This mournful truth is ev'rywhere confess'd,—

Slow rises worth by poverty depress'd.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): London. Line 176.

Philips, whose touch harmonious could remove

The pangs of guilty power and hapless love!

Rest here, distressed by poverty no more;

Here find that calm thou gav'st so oft before;

Sleep undisturb'd within this peaceful shrine,

Till angels wake thee with a note like thine!

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): Epitaph on Claudius Philips, the Musician.

Ap.  My poverty, but not my will, consents.

Rom.  I pay thy poverty, and not thy will.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Romeo and Juliet. Act v. Sc. 1.

Ap.  My poverty, but not my will, consents.

Rom.  I pay thy poverty, and not thy will.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Romeo and Juliet. Act v. Sc. 1.

With one hand he put

A penny in the urn of poverty,

And with the other took a shilling out.

Robert Pollok (1799-1827): The Course of Time. Book viii. Line 632.

And rustic life and poverty

Grow beautiful beneath his touch.

Thomas Campbell (1777-1844): Ode to the Memory of Burns.

Steep'd me in poverty to the very lips.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Othello. Act iv. Sc. 2.

In ev'ry sorrowing soul I pour'd delight,

And poverty stood smiling in my sight.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Odyssey of Homer. Book xvii. Line 505.