Quotable Quotes: Rivers Of Greed
by Miki Saxon
Greed, like water, just keeps flowing along, flooding the land and leaving destruction and misery in it’s wake. The current flood, which dwarfs Katrina, makes greed a timely subject for our quotes today.
“Laissez-faire, Supply-and-demand, – one begins to be weary of all that. Leave all to egoism, to ravenous greed of money, of pleasure, of applause: it is the Gospel of Despair!” –Thomas Carlyle (Said way back in the 1800s, seems nothing has changed—not encouraging.)
“It always seemed strange to me that the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first, they love the produce of the second.” –John Steinbeck (Good grief! You don’t confuse talk with actions, do you?)
“New York City is a great monument to the power of money and greed… a race for rent.” –Frank Lloyd Wright (Definitely living up to it’s reputation!)
“If we go on the way we have, the fault is our greed [and] if we are not willing [to change], we will disappear from the face of the globe, to be replaced by the insect.” –Jacques Cousteau (Long hail the mighty cockroach [see above].)
“No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.” –P. J. O’Rourke (Whoever invents the test will wind up the richest person in the world without any need to be greedy!)
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Image credit: sxc.hu
January 4th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Stupidity, ignorance, greed, and love of power – a potent combination sure to bring us to the destruction of our society as we know it.
I’ve been reading about Alexander Tytler (18th century Scotsman), who said the great civilizations go through a process in 200 years:
* From bondage to spiritual faith;
* From spiritual faith to great courage;
* From courage to liberty;
* From liberty to abundance;
* From abundance to complacency;
* From complacency to apathy;
* From apathy to dependence;
* From dependence back into bondage.
Gee, I wonder where we are on this list?
January 4th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Hi Jean, HNY! Off hand I’d say we’ve moved from complacency with a heavy dash of apathy to terror. I wonder if it’s possible to move backwards and stay between courage and liberty.
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment!
January 17th, 2009 at 5:32 am
“It always seemed strange to me that the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system,,,
Here it is , Jan 17, and I got up in the middle of the night to search for this entry. Some things stick in the mind and have to be dealt with, sooner or later.
Why does this ring so true? Why are so many of the ‘successful people” admired for what they achieve, and yet shunned because of their personality traits? Why does the world need these people to produce jobs, leadership, etc, and yet the same world does not want to be friends with these same people?
Must be my negativism creeping in, some days this world seems like a crazy place.
January 17th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Hi Steve, perhaps it’s because we are a nation that follows appearance and form, not substance. After all, how many other countries are more interested in a candidate’s haircut and clothes than their values and whose media sees as much value in reporting on Presidential pets as on policy?
On a personal note, thank you so much for paying me the highest compliment any writer can receive—”Here it is , Jan 17, and I got up in the middle of the night to search for this entry. Some things stick in the mind and have to be dealt with, sooner or later.”
To offer anything that not only sticks, but wiggles around for an entire week until it is addressed, is the intent of almost anyone who writes.
January 17th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
P.S. Steve, the world is a crazy place. I find that the trick is to align yourself with folks who are synergistically crazy, while remaining open to hearing at least once the craziness of those that aren’t.