Poor Quotes

“Praise can be a fuel of survival in the education system for kids like me.”
― Katriona O'Sullivan, Poor

“Being poor controls how you see yourself, how you trust and speak, how you see the world and how you dream.”
― Katriona O'Sullivan, Poor

“dehumanizing the most vulnerable is a great way to excuse yourself from helping them.”
― Katriona O'Sullivan, Poor

“But 'poor' for me was also feeling like I had no worth. It was poverty of mind, poverty of simulation, poverty of safety and poverty of relationships. Being poor controls how you see yourself, how you trust and speak, how you see the world and how you dream.”
― Katriona O'Sullivan, Poor: Grit, courage, and the life-changing value of self-belief

“We need equity in education, not equality.”
― Katriona O'Sullivan, Poor

“the truth is, we are losing some brilliant minds in the trenches of poverty.”
― Katriona O'Sullivan, Poor

“education is and should be for every person who wants one. And”
― Katriona O'Sullivan, Poor

“an education is more than just a job. You gain a qualification or a degree, but you also develop a way of thinking.”
― Katriona O'Sullivan, Poor

“he said had an effect. They gave me some self-belief. Praise can be a fuel of survival in the education system for kids”
― Katriona O'Sullivan, Poor

“connections with all of the children; she had a knack. But it seemed there would always be an errand which I would do in earnest, a blackboard to wipe clean, or papers to hand out to the desks, or an important message written on a memo pad, folded and handed to me with instructions on how to get to where I had to hand it in. I think we all have those teachers, the ones who like us. As a child I had a strong, warm temperament – I can see the spark in my eyes when I look at photos of back then. I was driven and some teachers loved me for it. And, of course, some didn’t. I loved Mrs Arkinson and I knew she loved me. Her eyes said so. The way she helped me said so. The pat on my head, the hand on my shoulder, the encouragement and rewards. When Mrs Arkinson was pleased with you, well, you felt like you could survive forever on that small nod or pat on the head. It was like she pushed confidence”
― Katriona O'Sullivan, Poor

“O’Sullivan means one-eyed, did you know that?’ she said, pushing her chair back and pressing a badge with my name written across it in blue marker on to my chest. She patted it to make it stick. I nodded. But I didn’t know. I used to nod at everything she said. ‘Two brothers back many years ago in ancient Ireland had a terrible fight,’ she said, ‘and one tore the other’s eye out with a stick.’ Her accent was stronger than my dad’s. And warmer. I thought about the fights that went on in our area, always as the sun dimmed and the drink of the day soured in hungry bellies. I could well believe the story about the brothers. ‘Now,’ she said, ‘I’m glad you’re in my class, one of my own.’ And she kept that going, all through my first year of school. I felt as though I was a favourite.”
― Katriona O'Sullivan, Poor

“My name was on a list – Mrs Arkinson always checked if I was there and would tick my name. ‘An Irish girl in my class, what a treat,’ she said when I first started. ‘I’m Irish too,’ she added. I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and chewed on it. I knew that Irish was something, it was what my dad was, and what my mum’s dad was, though I wasn’t quite sure what it meant. But if I had that in common with Mrs Arkinson, it must be treasure for sure.”
― Katriona O'Sullivan, Poor

“Teachers have a huge impact on the children they teach: it can be negative, or it can be life-changing.”
― Katriona O'Sullivan, Poor

“It was in the alone times when my inner voice was loudest.”
― Katriona O'Sullivan, Poor

“She had an instinct, my mum, a sense of maternal love. It was in there. Problem was, you had to go under a car to feel it.”
― Katriona O'Sullivan, Poor