[Korean Culture & Language] Greed-욕심

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A Polish fantasy writer Andrezej Sapkowki said “Human greed knows no limits.”

The German philosopher Georg Hegel said, “The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”

George Bernard Shaw said “If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience. 

A famous meme in Korea (above) reads “Human greed knows no limits, and they repeat the same mistakes”. 

인간 means human

욕심 means greed

끝 means an end

없다 means don’t’ have

같은 means same

실수 means mistakes

반복 means repeat

This meme pokes fun at the human foolishness of repeating the same mistakes: Humans tend to be greedy, realize and regret that greed is bad, become greedy again, and then regret it once again. 

Ex) “작년 블랙프라이데이에 이것저것 지르고 몇 달을 고생했는데, 이번 해에도 쇼핑 갈 것 같아. 인간의 욕심은 끝이 없어” = “I went on a shopping spree on Black Friday last year, and it caused me months of misery. And guess what? I’m going again this year. Human greed knows no limits.”

There’s another funny proverb in Korea that describes 욕심: “동생 줄 것은 없어도 도적맞을 것은 있다”. It translates as: “One has nothing to give their younger siblings but has something to be stolen”. There are two ways to interpret this proverb. Firstly, it describes how people feel as if they have nothing to give when it comes to helping others, even when there is a lot to be stolen if a thief were to break in. Secondly, it illustrates a situation in which someone who is extremely poor is robbed.

자기 먹자니 싫고 남 주자니 아깝다 is an old saying used when something is not good enough to keep for oneself but seems too good to offer to someone else.

Even though the word "greed(욕심)" usually has a negative connotation, it can be beneficial in some cases. America has grown into the world's largest economy as a result of capitalism. It's a good thing for a business to try their best to generate as much revenue as possible, as long as it's not done at the expense or disadvantage of others. 

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