--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Sometimes the poor are praised for being…" description: "\"Sometimes the poor are praised for being thrifty. But to recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/848/oscar-wilde-16_grotesque_sometimes-the-poor-are-praised-for-being_1470070.jpg" --- # Sometimes the poor are praised for being thrifty. But to… ![“Sometimes the poor are praised for being thrifty. But to recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.” quote by Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/848/oscar-wilde-16_grotesque_sometimes-the-poor-are-praised-for-being_1470070.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/848/oscar-wilde-16_grotesque_sometimes-the-poor-are-praised-for-being_1470070.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/848/oscar-wilde-16_grotesque_sometimes-the-poor-are-praised-for-being_1470070.jpg) > “Sometimes the poor are praised for being thrifty. But to recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.” [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Critiques the absurdity of urging the poor to be frugal, likening it to telling a starving person to eat less. **In simple terms:** It’s hypocritical to demand thrift from those lacking basics. Key Takeaway Avoid imposing unrealistic expectations. Themes poverty ethics hypocrisy Mood critical thought‑provoking Type satire philosophical When to use this quote - policy debates - charitable advice - public discourse Key Concepts social justice economic inequality moral philosophy Questions to Reflect On - How can aid respect dignity while promoting resourcefulness? - What alternatives exist to blaming the poor? A Different Perspective Thrift can be a survival strategy, not a moral judgment. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Grotesque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grotesque/) [Insulting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/insulting/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Poor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poor/) [Praised Thrifty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/praised-thrifty-5331751/) [Recommend Thrift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/recommend-thrift-5331752/) [Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rich/) [Sometimes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sometimes/) [Starving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/starving/) [Thrift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thrift/) [Thrift Poor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thrift-poor-5331750/) [Thrifty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thrifty/) ## Related quotes > [The doctrine of thrift for the poor is dumb and cruel, like advising them to try and lift themselves by their bootstraps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-thomas/the-doctrine-of-thrift-for-the-poor-is-dumb-and-cruel-like-advising/) [Norman Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-thomas/) > [Housing Works is the coolest thrift store in the world, because not only are they the best thrift store - they're not the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-miller/housing-works-is-the-coolest-thrift-store-in-the-world-because-not/) [Ezra Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-miller/) > [Men are divided between those who are as thrifty as if they would live forever, and those who are as extravagant as if they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/men-are-divided-between-those-who-are-as-thrifty-as-if-they-would/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [It's smart to be thrifty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernice-fitz-gibbon/it-s-smart-to-be-thrifty/) [Bernice Fitz-Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernice-fitz-gibbon/) > [Whatever thrift is, it is not avarice. Avarice is not generous; and, after all, it is the thrifty people who are generous.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/archibald-primrose-5th-earl-of-rosebery/whatever-thrift-is-it-is-not-avarice-avarice-is-not-generous-and/) [Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/archibald-primrose-5th-earl-of-rosebery/) > [Each class preaches the importance of those virtues it need not exercise. The rich harp on the value of thrift, the idle grow eloquent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/each-class-preaches-the-importance-of-those-virtues-it-need-not/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“The rich would have spoken on the value of thrift and the idle grown eloquent over the dignity of labour.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/the-rich-would-have-spoken-on-the-value-of-thrift-and-the-idle-grown/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [For life is terribly deficient in form. Its catastrophes happen in the wrong way and to the wrong people. There is a grotesque horror…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/for-life-is-terribly-deficient-in-form-its-catastrophes-happen-in-the/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Well, I don't like your clothes. You look perfectly ridiculous in them. Why on earth don't you go up and change? It's perfectly childish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/well-i-don-t-like-your-clothes-you-look-perfectly-ridiculous-in-them/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [One of the saddest sights of the slums is to see the thrifty wife of the working man, with her rosy brood of children,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albion-fellows-bacon/one-of-the-saddest-sights-of-the-slums-is-to-see-the-thrifty-wife-of/) [Albion Fellows Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albion-fellows-bacon/) > [Think of it! A few more boats, a few more planks of wood nailed together in a particular way at a thrifty cost and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-beesley/think-of-it-a-few-more-boats-a-few-more-planks-of-wood-nailed/) [Lawrence Beesley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-beesley/) > [We're thrifty. We can live off our interest, save the principal, and let the kids go off and have a hoot.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-jackson/we-re-thrifty-we-can-live-off-our-interest-save-the-principal-and-let/) [Keith Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-jackson/) > [Caring for God's endowment in a thrifty fashion is a form of biblical obedience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-malloch/caring-for-god-s-endowment-in-a-thrifty-fashion-is-a-form-of-biblical/) [Ted Malloch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-malloch/) > [Leftovers make you feel good twice. First, when you put it away, you feel thrifty and intelligent: 'I'm saving food!' Then a month later…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-carlin/leftovers-make-you-feel-good-twice-first-when-you-put-it-away-you/) [George Carlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-carlin/) > [The coward regards himself as cautious, the miser as thrifty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/publilius-syrus/the-coward-regards-himself-as-cautious-the-miser-as-thrifty/) [Publilius Syrus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/publilius-syrus/) ## More by Oscar Wilde > [How else but through a broken heart may Lord Christ enter in?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/how-else-but-through-a-broken-heart-may-lord-christ-enter-in/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/the-books-that-the-world-calls-immoral-are-the-books-that-show-the/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Bachelors should be heavily taxed. It is not fair that some men should be happier than others](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/bachelors-should-be-heavily-taxed-it-is-not-fair-that-some-men-should/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Who, being loved, is poor?