Joni Mitchell Quotes

Most men have always wanted as much as they could get; and possession has always blunted the fine edge of their altruism.

The instinct of ownership is fundamental in man’s nature.

When resources become skimpy, human beings don't suddenly cooperate to conserve what's left. They fight to the last scrap for possession of a diminishing resource.

Man hoards himself when he has nothing to give away.

Though we take from a covetous man all his treasure, he has yet one jewel left; you cannot bereave him of his covetousness.

There is always greed. There is nothing wrong with greed.

The current public aspiration seems to be: Get what you can. Can what you get. Sit on the can behind gated fences.

If you want something, if you take it for your own, you'll always be taking it from someone else.

No living creature is naturally greedy, except from fear of want - or in the case of human beings, from vanity, the notion that you're better than people if you can display more superfluous property than they can.

I felt I was owned by possessions.

This avidity alone, of acquiring goods and possessions for ourselves and our nearest friends, is insatiable, perpetual, universal, and directly destructive of society.

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.

The miser is as much in want of what he has as of what he has not.

Avarice, the sphincter of the heart.

From the first day to this, sheer greed was the driving spirit of civilization.

The world is so competitive, aggressive, consumive, selfish and during the time we spend here we must be all but that.

Anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions.

Greed, like the love of comfort, is a kind of fear.

I understand the human instinct to want to create a nest and possess things, to show them off, but for me personally, it became less and less interesting.

Avarice is the vice of declining years.

Greed is a basic part of animal nature. Being against it is like being against breathing or eating. It means nothing.

When you look at it that way, you can see how absurd it is that we individualize ourselves with our fences and hoarded possessions.

Strangely enough, they have a mind to till the soil, and the love of possessions is a disease in them.

And I like to keep whatever is mine remaining that way. It's a funny little game to play and it's a slippery slope. I always say to myself I'm never going to give anything away because there's never any point or benefit for me.

The desire for money may be an indication of greed, but I want to argue that greed is a much more subtle vice than simply the desire to be rich.