Branches

There are thousands hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

~ Henry David Thoreau

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My dad used to pay us a penny for every dandelion we would dig out of the yard. At first I thought this was easy money, but then I realized he wanted the roots, not just the tops. That was more difficult. 

He never once offered to pay us to dig out the root of all evil. I don't think it's because he didn't have the money so much as it was that the root of all evil was in someone else's yard and he didn't want us messing around there because that place was trouble.