Paul Harvey Riddle

Gary C. sent me this riddle which has been doing the rounds on email for quite a while, though I had never seen it before. As Gary pointed out, the interesting thing about this is not whether it really is a Paul Harvey riddle (I have no clue), or even the riddle itself. It's the claim that 80% of kindergarten kids got the answer while 83% of Stanford graduates were unable to. Instead of trying to track down whether or not a group of Stanford graduates ever has been tested with this riddle, I thought I'd do the next best thing. Take an unscientific poll of Museum of Hoaxes readers to see how many of you are able to figure out the answer right away vs. aren't able to. That'll give a rough approximation of the percentage of (presumably over-kindergarten age) people able to solve the riddle, assuming people answer the poll honestly.

I have to admit that I couldn't get the answer. I finally gave up and googled for the answer.

If you've seen the riddle before and already know the answer, then base your response to the poll on the first time you ever saw the riddle. Did you figure out the answer immediately? If you were in kindergarten when you first were given the riddle, then don't respond to the poll.

I put the answer in a link below for those people, like myself, unable to figure it out.

Paul Harvey RIDDLE:
When asked this riddle, 80% of kindergarten kids got the answer, compared to 17% of Stanford University seniors.

What is greater than God, More evil than the devil, The poor have it, The rich need it, And if you eat it, you'll die?

Send this to 10 people and then press shift and you will get the answer.
P.S. You won't believe this, but this really does give you the answer!!!!


The Answer

Psychology

Posted on Sat Feb 12, 2005



Comments

Yeah, I've been here before... And I swore to myself I wouldn't come back but those emails keep coming. Time to straighten out some facts. (If you guys don't know, I'm agnostic for future reference.)
If there is a God, He created volcanoes to EXPAND. You who says He created them to destroy because He's evil, that's not necessarily true if you know that volcanoes create more earth.
Also, dumb f*ck who says that the USA was created based on Christianity, you're wrong. Puritans and Separatists came over from England when it strayed from Catholicism. While there were Christians, that wasn't the main religion. Christians were even persecuted in some colonies. Except my good ol' state of PA. However, God is a part of all of these religions, and a common misconception is that "In God we trust" is the same as "In Jesus we trust."
The principle of free speech did not DESTROY religion, last time I checked all of our presidents with the exception of 1 have been Christians.
Separation of Church and State has been an amendment since... Well, a REALLY long time ago. The thing is, it was never really enforced completely until all of the political correctness began.
Take God out of schools, because no school has a pledge of alegience that includes the word "Allah," "Shiva," or even "Jesus." It's all about "God," and if you don't believe in God, you don't want your children to go to a school where they will forcefully teach your child principles that they have no right to teach them.
So you see, all of you have good points, but all of those points have counterpoints, or are blatently disregarding complete truth without adaptation. Good day.
Posted by Mitchums  on  Fri Jul 21, 2006  at  01:10 AM
Man you are funny. I make one reference to Jesus and you think that I am a christian. I never said I was a christian in fact I never stated what religion I was. So just stop assuming over there because you are making an ass out of yourself. This makes it easy for me because now I don
Posted by owardy  on  Fri Jul 21, 2006  at  09:09 AM
<i>You are the exact reason on why stupid people shouldn
Posted by Charybdis  on  Fri Jul 21, 2006  at  11:17 AM
It just shows that you have no life and nothing to say when you read my entire comment and reply back on a typo. Like I said I am not perfect and neither are you and neither is God. I make mistakes and own up to them like a man. I don
Posted by owardy  on  Fri Jul 21, 2006  at  11:47 AM
I'm sorry, you were so nonsensical in your post that I felt any further comments about it would be redundant. Besides, I agree with you that this nation was founded by people with a belief in god/natural spirit/whatever. They also believed in enslaving their fellow man. Jolly bunch they were.
Posted by Charybdis  on  Fri Jul 21, 2006  at  12:20 PM
That they were a jolly bunch of fuck ups. It only took us what 16 presidents and about 100 years or so to correct that one. But if it wasnt for those fuck ups we wouldnt have this great country. lol good stuff man
Posted by owardy  on  Fri Jul 21, 2006  at  12:27 PM
Owardy said:

"A wise man once said that I would rather go through all my life praising, worshiping, and fearing a god to die and find out there is no god or heaven, then to live my life as there is no god or heaven and to die and find out there is."

