Iconic Movie Lines That Are Often Misquoted

Misquote: “Greed is good.”

Real Quote: “The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good.

Gordon Gekko, who represents the average Wall Street bigwig, makes a speech in the 1987 film Wall Street saying that greed is, in fact, good. The misquote seems to be a shortening of the much lengthier movie quote.

But I do like the movie quote better. It’s like he knows that saying “Greed is good” isn’t going to be very popular, so he has to add the “for lack of a better word” to it. But I suppose brevity is a stock you can bet on.