-s-similar-to-basketball-when-you-go-to-different-gyms-and-win-or/) [Andre Iguodala](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-iguodala/) > [If a Coach is determined to stay in the coaching profession, he will develop from year to year. This much is true, no coach…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolph-rupp/if-a-coach-is-determined-to-stay-in-the-coaching-profession-he-will/) [Adolph Rupp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolph-rupp/) > [And I want to do it the right way, like everybody else, not just a famous figurehead that gets a job because he is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shaquille-o-neal/and-i-want-to-do-it-the-right-way-like-everybody-else-not-just-a/) [Shaquille O'Neal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shaquille-o-neal/) > [Well, you can certainly teach free-throwing. And you can teach the boys to pass at angles and run in curves. - University of Kansas…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darryl-dawkins/well-you-can-certainly-teach-free-throwing-and-you-can-teach-the-boys/) [Darryl Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darryl-dawkins/) > [Practice to beat the best.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-bennett/practice-to-beat-the-best/) [Dick Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-bennett/) > [I'm a competitive person. I love the game of basketball. I'm a gym rat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-pierce/i-m-a-competitive-person-i-love-the-game-of-basketball-i-m-a-gym-rat/) [Paul Pierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-pierce/) > [I am both humbled and honored to receive the Honda Sports Award for women's basketball.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brittney-griner/i-am-both-humbled-and-honored-to-receive-the-honda-sports-award-for/) [Brittney Griner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brittney-griner/) > [What I've talked about the entire series and throughout this playoffs is about intensity and effort, desire and will of our players.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-laimbeer/what-i-ve-talked-about-the-entire-series-and-throughout-this-playoffs/) [Bill Laimbeer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-laimbeer/) [Browse all 5,387 Basketball quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/basketball/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If they took the idea that they could escape poverty through education, I think it would make a more basic and long-lasting change in the way things happen. 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