What you're referring to is called Pascal's Wager and there are some very good refutations to it. I suspect you can find them on wikipedia.com or via google.com.
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Sun Jul 23, 2006  at  12:54 AM
Welcome back Cranky Media Guy, 😛

First off, completely unrelated to God, believers, nonbelievers, and Agnostics... Like it says in my location this time, Basin City. Since you're pointing out that I misread, blah blah blah, you completely overlooked a major part of Sin City. The city that they are in, unless you are referring to Las Vegas, Nevada, (which, based on how you act, is not what you seem to be referring to...) It's Basin City... If I assume wrong, I apologize. Moving on...
If you believe in God just for the purpose of getting into heaven, you will go to hell. Just so you know. If you have firm disbelief, and yet you fear hell, you are still going to hell. It's all based on what you believe, according to religious freaks, (see earlier pages, that enlightenment girl who had no clue what she was talking about...)
This country was not born from God. Yes, religion had a large part in the creation of this country. It was a strong reason for immigration. But you can't forget all the other religions that came with it. Society today is as biased as it was back then, and saying that Pagans weren't taking a part in the founding of this country is not only a lie, but it is also a mockery of events that occured. Owardy, you believe that separation of church and state, also a large part of the founding of this country, should not take part in schools? What if you can't find a good school for your child that shares your beliefs, and you aren't a very good teacher yourself?
If you didn't know, this country is also based on EQUAL OPPORTUNITY. What if, since you so blatently 'believe' to save your neck, this country was mostly wiccans? Would you start casting spells so that you can get in good with Mother Nature and the core of life itself? What if, say, mostly wiccans lived in this country, and you were Christian. And the whole time in school, instead of learning about your precious God, your child learned about a religion that by your God is considered to be of the Devil?
So before you go throwing around that God should be involved in schools, think about the basis of this country. Maybe read up on your Constitution, Amendments, and all of the history of the founding of this country, before you start saying that God should be involved in schools.
Think about it: similar to how the same people who put God in the Pledge of Allegiance enslaved people, they also enjoyed putting blacks and whites in different schools. So think about the people you're defending. Good night, and have a pleasent tomorrow.
Posted by Mitchums  on  Mon Jul 24, 2006  at  01:01 AM
OK you assume wrong I live in the city of sin Las Vegas. And to even hint at the fact that my belief's would ever have anything to with saving my neck or just for the purpose of going to heaven is a travesty a sham and a mockery it
Posted by owardy  on  Mon Jul 24, 2006  at  09:38 AM
Hey, "retarded butt dart"... What are you, in elementary school?
If you didn't realize that I'm agnostic, and I'm just basing everything off of "What if?"s and that I see both sides and the problems with all the arguments, then you are missing my points. See, in my post, I apologized if my assumption was wrong. So if you aren't a complete asshole, then you'd say, "Oh, well, I live in Las Vegas, so yeah."
Anyway, you keep saying that no one is perfect, blah blah blah, and yet, you act as if you are the freaking king of all that exists, and that your belief system, one which is so vast that not even Jesus could go through the whole thing while being tested by the devil and shit.
If you realized that this country is for complete freedom, then you also realize that the freedom to have your children go to a school free of religion should be garaunteed. If you aren't one of those religious asses who think that everyone and everything should be about religion, you'd see where I'm coming from. I'm not an atheist, and I'm not a muslim (if I spelled it wrong, sorry,) but I'm saying if I was, then I would have to send my children to a biased school system, where they will influence my child's beliefs. What if saying that you pledge allegiance to a flag under someone elses God would be against your religion? That is what you would call opression. What did the founding fathers come here to escape? OPRESSION. So dumbass-know-it-all-who-assumes-too-much... Last time I checked, religion is something that the US is one of the only countries that you can have freedom of.
How dare you call me a communist? Do you even know what a fucking communist is? I won't explain it, don't anyone else explain it. I want to see Mr. Owardy explain, in his own words, how I am a communist based on what I have said in the past.
Posted by Mitch  on  Mon Jul 24, 2006  at  11:40 AM
Most of you may not know-or understand-the history that is behind this country and its belief structure. Fore, if you really think about it, religion didn't really come into anything in this country until it started showing up in government. When the settlers first came to this country, their life was based on living in freedom and prosperity. So saying that this country was founded on a single belief in God is an unjust and an untrue statement toward the events that truly occurred in our fine nation's history. The country that we live in now, has now shown itself as a farcry from the ideas that the founders had, but it is also a problem and a fact that our country is supposed to have freedom of opinion, and thus it causes stupid debates to occur, although it will never change what is happening. You people need to waste your time on something better, maybe trying to create a way to boost the economy, rather than arguing about your stupid beliefs... Think about the shape that the world is in right now. It's really bad. And our country is so full of morons who have too much pride, and they waste their time on stupid things that don't really matter, destroying the country. Those who argue about these things are just splitting the country apart, creating anarchy and terrorism from, not only the outside, but people who are in it.
This next part is for the strict religious freaks... According to this "great" God of yours, which contradicts Himself numerous times, humanity has the decision to believe in Him or not. And to those who think that by converting the whole fucking world will get you into heaven, or trying to make some bullshit excuse for why you're spewing your ideas on others, (by the way, that is against the basic idea of our constitution, which is having a free belief system without persecution,) if people are telling others how to live their lives, then where is the freedom in that? How would you feel if you were controlled in that way? How far does freedom of speech go before you are taking away other's rights to believe in what they want to believe? (continued in next comment)
Posted by Timothy  on  Mon Jul 24, 2006  at  12:14 PM
My personal opinion, which is also backed by several years of study, is that contradictive actions that are put in "The Bible" make up a religion that is almost impossible to believe in, and I have found that most who actually attempt to live this life, in the Eyes of God, are only doing it out of fear, and only use him as a scape goat to be able to forgive themselves. We only know what's in front of us, what's beyond is a complete mystery, so people who place their own ideas are welcome to do so; henceforth why there are so many religions and ideas. I also would like to mention, yet again in history, that the idea of Christianity, or God, or however you put it, didn't exist until a couple thousand B.C.E., according to "The Bible", the world hasn't been around as long as it has been proven to be... And this is where religious nuts say that it is based on your faith, but how can you have faith in something that is PROVEN to be untrue? That should be the end of all arguement, since it has been proven. I know that this is all logic, and people say that it is all your faith, but logic should and will always overpower faith. Not only is this "faith" so hard to understand logically, but it is also a blind "faith", in the sense that you literally can not really believe in it unless you are a little kid, or you are just stupid... Or are forced to believe.
I feel empathy for those who are not given the chance to believe in what they feel is right...
Posted by Tim  on  Mon Jul 24, 2006  at  12:15 PM
Keep the debate civil, please. Swearing is not appropriate.

