Greed is a complex human emotion that has inspired philosophical debates and works of art for centuries. Riddles can be an interesting way to reflect on the nuances of greed and how it affects human behavior. Here are 77 riddles about greed along with their answers to ponder.
Riddles about Greed
Classic Riddles
1. I make you weak at the worst of all times. I keep you safe, I keep you fine. I make your hands sweat and your heart grow cold, I visit the weak, but seldom the bold. What am I?
Answer: Fear
2. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?
Answer: Footsteps
3. I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?
Answer: A map
4. What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?
Answer: A stamp
5. What belongs to you but others use it more than you do?
Answer: Your name
6. What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?
Answer: A towel
7. What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?
Answer: A promise
8. I have keys but no locks. I have a space but no room. You can enter, but can’t go outside. What am I?
Answer: A keyboard
9. What goes up but never comes down?
Answer: Your age
10. What has many keys but can’t open a single lock?
Answer: A piano
Number Riddles
11. Take one out and scratch my head, I am now black but once was red. What am I?
Answer: A match
12. What 3 numbers have the same answer when added together and multiplied together?
Answer: 1, 2, 3
13. What gets bigger the more you take away?
Answer: A hole
14. What has 13 hearts but no organs?
Answer: A deck of cards
15. What has hands but can’t clap?
Answer: A clock
16. What has a neck but no head?
Answer: A bottle
17. What can you catch but not throw?
Answer: A cold
18. I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?
Answer: A candle
19. What month of the year has 28 days?
Answer: All of them
20. What is full of holes but still holds water?
Answer: A sponge
Logic Riddles
21. A doctor and a boy were fishing. The boy was the doctor’s son, but the doctor was not the boy’s father. Who was the doctor?
Answer: The boy’s mother
22. A man was outside taking a walk when it started to rain. The man didn’t have an umbrella and he wasn’t wearing a hat. His clothes got soaked, yet not a single hair on his head got wet. How could this happen?
Answer: He was bald
23. A man builds a house with all 4 sides facing south. A bear walks past the house. What color is the bear?
Answer: White – the house is at the North Pole
24. What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer: Short
25. A doctor and a bus driver are both in love with the same woman, an attractive girl named Sarah. The bus driver had to go on a long bus trip that would last a week. Before he left, he gave Sarah seven apples. Why?
Answer: Because apples a day keeps the doctor away!
26. A man was driving a black truck. His lights were not on. The moon was not out. A lady was crossing the street. How did the man see her?
Answer: It was daytime
27. How far can a dog run into the woods?
Answer: Halfway, after that he is running out of the woods.
28. A clerk at a butcher shop stands five feet ten inches tall and wears size 13 sneakers. What does he weigh?
Answer: Meat.
29. Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?
Answer: Mt. Everest; it just hadn’t been discovered yet.
30. How much dirt is there in a hole that measures two feet by three feet by four feet?
Answer: There is no dirt in a hole.
What Am I Riddles
31. I have branches, but no fruit, trunk or leaves. What am I?
Answer: A bank
32. I have needles, but don’t sew. I have a backpack but don’t go to school. What am I?
Answer: A pine tree
33. I have four wings, but cannot fly. I never laugh and never cry. On the same spot I’m always found, toiling away with little sound. What am I?
Answer: A windmill
34. I have a head, a tail, but never any legs. What am I?
Answer: A coin
35. You can drop me from the tallest building and I’ll be fine, but if you drop me in water I die. What am I?
Answer: Paper
36. I am not a living thing, but I do grow; I don’t have lungs, but I do need air; I don’t have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I?
