--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If we could sweep intemperance out of the…" description: "\"If we could sweep intemperance out of the country, there would be hardly poverty enough left to\" — Phillips Brooks" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/58d/phillips-brooks-2696_country_if-we-could-sweep-intemperance-out-of-th_1144398.png" --- # If we could sweep intemperance out of the country, there… ![“If we could sweep intemperance out of the country, there would be hardly poverty enough left to” quote by Phillips Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/58d/phillips-brooks-2696_country_if-we-could-sweep-intemperance-out-of-th_1144398.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/58d/phillips-brooks-2696_country_if-we-could-sweep-intemperance-out-of-th_1144398.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/58d/phillips-brooks-2696_country_if-we-could-sweep-intemperance-out-of-th_1144398.png) > “If we could sweep intemperance out of the country, there would be hardly poverty enough left to” [Phillips Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phillips-brooks/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. If moral excess is eliminated, poverty would virtually disappear. **In simple terms:** Removing excess reduces poverty. Key Takeaway Address overindulgence. Themes morality economics social reform Mood reflective serious Type ethical social When to use this quote - policy making - community outreach - personal budgeting - charitable work Key Concepts Temperance resource distribution Questions to Reflect On - How does personal restraint affect societal wealth? - Can poverty be solved without moral change? A Different Perspective May overlook structural causes of poverty. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Country](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/country/) [Country Hardly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/country-hardly-1006290/) [Enough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enough/) [Hardly Poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hardly-poverty-3203830/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Intemperance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intemperance/) [Intemperance Country](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intemperance-country-3203831/) [Left](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/left/) [Poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poverty/) [Poverty Left](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poverty-left-837725/) [Would be](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/would-be/) ## Related quotes > [“Our statistics are at fault: the population has been returned too large. 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The Left needs to see that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chrystia-freeland/this-globalization-is-lifting-up-hundreds-of-millions-of-people-out/) [Chrystia Freeland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chrystia-freeland/) > [If in a country, most of the wealth is concentrated in the hands of the few, then this country can hardly witness harmony and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wen-jiabao/if-in-a-country-most-of-the-wealth-is-concentrated-in-the-hands-of/) [Wen Jiabao](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wen-jiabao/) > [“A variation on this strategy was implicit in a new definition of “poverty” that the Left began to offer in the early 1960s: the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-r-c-hicks/a-variation-on-this-strategy-was-implicit-in-a-new-definition-of/) [Stephen R.C. Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-r-c-hicks/) > [Those men who destroy a healthful constitution of body by intemperance as manifestly kill themselves as those who hang or poison or drown themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sherlock/those-men-who-destroy-a-healthful-constitution-of-body-by/) [Thomas Sherlock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sherlock/) > [A youth of sensuality and intemperance delivers over to old age a worn-out body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-tullius-cicero/a-youth-of-sensuality-and-intemperance-delivers-over-to-old-age-a/) [Marcus Tullius Cicero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-tullius-cicero/) > [Why should we desire the destruction of human passions? Take passions from human beings and what is left? 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Whence came they, and whither go they? for this is the way to form a judgment of the esteem which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-jortin/a-man-hath-riches-whence-came-they-and-whither-go-they-for-this-is/) [John Jortin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-jortin/) > [Intemperance is naturally punished with diseases; rashness, with mischance; injustice; with violence of enemies; pride, with ruin; cowardice, with oppression; and rebellion, with slaughter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hobbes/intemperance-is-naturally-punished-with-diseases-rashness-with/) [Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hobbes/) > [Drunkenness is an immoderate affection and use of drink. That I call immoderation that is besides or beyond that order of good things for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-taylor/drunkenness-is-an-immoderate-affection-and-use-of-drink-that-i-call/) [Jeremy Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-taylor/) > [Men cannot labor on always. 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