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Comic Books
"A Kenyan man once said to me, 'you can get used to everything when money's involved.' He used to stick mice up his ass for twenty bucks a time."
—Spider Jerusalem, Transmetropolitan
Comic Strips
"I don't know what's more sad, that every man has his price, or that it's always so low."
— Hobbes, Calvin and Hobbes
Film — Animation
Tulio: I wouldn't set foot in that jungle for a million pesetas!
Miguel: How about... a hundred million?
Tulio: ...What?
Miguel: I just thought that, since, after all, El Dorado is the City of Gold...
Tulio: What's your point?
Miguel: You know, dust, nuggets, bricks... A temple of gold where you can pluck gold from the very walls, but you don't want to go, so let's get back in the boat and row back to Spain! After all, it worked so well last time...
Tulio: Wait!... Wait a minute, new plan. We find the city of gold... We take the gold... And then we go back to Spain.
Miguel: And buy Spain! That's the spirit!
Miguel: How about... a hundred million?
Tulio: ...What?
Miguel: I just thought that, since, after all, El Dorado is the City of Gold...
Tulio: What's your point?
Miguel: You know, dust, nuggets, bricks... A temple of gold where you can pluck gold from the very walls, but you don't want to go, so let's get back in the boat and row back to Spain! After all, it worked so well last time...
Tulio: Wait!... Wait a minute, new plan. We find the city of gold... We take the gold... And then we go back to Spain.
Miguel: And buy Spain! That's the spirit!
Film — Live-Action
"Follow the money."
—Deepthroat, All the President's Men
Wade: So let me get this straight, Jimmy: You shot 'im in the leg. You stole his car. You took his girl. And now you want Valentin Zukovsky to set you up with Janus? What are you gonna do? Appeal to his heart?
Bond: No, his wallet.
Wade: [approvingly] That'll work.
Bond: No, his wallet.
Wade: [approvingly] That'll work.
"I just wanted to see if you had your price. Most of us do."
—Sir Guy Grand, The Magic Christian
Yuri: How many Kalashnikovs do you have?
General Dmitri: [Looking in the arsenal records] Forty thousand
Yuri Orlov: Is that a four? Doesn't look like a four to me, it looks more like a one.
General Dmitri: No, it's a four.
Yuri Orlov: It's whatever we say it is because no one else will never know the difference. Ten thousand Kalashnikovs for an entire battalion... your stocks are dangerously depleted, Dimitri, you should order more from the factory.
General Dmitri: Someone will work it out. What happens then?
Yuri Orlov: Then we'll cut them in.
General Dmitri: [Looking in the arsenal records] Forty thousand
Yuri Orlov: Is that a four? Doesn't look like a four to me, it looks more like a one.
General Dmitri: No, it's a four.
Yuri Orlov: It's whatever we say it is because no one else will never know the difference. Ten thousand Kalashnikovs for an entire battalion... your stocks are dangerously depleted, Dimitri, you should order more from the factory.
General Dmitri: Someone will work it out. What happens then?
Yuri Orlov: Then we'll cut them in.
— Lord of War'
Lord Cutler Beckett: No doubt you've discovered that loyalty is no longer the currency of the realm, as your father believes.
Elizabeth Swann: Then what is?
Lord Cutler Beckett: I'm afraid currency is the currency of the realm.
Elizabeth Swann: Then what is?
Lord Cutler Beckett: I'm afraid currency is the currency of the realm.
Literature
"You forgot the cardinal rule of employing mercenaries. They follow the person with the money."
— Tattletale, Worm
Live-Action TV
Servalan: You are infinitely corruptible. You'd sell out anybody, wouldn't you?
Luke Cage: I can't be bought.
Rosalie Carbone: You can't answer that truthfully yet, sweetheart. You don't know your price yet.
Rosalie Carbone: You can't answer that truthfully yet, sweetheart. You don't know your price yet.
Bodie: Would you push a girl out of a window for two million?
Doyle: (beat) Is that a definite offer?
— The Professionals, "Everest Was Also Conquered"
"It's not hard to buy someone who's never had anything."