Answer: Fire
37. I sneak and slink and slide. I murmur, but do not speak. I curl, but never sleep. What am I?
Answer: A snake
38. At night I come without being called, by day I am lost without being stolen. What am I?
Answer: The stars
39. You throw away the outside and cook the inside. Then you eat the outside and throw away the inside. What am I?
Answer: Corn
40. I am an odd number. Take away a letter and I am even. What number am I?
Answer: Seven
Hard Riddles
41. What is broken every time it’s spoken?
Answer: Silence
42. What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?
Answer: A stamp
43. What loses its head in the morning but gets it back at night?
Answer: A pillow
44. What goes through towns and over hills but never moves?
Answer: A road
45. What can you hold in your left hand but not your right?
Answer: Your right elbow
46. What belongs to you but is used more by others?
Answer: Your name
47. What gets wetter the more it dries?
Answer: A towel
48. Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it you die. What is it?
Answer: Nothing
49. What building has the most stories?
Answer: A library
50. What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
Answer: Silence
Really Hard Riddles
51. What word begins and ends with an ‘E’ but only has one letter?
Answer: Envelope
52. Railroad crossing, look out for cars. Can you spell that without any Rs?
Answer: T-H-A-T
53. What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment and never in one thousand years?
Answer: The letter M
54. A man dressed in all black is walking down a country lane. Suddenly, a large black car without any lights on comes round the corner and screeches to a halt. How did the driver see the man?
Answer: It was daytime
55. How far can a rabbit run into a forest?
Answer: Halfway, then it’s running out.
56. What kind of room has no doors or windows?
Answer: A mushroom
57. What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters?
Answer: Short
58. Two fathers and two sons sat down to eat eggs for breakfast. They ate exactly three eggs, each person had an egg. How is this possible?
Answer: There were only three people at the table – a grandfather, father and son.
59. What begins with T, ends with T and has T in it?
Answer: A teapot
60. What do people make that you can’t see?
Answer: Noise
Funny Riddles
61. What did the police officer say to his belly-button?
Answer: You’re under a vest.
62. Why do melons have weddings?
Answer: Because they cantaloupe!
63. What did one ocean say to the other ocean?
Answer: Nothing, they just waved.
64. What do you get from a pampered cow?
Answer: Spoiled milk.
65. Where do polar bears vote?
Answer: The North Poll.
66. Why don’t eggs tell jokes?
Answer: They’d crack each other up.
67. Did you hear about the cheese factory that exploded in France?
Answer: There was nothing left but de Brie.
68. Why couldn’t the bicycle stand up?
Answer: Because it was two tired!
69. What do you call a bee that comes from America?
Answer: USB
70. Why do seagulls fly over the sea?
Answer: Because if they flew over the bay they’d be bagels!
Lateral Thinking Riddles
71. A man leaves home and makes three left turns. He returns home again. On his way home he passes two men wearing masks. Who are the two masked men?
Answer: A baseball catcher and umpire.
72. A man lives on the 100th floor of an apartment building. On rainy mornings he rides the elevator all the way up. On sunny mornings he rides it halfway up and walks the rest. Why does he do this?
Answer: The man is very short and can’t reach the top buttons, so on sunny days he can ride up halfway and walk the rest. On rainy days he stays dry by riding the elevator all the way.
73. A man is driving his car. He turns on the radio, then blows his horn 3 times and turns off the lights. Next he turns on his lights and turns off his radio. Why did he do this?
Answer: He was in a tunnel!
74. Yesterday it rained all day but when I woke this morning the ground was completely dry today. How is that possible?
Answer: I woke up in a different place than yesterday.
75. How much dirt would be in a hole 6 feet deep and 6 feet wide that has been dug with a square edged shovel?
Answer: None, holes are empty.
76. If there are four sheep, two dogs and one herds-men, how many feet are there?
Answer: Two (the herds-men’s feet).
77. A clerk in the butcher shop is 5’10” tall. What does he weigh?
Answer: Meat.
Conclusion
Greed is a theme that has provides intriguing fodder for riddles through the ages. The riddles above encourage lateral thinking, logic, and humor to reflect on the nuances of human greed. Some expose greed in a thought-provoking way, while others use wit to highlight the absurdity of greed. Riddles can teach us profound lessons if we ponder them deeply. Next time you are tempted by greed, remember a riddle!
