All religions have honored the beggar. For he proves that in a matter at the same time as prosaic and holy, banal and regenerative as the giving of alms, intellect and morality, consistency and principles are miserably inadequate.
~ Walter Benjamin

God ordains that beggars should beg for greatness, as for all else, when greatness shines out of them, and they don't know it.
~ Georges Bernanos

Beggars should be entirely abolished! Truly, it is annoying to give to them and annoying not to give to them.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche

If begging should unfortunately be thy lot, knock at the large gates only.
~ Arabian Proverb

As for begging, it is safer to beg than to take, but it is finer to take than to beg.
~ Oscar Wilde

Give a beggar a dime and he'll bless you. Give him a dollar and he'll curse you for withholding the rest of your fortune. Poverty is a bag with a hole at the bottom.
~ Anzia Yezierska