“There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.”
Share this quote
Attribution note
This is the most-cited form of the greed aphorism, but a search of ~100 CWMG volumes did not locate it and the earliest attributions are second-hand, so it cannot be verified as Gandhi's own words despite its fame.
Likely origin: No verbatim Gandhi source in the Collected Works. The canonical 'need not greed' maxim is popularly credited to Gandhi (often via secretary Pyarelal) but is not found in his own dated writings.
Review the attribution sourceAbout this quote
Two appetites get confused here: genuine need, which is finite and can be met, and greed, which keeps expanding to swallow whatever it's fed. Most shortages trace less to hard limits than to a few people hoarding far past any real use.
When to use it
- A neighborhood pantry stays stocked all winter once families take only what a week requires instead of clearing the shelves.
- A team's shared budget lasts the year when nobody pads their own line item beyond what the work actually costs.
- A drought-hit town has plenty of water when households irrigate what they need and stop watering ornamental lawns.