-Moderator.
Posted by Boo  on  Mon Jul 24, 2006  at  01:12 PM
WOW where did I say I was king of everything... Hmmmm oh yeah nowhere. Hey you act like a child you get treated like one. Next time maybe you might think twice when you call somebody childish names. I will apologize for the remark about you being a communist I was just reacting to your multiple comments on me being retarded. You are allowed to believe what ever you want and in no way am I stating that I am better than you or I know everything and my belief is better than yours. I am not judging anybody or trying to push my belief's on anybody that is not my job. I'm sorry if I came off that way. I believe in a higher power it is my right to just as it is your right not to. In regards to schools and god all I was saying is that we should have left it the way it was, we don
Posted by owardy  on  Mon Jul 24, 2006  at  01:43 PM
if you still would like my deffinition of communist i will post it
Posted by owardy  on  Mon Jul 24, 2006  at  01:44 PM
Can't we all just get along? Seriously... If there is a God, I'm sure He wouldn't want us to argue like this, even if He gave us the ability to do so. Why don't we just quit the bickering and set our differences aside? Seriously, none of us know each other besides what we've read, and we're all coming off like complete a-holes. I hope that you all forgive my trespasses, as I forgive your trespasses on me or whatever.
Posted by Mitchums  on  Thu Jul 27, 2006  at  12:21 AM
<red>that riddle wasn't that hard.</red>
Posted by I don't know...  on  Thu Jul 27, 2006  at  12:27 AM
Well I couldn't figure it out. I thought about it for a little bit, then had to google "Paul Harvey" for the answer. Which is how I found this site. :cheese: It's really interesting to see how so many of us don't get it. Wow, kids really do know so much more than us 'adults' heh?
Posted by ~*Jen*~  on  Wed Aug 09, 2006  at  04:58 PM
The answer is Nothing. No existential reasoning or religious belief, just Nothing
Posted by Sally  on  Sun Aug 13, 2006  at  12:27 PM
To -*Jen*-:
Kids have simple minds, simple minds have simple belief systems, and simple thought processes. A simple mind with a simple belief in God would realize right away that there is nothing greater than the Almighty One. It doesn't mean they're smarter, and just means, in this situation, the wit of a child is quicker than the wit of an adult.

