“The gods of all pagan faiths have been allied with the rich rulers. The priests of most religions are the employees of the landowners. But the God of Israel has always claimed to be with the poor—whether in the legislation of Deuteronomy, the words of the prophets, or the experiences of the New Testament. Our God is on the side of the poor.”

“My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

“1675. God help the Rich; the Poor can beg.”

Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual

“That no human ruler can claim the same degree of allegiance that God claims; that God's kingship or suzerainty relativizes all human regimes; that all human political arrangements, even the most just and humane, fall short of the kingdom of God: these are ideas that have reverberated over the centuries and into our own time.”

Jon D. Levenson (1949) American biblical scholar

“The love of possessions is a disease in them. These people have made many rules that the rich may break, but the poor may not! They have a religion in which the poor worship, but the rich will not! They even take tithes from the poor and weak to support the rich and those who rule. They claim this mother of ours, the earth, for their own use, and fence their neighbor away. … If America had been twice the size it is, there still would not have been enough.”

Sitting Bull (1831–1890) Hunkpapa Lakota medicine man and holy man

“The idea that the poor should have leisure has always been shocking to the rich.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

“Whoever you are, no matter what social position you have, rich or poor, always show great strength and determination, and always do everything with much love and deep faith in God. One day you will reach your goal.”

Ayrton Senna (1960–1994) Brazilian racing driver

“God only, who made us rich, can make us poor.”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning book Sonnets from the Portuguese

“The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism.”

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) American protestant theologian

“How far, O rich, do you extend your senseless avarice? Do you intend to be the sole inhabitants of the earth? Why do you drive out the fellow sharers of nature, and claim it all for yourselves? The earth was made for all, rich and poor, in common. Why do you rich claim it as your exclusive right? The soil was given to the rich and poor in common—wherefore, oh, ye rich, do you unjustly claim it for yourselves alone? Nature gave all things in common for the use of all; usurpation created private rights. Property hath no rights. The earth is the Lord's, and we are his offspring. The pagans hold earth as property. They do blaspheme God.”

Ambrose (339–397) bishop of Milan; one of the four original doctors of the Church