比爾斯(Ambrose Bierce)在他所寫的魔鬼字典(The Devil's Dictionary)中為貧窮下了這樣的定義：

貧窮提供的是改良鼠類牙齒的動機。廢除的計畫和為貧窮受苦的改革者在數量上不分上下，另外對貧窮一無所知的哲學家們也參了一腳。我們特別注意到一群貧窮的受害者，因為他們擁有美德。他們相信領導者會引領他們到達繁榮的境地，即使他們相信對這個繁榮的境地是陌生的。

Ambrose Bierce's definition of POVERTY in The Devil's Dictionary:

n. A file provided for the teeth of the rats of reform. The number of plans for its abolition equals that of the reformers who suffer from it, plus that of the philosophers who knows nothing about it. Its victims are distinguished by possession of all the virtues and by their faith in leaders seeking to conduct them into a prosperity where they believe these to be unknown.**

**Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary(Filiquarian, 2007), p.192.