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/who-being-loved-is-poor/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“Basil my dear boy puts everything that is charming in him into his work. The consequence is that he has nothing left for life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/basil-my-dear-boy-puts-everything-that-is-charming-in-him-into-his/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Anybody can be good in the country](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/anybody-can-be-good-in-the-country/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [I don't at all like knowing what people say of me behind my back. It makes me far too conceited.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/i-don-t-at-all-like-knowing-what-people-say-of-me-behind-my-back-it/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“Alles Populäre ist falsch.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/alles-popul-re-ist-falsch/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“If these elements of beauty are real, the whole thing simply appeals to our sense of dramatic effect. Suddenly we find that we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/if-these-elements-of-beauty-are-real-the-whole-thing-simply-appeals/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [To love one's self is the beginning of a life-long romance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/to-love-one-s-self-is-the-beginning-of-a-life-long-romance/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/those-who-find-beautiful-meanings-in-beautiful-things-are-the/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Men always want to be a womans first love. Women have a more subtle instinct: What they like is to be a mans last…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/men-always-want-to-be-a-womans-first-love-women-have-a-more-subtle/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Why is it that at a bachelor's establishment the servants invariably drink the champagne.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/why-is-it-that-at-a-bachelor-s-establishment-the-servants-invariably/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Moderation is a fatal thing. Enough is as bad as a meal. More than enough is as good as a feast.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/moderation-is-a-fatal-thing-enough-is-as-bad-as-a-meal-more-than/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Beauty is the only thing that time cannot harm. Philosophies fall away like sand, creeds follow one another, but what is beautiful is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/beauty-is-the-only-thing-that-time-cannot-harm-philosophies-fall-away/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) [Explore all 3,343 Oscar Wilde quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) ## More Grotesque quotes > [It’s a shameful moment for U.S. media when it insists on being subservient to the grotesque propaganda agencies of a violent, aggressive state.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/it-s-a-shameful-moment-for-u-s-media-when-it-insists-on-being/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [I have to be careful to get out before I become the grotesque caricature of a hatchet-faced woman with big knockers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamie-lee-curtis/i-have-to-be-careful-to-get-out-before-i-become-the-grotesque/) [Jamie Lee Curtis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamie-lee-curtis/) > [“I was grotesque to the theatrical pitch, a stage miser, but I was certainly not a physical impossibility”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells-2/i-was-grotesque-to-the-theatrical-pitch-a-stage-miser-but-i-was/) [H.G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells-2/) > [People commonly travel the world over to see rivers and mountains, new stars, garish birds, freak fish, grotesque breeds of human; they fall into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soren-kierkegaard/people-commonly-travel-the-world-over-to-see-rivers-and-mountains-new/) [Soren Kierkegaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soren-kierkegaard/) > [I think that, honestly, people's censorship issues are personal but I disagree with most of those personal choices that I see others make. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-rogen/i-think-that-honestly-people-s-censorship-issues-are-personal-but-i/) [Seth Rogen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-rogen/) > [In a way Australia is like Catholicism. The company is sometimes questionable and the landscape is grotesque. But you always come back.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-keneally/in-a-way-australia-is-like-catholicism-the-company-is-sometimes/) [Thomas Keneally](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-keneally/) > [The statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-statesmen-will-invent-cheap-lies-putting-the-blame-upon-the/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Salvador Dali has been called kitsch, but, although some of this work may be grotesque, its brazenly self-conscious bad taste saves it from being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-dutton/salvador-dali-has-been-called-kitsch-but-although-some-of-this-work/) [Denis Dutton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-dutton/) > [To the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling figures.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/to-the-hard-of-hearing-you-shout-and-for-the-almost-blind-you-draw/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [Size without shape is grotesque.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vince-gironda/size-without-shape-is-grotesque/) [Vince Gironda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vince-gironda/) > [There were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why,--when it did not seem worthwhile to be glad or sorry, to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-chopin/there-were-days-when-she-was-unhappy-she-did-not-know-why-when-it-did/) [Kate Chopin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-chopin/) > [Our tolerance of the intolerable found a low threshold as early as the late 1950s with the grotesque excesses of McCarthyism, which destroyed so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-mishra/our-tolerance-of-the-intolerable-found-a-low-threshold-as-early-as/) [Pankaj Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-mishra/) > [George theThird Ought never to have occurred. One can only wonder At so grotesque a blunder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-c-bentley/george-thethird-ought-never-to-have-occurred-one-can-only-wonder-at/) [E. C. Bentley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-c-bentley/) > [There is the life of the plankton in almost endless variety; there are the many kinds of fish, both surface and bottom living; there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alister-hardy/there-is-the-life-of-the-plankton-in-almost-endless-variety-there-are/) [Alister Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alister-hardy/) > [At six I lived in a graveyard full of dolls, avoiding myself, my body, the suspect in its grotesque house.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/at-six-i-lived-in-a-graveyard-full-of-dolls-avoiding-myself-my-body/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) [Browse all 241 Grotesque quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grotesque/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Sometimes the poor are praised for being thrifty. But to recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. 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