“I hated poverty. Poverty is more of a choice than anything else, and i can change that (poverty). It depends upon how hard i want to work, and i decide that i would change it.” - Dr. Ben Carson

What Dr. Benson Carson means is that he always hated to live in a  poverty life but that the only way he would changed it was by having a good education. Great education will bring a lot of good stuff. If you're just going to be living your whole life in the sofa watching t.v doing nothing then nothing is what you're going to get back. That's why if you do want to progress in life then you need to  start educating yourself to be a successful person. So poverty is more your choice than anything else because that's the choice you're making. But that choice will bring so much poverty in your life that you will not get out of it. So it's better for you to choose studying and reading and improving yourself than doing nothing to help yourself to improve.for example if you are just lying and using your phone doing nothing that will help you be a successful person then you’re doing the wrong thing. You always have to choose the right not the wrong. This is the reason why you have to pick reading and studying than do nothing just doing things that you are not suppose to be doing. So yes i agree with Ben Carson and in what he’s saying.