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I grew up in poverty. For 25 years I was fed on aid.

My entire childhood was steeped in poverty. For me, poverty, in a way, was the first inspiration of my life, a commitment to do something for the poor.

Poverty was the greatest motivating factor in my life.

I've experienced poverty and plenty, and there's a lesson to be learned when you're brought up in poverty.

You almost have to create situations in order to write about them, so I live in a constant state of self-imposed poverty. I don't want to live any other way.

I grew up in a very modest house. We were poor-we lived on the poverty level. We all got jobs as young kids.

I myself am from a very poor background; I experienced firsthand poverty in this country, and that is not unrelated to my desire, from the moment I became president, to make a priority of poverty reduction in this country.