Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

You think Trump cares if you leave? He wants power, not prosperity.

Any time there is a lot of money or ego involved, people tend to behave badly.

As governor, I don't want my fair share. I want more than my fair share.

Greed is normally balanced by fear.

There are probably several hundred thousand if we narrow the definition to include only those who in their search for money and power are ruthless and deceitful.

What likelihood is there of corrupting a man who has no ambition?

The great corrupter of public man is the ego.

Ambition is the mother of hypocrisy and prefers to skulk in corners and dark places. It cannot endure the light of day. It is an unclean vice wallowing in the depths, always hidden, but with ever an eye to advancement.

Greed has been severely underestimated and denigrated—unfairly so in my opinion. … there's nothing wrong with avarice as a motive as long as it doesn't lead to dishonest … conduct.

There is something about prosperity that brings out the worst in some people.

What is the chief end of man?-to get rich. In what way?-dishonestly if we can; honestly if we must.

No man is really honest; none of us is above the influence of gain.

Great eagerness in the pursuit of wealth, pleasure, or honor, cannot exist without sin.

Just as he who gives his life to serve a great idea is admirable, he who avails himself of a great idea to serve his personal hopes of glory and power is abominable, even if he too risks his life.

That was one of the things that interested me about the character. He doesn't want to be a hero, and has no real desire to save the earth or discover aliens. He's sniffing around looking to see what will fall in his lap.

There are points in your life, especially if you have creative ambitions, where selfishness is necessary.

I have lived too long to cherish many illusions about the essential high-mindedness of men when brought into stark confrontation with the issue of control over their security, and their property interests.

Avarice, the spur of industry.

Ambition is but avarice on stilts, and masked.

He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.

Greed is the lack of confidence of one's own ability to create.

Human nature is such that people are born with a love of profit If they follow these inclinations, they will struggle and snatch from each other, and inclinations to defer or yield will die.

Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain.

Greed has taken the whole universe, and nobody is worried about their soul.

Once you start thinking about it in a mercenary frame of mind, then you're finished. You're a joke, because there are too many mercenaries out there already.