{"id":4370,"date":"2026-06-01T09:24:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T06:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/?p=4370"},"modified":"2026-06-01T09:24:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T06:24:39","slug":"greed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/?p=4370","title":{"rendered":"GREED"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Konstantinos Konstantinidis \u2013 Amphiktyon<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whoever places profit
at the summit of his thoughts,
first harms himself
and makes his life troubled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He becomes difficult in dealings,
harsh in every action;
for when money is deified,
humanity is stolen away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greed is a great evil,
yet profiteering is even worse;
in the marketplace some steal shamelessly,
even from the poor who live in deprivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their minds are fixed
on how they may always take;
beyond profit, before their eyes,
they never see anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither leisure nor idleness,
neither rest nor health;
they count only money,
and sacrifice their whole lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like gluttons, they wish
to consume everything;
they hunger for money,
without measure and without fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if one day they lose it,
they remain deeply miserable;
everything seems futile to them,
and they lose their joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Profit has set a trap for them;
beyond money, \u201cI know nothing.\u201d
They create and accumulate,
but when illness strikes, they understand too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Self-interest moves everything;
corrupt and perjured politicians
wrong the many for the benefit of the few,
to reap material gain at the expense of farmers and laborers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If self-interest did not exist,
few would do evil;
yet often the individual interest
comes before the national one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only a few, the chosen ones,
place the common good first;
and build hospitals, schools, and ships
for the benefit of the Nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most shameful is profiteering;
it is insolence at the expense of the many.
The greedy man is a slave to profit,
and by his nature has no true friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The greatest evil is avarice;
it has neither end nor full stop.
Until the end of his life
he counts money with obsession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus he commits the greatest sin,
and his own life becomes the greatest victim.
He loses the poetry of his homeland,
for he measures everything with money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He sees all things
through the hole of a penny,
like another Shylock without conscience.
Whatever he does, he does to fill his pockets;
he does not circulate money, but hoards it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whoever is greedy
often becomes a liar as well.
One hand washes the other,
and cooperation brings great profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mafia applied this first,
and thus organized crime flourishes;
the gangs run ahead,
while the police follow behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like vultures, political parties seize,
contract debts never meant to be repaid;
they never return them,
but through the law they pardon and dominate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who misuse public money
and think it their own are deceived.
The sun sees everything;
sooner or later they shall fall into the nets of justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To give is a noble act;
to seize brings disgrace and shame.
For once you learn to take by force,
it becomes difficult to stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And one day, without realizing it,
you may end up on a criminal path.
But when to your homeland
you offer a great gift,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

your soul delights and rejoices,
and earns society\u2019s gratitude.
It regards you as a national benefactor,
honoring and blessing your name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one, while remaining just,
has become rich overnight;
one gathers wealth with thrift,
another squanders inherited riches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet no one has hated wealth itself;
dishonest gain grants only fleeting pleasure,
and afterward fills a person
with sorrows and responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Common mortals,
the \u201cfree lunch hero\u201d has not yet been born;
you force prices upward
and acquire wealth with obsession;
thus justice and injustice mingle within society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And time is money,
yet whoever wastes it solely for money
commits a pity-worthy mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From all this you reap unhappiness,
the bitter fruit of injustice.
No one readily approaches
the person who needs help;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

all fear he may ask for something,
and so they avoid him and leave him aside.
Even the State itself
has often abandoned him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greedy seems the race of barbarians\u2014
Westerners, Easterners, and others alike.
If someday you find yourself in need,
then you will understand;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with loans, supervision, and memoranda,
they will easily humble and condemn you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avarice is a heavy passion
that imprisons the soul.
But whoever learns to give\u2014
only that person truly prospers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(1 June 2026)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/strong>Amphiktyon \u2013 Lieutenant General (ret.) Konstantinos Konstantinidis<\/strong>
Author \u2013 Member of the Society of Greek Writers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amphiktyon Blog: Amphiktyon Blog<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amphiktyon Official Site: Amphiktyon Official Site<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Konstantinos Konstantinidis \u2013 Amphiktyon Whoever places profitat the summit of his thoughts,first harms himselfand makes his life troubled. He becomes difficult in dealings,harsh in every action;for when money is deified,humanity is stolen away. Greed is a great evil,yet profiteering is even worse;in the marketplace some steal shamelessly,even from the poor who live in deprivation. Their … <\/p>\n

\u03a3\u03c5\u03bd\u03b5\u03c7\u03af\u03c3\u03c4\u03b5 \u03c4\u03b7\u03bd \u03b1\u03bd\u03ac\u03b3\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03b7 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5 “GREED”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4370"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4371,"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4370\/revisions\/4371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amphiktyon.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}