365 forte

"As a means of alleviating poverty, Christian charity was worse than useless, as could be seen in the Papal states, which abounded in it. But it was popular not only among the traditionalist rich, who cherished it as a safeguard against the evil of equal rights (proposed by 'those dreamers who maintain that nature has created men with equal rights and that social distinctions should be founded purely on communal utility') but also among the traditionalist poor, who were profoundly convinced that they had a right to crumbs from the rich man's table."

 

"Age of Revolution 1789-1848" - Eric Hobsbawm