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About this quote

What does it mean?
Montaigne views greed as the starting point and ultimate end of sin.
In plain terms
Greed is the first and last vice a person has.
What can you take from it?
Watch out for greed as it starts and ends moral decay.

Where it applies

  • finance
  • power
  • ethics

Putting it to work

  • limit wants
  • check motives
  • prioritize ethics

Questions to consider

  • Is greed the root of all bad?
  • Can you ever be truly content?

Another view

Not all desire is greed, and other vices exist.

More from Michel de Montaigne

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  2. Death, they say, acquits us of all obligations.

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  3. Confidence in another man's virtue is no light evidence of a man's own, and God willingly favors such a confidence.

    Permalink to quote #57

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