Movie: Wall Street (1987) // Said by Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglass)

WHAT IT MEANS:
Greed pushes people forward – it motivates people to earn more, work harder, make and build thigns, and to generally be productive humans. Of course, this message is widely debated (just google the line and you’ll see), particularly in the context of corporate America and Wall Street today – greed also leads to lots of terrible things in the world, including corruption, stealing, inequality, selfishness, etc.

Note that the actual quote is “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” In the movie, it softens the message a bit, possibly making it slightly less controversial and more relatable, but the quote is still widely known and referenced as “Greed is good.”

IT MAY COME IN HANDY WHEN…

  • Somebody is asking for more money – greed is good, if they’re willing to work harder to get what they want
  • There’s conversation about the economy – this line has been used many times to describe the issues with today’s economy, the culture of finance and Wall Street, and even the economic downturn around 2008
  • You want to make the point that greed is NOT good – the reference will likely still work if you insert the word “not” into the middle of it…  

MOVIE SUMMARY
You can see the full Wall Street summary here.