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About this quote

What does it mean?
The world’s fundamental evil stems from the insufficient creation of money by a benevolent deity.
In plain terms
Lack of money causes great evil.
What can you take from it?
Economic scarcity fuels wrongdoing.

Where it applies

  • poverty
  • corruption
  • financial crisis

Putting it to work

  • address wealth distribution
  • reform monetary policy

Questions to consider

  • Is money the root of all evil?
  • How can societies mitigate the harms of scarcity?

Another view

Attributing evil solely to money oversimplifies complex causes.

More from Heinrich Heine

  1. Whatever tears one may shed, in the end one always blows one's nose.

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  2. There are more fools in the world than there are people.

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  3. The music at a wedding procession always reminds me of the music of soldiers going into battle.

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