Oscar Wilde: Insulting Thrifty Poor
on Sunday, October 7, 2018Oscar Wilde Money Quote saying don’t insult those in poverty by suggesting frugality might help them. It is obscene to recommend economy to the destitute. Oscar Wilde said:
“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
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Oscar Wilde is saying that it is nonsensical and insensitive to advise poor people to be thrifty with their limited resources.
For someone who is starving and does not have enough to eat, telling them to eat less is absurd and will not solve their problem. Similarly, telling poor people to save money ignores their reality of not having enough income to meet basic needs like food and shelter.
The quote criticizes giving financial advice to the poor without understanding their difficult circumstances of lacking sufficient means of subsistence.