41

What is greater than God, worse than evil,
The poor have it, the rich require it,
And if you eat it, you die?

What is it?

Fabich
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MoonMind
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    Sorry for being so quick! – Rand al'Thor Nov 20 '14 at 16:03
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    it is better to be late than sorry :) – MoonMind Nov 20 '14 at 16:05
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    @d'alar'cop I've heard this countless times over possibly 15 years... I doubt we could find a real source for this. I'd almost classify a puzzle like this as "common knowledge". – TheRubberDuck Nov 20 '14 at 16:11
  • @Envision yes, I'm sure no one owns is. And it's a nice riddle in my opinion. but it's not "original content". I'm not even sure what the meta is on this :p – d'alar'cop Nov 20 '14 at 16:13
  • @d'alar'cop I'm not sure I consider "not original content" to be the same as plagiarism. Maybe MoonMind ought to mention his source in the question. Either way, I can't support your close vote, because I'm fairly confident that he didn't steal this puzzle from that particular site! – TheRubberDuck Nov 20 '14 at 16:18
  • @Envision fair enough. I'm not even sure I can support it. – d'alar'cop Nov 20 '14 at 16:18
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    I don't like this puzzle because the standard answer requires deliberately misinterpreting the question, or at least twisting its meaning. It has at least one other arguable answer, which has been posted. Moreover, it's a chestnut. – xnor Nov 21 '14 at 07:32
  • Although I'm not completely against chestnuts, this one has other reasons for being bad. –  Nov 21 '14 at 08:20
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    An atheist would have to come up with a different answer for this one (since they wouldn't believe nothing to be greater than God) :D – Psychemaster Nov 21 '14 at 09:20
  • What rolls down stairs alone or in pairs and over your neighbour's dog? What's great for a snack and fits on your back? – Ian MacDonald Jun 29 '16 at 13:39
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    @Psychemaster If a unicorn is commonly defined as the most sparkly thing, but somebody believes that unicorns don't exist, that doesn't stop them from realizing that, in the phrase "x is sparklier than a unicorn", x is substituted by the answer. Just because an instance of the concept "unicorn" isn't believed to exist doesn't mean that the concept can't be handled in this way. – wizzwizz4 Mar 31 '18 at 16:30

4 Answers4

60

Too easy! I've seen something like this before.

Nothing.

Explanation isn't really necessary - just check all the clues - but I'll give some anyway:

Nothing is greater than God; nothing is worse than evil; the poor have nothing; the rich require nothing; if you eat nothing, you die.

Rand al'Thor
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    Having a huge asteroid colliding with Earth is not evil in any sense (unless you agree that the nature is evil), yet it is one of the worst things you could imagine. – user26486 Nov 20 '14 at 16:55
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    @mathh - I know the answer is very absolutist (and I don't agree with it), but it is the 'standard' 'right' answer. There's a lot of discussion about 'right' answers to riddles going on on this site right now! – Rand al'Thor Nov 20 '14 at 17:03
  • @user26486 Well... worse in the "more evil" sense :P – somebody Jan 15 '19 at 23:42
24

Although the correct answer has been posted, I think there is room for another answer:

Something

To support this claim, I offer that:

"What is greater than God"

If you assume the Mormon conception of God, there are multiple Gods recursively back forever, so "God" has his own "God" which has his one "God", forever. By this definition, there is always something greater than God, which is the God of that God. Actually you don't even have to assume a Mormon God for this to work, it can be proved mathematically. If God is infinite, then what is greater than infinity than a larger infinity? (e.g. aleph one versus aleph null) Also, as Psychemaster pointed out, if you are an atheist then from your perspective something (or anything) is greater than God, because God doesn't exist.

"worse than evil"

Similar to how there are things worse than death, there is also something worse than evil. For instance, simple incompetence can often be worse than evil ("never attribute to malice...") Natural suffering (disease, old age, etc. not caused by evil) can be worse than evil to the person suffering it.

"the poor have it"

No matter how poor a person is, they will always have something, whether it is their health, or happiness, or simply life.

"the rich require it"

A rich person will always require something (water, food, shelter, etc.), their being rich simply means they will be able to acquire it without any problem.

"if you eat it, you die?"

Living creatures are a paradox of sort. You need the sun to create vitamin D, but the sun can also give you skin cancer. If you eat something your body will be nourished, but your body will age (production of free radicals, telomere exhaustion, etc.) and you will eventually die.

GregP
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Michael
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    Nice one! "Very little" could also work. The 'right' answer is very absolutist :-p – Rand al'Thor Nov 20 '14 at 16:53
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    @randal'thor "Only Siths deal in absolutes" -- Yoda – Michael Nov 20 '14 at 16:58
  • Michael, if there are other beings who are infinitely perfect, and powerful, and good, other than God, then that is something I would love to know more about. C.S. Lewis said, "It is a serious thing, to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship." (from his Weight of Glory) – Jake Toronto Nov 20 '14 at 19:52
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    "something" does seem to be a catch-all answer applicable for any riddle. Your answer refers to, for example: natural suffering, water, food, shelter, the sun, cancer, death, aging, all under the heading 'something'. Almost every riddle on this site is answerable with 'something'. –  Nov 20 '14 at 20:20
  • one of the middle ones isnt a spoiler- was that intentional? – Joao Nov 21 '14 at 07:08
  • You don't typically have to start a philosophical discussion to argue the answer to a riddle. I appreciate the lateral thinking, but "something" doesn't quite fit here in my humble opinion. – Neil Nov 21 '14 at 08:31
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    Catholic version of God, as described in Fides et Ratio, performs His acts in terms of human language. Human laguage -whatever language you pick- is a language. Languages are Aleph-0 infinite. God is Aleph-0 infinite. There is Aleph-1 infinite above God even for catholic church. – Luis Masuelli Jun 29 '16 at 15:04
  • @LuisMasuelli But is $\aleph_1$ actually real? For that matter, is $4$ real? What is "4"? – wizzwizz4 Mar 31 '18 at 16:33
11

This is a little bit whacky but what the heck. It think it could be:

The pope in medieval times

What is greater than God

The pope used the religion to gain power over the peasants, so they could be seen as having a greater effect on the peasants than God's actual bible (because peasants were illiterate).

Worse than evil

This use of religion to get peasants to do your bidding can be seen as evil

The poor have it

The peasants have the pope to guide them

The rich require it

The clergy and rich people required this power to keep themselves ontop and in control.

And if you eat it, you die?

Both cannibalism and murder are frowned upon, and execution was not uncommon.

Oreo
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5

I thought it was:

Time

What is greater than God

I don't really know for this one

Worse than evil

thinking about big mistakes that tortures you for years

The poor have it

not really poor, but people with a "normal" job, who still can spend time with their familly and friends

The rich require it

worked all their life, and at the end they want time to spend their money, enjoye their life etc

nebra
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