Greed quotes
635 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside greed — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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""As I think I told you once before," said I, "it is you who have been, in your greed and cunning, against all the world. It may be profitable to you to reflect, in future, that there never were greed and cunning in the world yet, that did not do too much, and overreach themselves. It is as certain as death.""
"You can see it in terms of the obsession on Wall Street with not just profits but greed, more profit, more profit."
"It's impossible to translate Wall Street greed into one or two demands."
"God is in heaven, and we all want what's his. But power and greed and corruptible seed seem to be all that there is."
"Now, you see, if you understand what I'm saying, with your intelligence, and then take the next step and say "But I understood it now, but I didn't feel it." Then, next I raise the question: Why do you want to feel it? You say: "I want something more", because that's again that spiritual greed. And you could only say that because you didn't understand it."
"The innocence of those who grind the faces of the poor, but refrain from pinching the bottoms of their neighbour's wives! The innocence of Ford, the innocence of Rockefeller! The nineteenth century was the Age of Innocence--that sort of innocence. With the result that we're now almost ready to say that a man is seldom more innocently employed than when making love."
"I'm filled with despair. We live in a pathological culture filled with rage and bitterness and greed. The hate-mongering and racism is reaching a frightening pitch."
"America has gone crazy with greed. I really have to say that."
"having too much is never enough."
"Human beings are very complex creatures. This desire, this greed, this love is very complex."
"People always should know better. People don't get - they don't get smarter about things that get as basic as greed."
"Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit; All with me's meet that I can fashion fit."
"Greed puts out the sun."
"Want is a growing giant whom the coat of have was never large enough to cover."
"That poverty is no disaster is understood by everyone who has not yet succumbed to the madness of greed and luxury that turns everything topsy-turvy."
"The bounty of nature is too little for the greedy person."
"Sitting with a deck of cards in your hand all day is an obsession. Visiting print shops and bookstores and libraries is an obsession. And writing about this is an obsession. I think, in general, most collectors are obsessed. I think the only form of a rationalized greed is when you're collecting something you are supposedly serious about."
"Gambling operates under the premise that greed can be satisfied by luck."
"Greed often finds more pleasure in taking from others than in giving to itself."
"If our leaders are to enjoy the trappings of their position in the hierarchy, then we expect them to offer us protection. The problem is, for many of the overpaid leaders, we know that they took the money and perks and didn’t offer protection to their people. In some cases, they even sacrificed their people to protect or boost their own interests. This is what so viscerally offends us. We only accuse them of greed and excess when we feel they have violated the very definition of what it means to be a leader."