To Sally:
Yes, but is it really a religion-less answer? Saying that there is nothing greater than "God" and nothing more evil than the "Devil" is based on previous religious belief. Otherwise, there would be no answer, because there would be no standard for the greatness of the God or the evilness of the Devil. So in retrospect, you are blatently, with disregard to your subconscious belief, stating that there IS a God that there is nothing greater than.
Posted by Mitch  on  Mon Aug 14, 2006  at  04:54 AM
To Mitch:

I can't argue with you there! 😊
Posted by ~*Jen*~  on  Fri Aug 18, 2006  at  04:21 PM
To Mitch:

Can't aruge with you there! 😊
Posted by ~*Jen*~  on  Fri Aug 18, 2006  at  04:22 PM
Woah, did someone actually just agree with me? Haha... Everyone else on here is quick to strike back with sharp wit that can only be made by the reaction time capabilities one possesses with their computer... Yeah...
Posted by Mitch  on  Fri Aug 18, 2006  at  10:53 PM
OVERTHINKING IT WILL KILL YOU BUT I GOT AFTER BOUT 10 MINUTES WHEN I USED COMMON SENSE
Posted by EDWARD SEPULVEDA  on  Fri Sep 01, 2006  at  02:43 PM
Um, there's no such thing as "common sense" in the realm of religion.
Posted by Mitch  on  Sun Sep 03, 2006  at  09:45 PM
i am as hick as you can be. i understand god, devil and all that crap. your good, you goto heaven, bad, hell. anyway, after about 2 seconds, after reading the first clue, i knew the answer, and reading the rest, i knew it was right. i guess my intelligence is just as good as a kindergarteners. i take this as an insult paul harvey!!!!!;-)!!!! i am actually quite smart, graduating school, with a 3.9 gpa. i am guessing that, this is just a chain letter that people send to other people, because they have no life. you don't have to send it to anyone to get the answer. thanks for my loss of about 5 mins paul harvey!!!!! if you did, indeed, write this riddle.
Posted by weirdo246810  on  Sun Oct 01, 2006  at  01:55 AM
All of you people criticizing the riddle because it is invalid need to relax. It's a frickin riddle, take it for what it is. It was thoughtful even if you think it takes into account that everyone believes in God. You're all a bunch of losers!
Posted by pmcgoo  on  Mon Oct 09, 2006  at  09:35 AM
I think the riddle is suppose to be simple. Not religious. We as adults put some much thinking into something that can be so simple. Where children go with their first thought.
Posted by Kristie  on  Fri Oct 13, 2006  at  11:12 AM
You people trip me out. It's just a riddle! A simple riddle! SIMPLE! It has nothing to do with heaven or hell. Wheather you are a believe or non believer. God or the Devil. It is suppose to work your mind! Not your beliefs!! Come on people, it's not different then being ask "which one is not like the other" WOW! Some people can turn anything into a debate!
Posted by Kristie  on  Fri Oct 13, 2006  at  11:26 AM
I'm confused. How can a riddle who's answer is 'God' not be considered religious in nature?

It's not a common sense (mind) answer, it's something that has to be taught to you. If you have never received religious teachings about God, or heard others discuss Him, then the riddle has no answer for you. Pantheist, atheists, some Buddhists, some pagans - for them there is no answer, though they may be smart enough to recognize what the answer is intended to be. They just believe the answer is wrong.
Posted by Charybdis  on  Tue Oct 17, 2006  at  11:55 AM
I didn't get it and I really did try. I even discussed it with my husband--I am a JD and own a successful business which (I hope) means I'm not completely! dumb...
I agree as a not very religous person, a number of things greater than god and more evil than the devil popped in my mind--money being the first thing, but the second part--the poor have it but the rich need it.
anyway, i love riddles like this where the answer once you hear it seems obvious--

what about this one--what has a bed but never sleeps has a mouth but never speaks?
the only other one i can share (I enjoyed the others listed) is the old standard-

