Kirk Douglas: Grow Up Abject Poverty

Posted by admin on Sunday, December 9, 2018

Kirk Douglas Money Quote saying I tell my sons they didn’t have my advantages growing up. I came from abject poverty. There was nowhere to go but up. Kirk Douglas said:
 

 

“I tell my sons they didn’t have my advantages growing up. I came from abject poverty. There was nowhere to go but up.” — Kirk Douglas

 

 

In this quote, legendary actor Kirk Douglas seems to be reflecting on the different opportunities and challenges he faced growing up compared to his own sons. Some key points:

• Douglas notes that as a child, he came from “abject poverty”, meaning extreme and severe lack of resources or wealth.
• He tells his sons that they “didn’t have my advantages growing up”, suggesting the hardships of poverty provided certain advantages in motivating him to succeed.
• Douglas implies that when one starts with essentially nothing as he did, their only possible direction for social and financial mobility is “up” towards prosperity rather than risk of decline.
• This contrasts with his sons who grew up with more comforts and stability, without the fire of poverty driving them.

Overall, the quote conveys Douglas’ perspective that overcoming a background of dire poverty gave him a certain advantage and impetus that his privileged sons lacked – the knowledge that any achievements would represent rising above his beginnings through grit and determination rather than maintaining a family legacy. For Douglas, poverty bred ambition.