Quotes About Greed

I wish I was a despot that I might save the noble, the beautiful trees that are daily falling sacrifice to the cupidity of their owners, or the necessity of the poor. The unnecessary felling of a tree, perhaps the growth of centuries, seems to me a crime little short of murder.

La corrupción es como un pantano sin fondo: de ella se puede esperar todo.

The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little.

We never see the one truth that would help us begin to solve our ethical and political problems: that we are all more or less wrong, that we are all at fault, all limited and obstructed by our mixed motives, our self-deception, our greed, our self-righteousness and our tendency to aggression and hypocrisy.

The time will come when they will sell you even your rain.

Thus we never see the one truth that would help us begin to solve our ethical and political problems: that we are all more or less wrong, that we are all at fault, all limited and obstructed by our mixed motives, our self-deception, our greed, our self-righteousness and our tendency to aggressivity and hypocrisy.

Excerpt from Cracking the Safe: Thus what the world calls good business is only a way To gather up the loot, pack it, make it secure In one convenient load for the more enterprising thieves. Who is there, among those called smart, Who does not spend his time amassing loot For a bigger robber than himself?

Projectors, Brokers of Capital, Insurancers, Peddlers upon the global Scale, Enterprisers and Quacks,— these are the last poor fallen and feckless inheritors of a knowledge they can never use, but in the service of Greed.

Among the many other questions raised by the nebulous concept of "greed" is why it is a term applied almost exclusively to those who want to earn more money or to keep what they have already earned—never to those wanting to take other people's money in taxes or to those wishing to live on the largesse dispensed from such taxation. No amount of taxation is ever described as "greed" on the part of government or the clientele of government.

While "greed" is one of the most popular—and most fallacious—explanations of the very high salaries of corporate executives, when your salary depends on what other people are willing to pay you, you can be the greediest person on earth and that will not raise your pay in the slightest. Any serious explanation of corporate executives' salaries must be based on the reasons for those salaries being offered, not the reasons why the recipients desire them.

Treating the causes of higher prices and higher interest rates in low-income neighborhoods as being personal greed or exploitation, and trying to remedy it by imposing price controls and interest rate ceilings only ensures that even less will be supplied to people living in low-income neighborhoods thereafter.

when people choose their occupations according to what the public wants and is willing to pay for, that is "greed," but when the public is forced to pay for what the anointed want done, that is "public service.

Among the many other questions raised by the nebulous concept of "greed" is why it is a term applied almost exclusively to those who want to earn more money or to keep what they have already earned—never to those wanting to take other people's money in taxes or to those wishing to live on the largess dispensed from such taxation.

why the desire to increase and retain one's own earnings should be characterized negatively as "greed," while wishing to live at the expense of others is not.

The success of politicians does not depend on their learning their lessons about history or politics, but depends much more on having the ability to act on what is widely believed by the public and the media, which may include theories conspiracies or the belief that the higher prices are due to deception or greed.

Do you know what this reminds me of--every time I see it happen? It's like a kids' game where the ones who are successful stand in a circle, grabbing money with one hand and passing it with the other. While everyone else stands around on the outside, watching them anxiously and trying to figure a way to get into the circle so they can play too.

Pete drained his cup, then set it on the table. "In the words of that great humanitarian Jerry Maguire, 'Show me the money.

Who's Mr Terreur ?" she wondered. "He must be the owner of that steel company. He's really rich — I heard he's got a bunch of vacation homes in Raputoa." "Oh, that evil greedy rich guy. He really made a killing thanks to the war, right ?" "Allison. Do you ever not call a rich person evil and greedy ?" "What, am I wrong ?" "...Anyway, what should we do ?

The bulk of my problems are a result of indigestion and greed, not starvation.

A dead man's shroud has no pockets.

The love of money is the root of all evil. It is not wrong to have money; it is wrong for money to have you. It is wrong for money to be your master.

The very rich are getting richer and all the others are going broke. The big holders are not shrewd or ruthless or enterprising. They don't have to say or think anything. All they have to do is sit and the money comes pouring in. You have to get up with the Big Holders or drop out and take any job they hand you.

Junk takes everything and gives nothing but insurance against junk sickness.

PLATO A CAUTIONARY TALE He lost his gold, And he, finding the first man's gold, Lost his belt, And then he who lost his gold Found the other man's belt And hanged himself.