what walks on 4 legs in the morning, 2 in the afternoon, and 3 in the evening?
Posted by ellen  on  Sat Dec 16, 2006  at  05:47 PM
The answer is "nothing". Nothing is greater then good, nothing is more evil then the devil, the poor have nothing, the rich need nothing, and if you eat nothing you will die. It's that simple!
Posted by Kim  on  Tue Jan 02, 2007  at  04:23 PM
Gee thanks Kim, we've been working on this for almost two years now. It's very lucky you happened by and gave us the answer.
Posted by Charybdis  on  Tue Jan 02, 2007  at  04:33 PM
Funny...I did get the riddle right, but not until I got to the very LAST clue and discovered that if you ate "nothing" you would certainly die. Then I worked my way backwards and felt like "nothing" could be a possible answer for every other clue. The word "nothing" was a good possible fit based on all the clues regardless of my personal beliefs. What I think is funny is that I actually wasted ten minutes of my life reading the posted comments and all the arguing about a silly riddle. If only we could harness all that passion and use it for something really important.
Posted by AL  on  Thu Jan 04, 2007  at  01:23 PM
The answer simply is nothing!!!!!! ha ha ha !!!

do you love it???
Posted by stephen buckner  on  Thu Jan 18, 2007  at  12:17 PM
Um, if there are this many people responding to this riddle, imagine how the world could be if we all put this much effort into stopping hate and discrimination? Just a thought...
Posted by Allie  on  Wed Jan 31, 2007  at  10:43 PM
Sadly, religion is the largest incubator of hate and discrimination out there. Not all religions, but certainly most.
Posted by Charybdis  on  Thu Feb 01, 2007  at  08:09 AM
I did figure it out, but I didn't know I had because my first resposne was Nothing is bigger than God. I didn't go far enough to answer the rest of it though.
Posted by Mary  on  Thu Apr 05, 2007  at  10:57 AM
:cheese:

I got the answer right away: Google!
Posted by Janet V  on  Fri Aug 24, 2007  at  10:51 AM
I had seen this a long time ago and couldn't figure it out then, and not now either. I had to click on the answer button. :long:
Posted by simplyme  on  Tue Sep 18, 2007  at  07:42 AM
i got it right away and im only ten just dont think so hard adults
Posted by sam  on  Thu Dec 13, 2007  at  03:09 PM
this is so fucking gay the answer is NOTHING!!!!!!
Posted by yo mama  on  Fri Jan 04, 2008  at  03:10 AM
The answer is nothing !!!
Nothing is greater than God,
more evil than the devil.
The poor have it,
the rich need it and if you eat
"nothing" you will die,
Posted by Carol King  on  Sat Feb 02, 2008  at  07:47 PM
please e-mail me the answer i cant figure it out
Posted by wil  on  Sun Apr 06, 2008  at  09:13 AM
The answer was immediately apparant to me, as a matter of faith, as soon as I read [what is greater than God].I am 54 years of age.
Thank God I can still think as simply as a child.
Posted by leonard phillips  on  Fri Jun 20, 2008  at  12:04 PM
i loved the riddle it was funny & sad all at the same time.
Posted by Amber L, Weber  on  Tue Jul 08, 2008  at  07:07 PM
I didn't get it. I never went to Stamford but I did go to kindergarten - 41 years ago. My kindergarten-age triplets didn't get it either and they are way, way brighter than I was at their age. In fact, I reckon it's a silly lie because the terminology and the abstrct concepts required to solve the riddle are about the level of a very bright fourteen-year-old, not a kindergarten child at all.
Posted by Anielka  on  Wed Jul 09, 2008  at  10:58 AM
I just read the first sentence and knew immediately that nothing is greater than God. The rest just fell into place. Guess my Christianity came through. I am a college grad, but that had nothing to do with my answer.
Posted by Linda  on  Sun Jul 13, 2008  at  10:55 PM
NO, I did not know figure out the answer. I was e-mailed it and it was bothering me so when I typed it in I found this page..... The first line got me because I couldn't come up with anything greater than God.. but it never occurred to me.. I am going to ask my 1st and 2nd grade children and see what response they have.
Posted by Rosanne  on  Mon Aug 18, 2008  at  12:00 PM
Hint: The answer is one thing the questions are 4 seperate ones. your right, rosanne. there isnt anything greter than God...
Posted by Me  on  Wed Oct 01, 2008  at  05:01 AM
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