— Fjor Jutul, Ragnarok (2020)
Herod: I am told Roman gentlemen do not solicit bribes, one must offer the bribe as a gift. Is that so?
Marc Anthony: Yes, yes that is so. We are the most dreadful hypocrites I'm afraid.
Herod: I offer you a gift then. Help me take the throne of Judea, make my enemies your enemies, and I offer you a substantial gift.
Posca: How... substantial would this gift be?
Herod: How substantial does it need to be?
Posca: Twenty thousand pounds of gold.
Herod: Done.
Marc Anthony: (beat) I say we should have asked for more.
Marc Anthony: Yes, yes that is so. We are the most dreadful hypocrites I'm afraid.
Herod: I offer you a gift then. Help me take the throne of Judea, make my enemies your enemies, and I offer you a substantial gift.
Posca: How... substantial would this gift be?
Herod: How substantial does it need to be?
Posca: Twenty thousand pounds of gold.
Herod: Done.
Marc Anthony: (beat) I say we should have asked for more.
— Rome
Tabletop Games
"Money buys people. People think otherwise, to them it's just an exchange for services or a little palm-greasing to keep one's mouth shut, but you know better. With a few words and the right amount, a person is as much a product as a toaster is."
"His loyalty couldn't be bought at any price; but it could be rented remarkably cheaply."
— Inquisitor Allendyne, Warhammer 40,000, after the execution of Rogue Trader Parnis Vermode for trafficking in interdicted Xenos artifacts
Video Games
Kano: So why'd you knock back my offer?
Jacqui: I'm not a sellout, asshole!
Kano: We just haven't found the right price.
Jacqui: I'm not a sellout, asshole!
Kano: We just haven't found the right price.
"Everyone you know... everything you do... can be bought and sold. The price of loyalty is always changing."
— Maximilien, Overwatch, Storm Rising Trailer
"You see how it works? You grease the hinges, the door opens."
— Bouncer, Ratchet & Clank (2002)
Maximillian's Bouncer: Hold it right there! Nobody gets through these doors!
Ratchet: Well I guess we'll have to take our payola elsewhere!
Maximillian's Bouncer: Ahem. I mean... Nobody gets through these doors unless they give up that payola. Step right through.
Ratchet: Well I guess we'll have to take our payola elsewhere!
Maximillian's Bouncer: Ahem. I mean... Nobody gets through these doors unless they give up that payola. Step right through.
Alucard: I need your help.
Master Librarian: Oh, but young master, I could never betray the good Count...
Alucard: You won't go unrewarded...
Master Librarian: Really? In that case, just tell me what you need!
Master Librarian: Oh, but young master, I could never betray the good Count...
Alucard: You won't go unrewarded...
Master Librarian: Really? In that case, just tell me what you need!
"Macca opens all doors. I'd be willing to do this for you for a little compensation. You can also pay me in Play Coins, if you'd like."
Visual Novels
Nicole: My mom was like "oh it's hush money". I'm like whatever, the media wouldn't pay us nearly this much.
Jecka: Who needs morals when you have designer?
Jecka: Who needs morals when you have designer?
Webcomics
"Why do humans keep thinking that minimum wage buys undying loyalty?"
— Sam, Freefall
Henri Mer: We're the good guys.
Florence: Enough was offered for some of your people to become the bad guys.
Henri Mer: That is a very rare occurrence.
Florence: No, it isn't. Do you want me to list from history examples of individuals who sold out for money?
Florence: Enough was offered for some of your people to become the bad guys.
Henri Mer: That is a very rare occurrence.
Florence: No, it isn't. Do you want me to list from history examples of individuals who sold out for money?
uu: I PAID HIM OFF.
uu: WITH CANDY.
uu: EVERY MAN HAS HIS PRICE.
uu: WHEN IT COMES TO SWEETS.
uu: ALTHOuGH.
uu: HE WAS PROBABLY WILLING TO DO IT. EVEN WITHOuT THE BRIBE.
uu: WITH CANDY.
uu: EVERY MAN HAS HIS PRICE.
uu: WHEN IT COMES TO SWEETS.
uu: ALTHOuGH.
uu: HE WAS PROBABLY WILLING TO DO IT. EVEN WITHOuT THE BRIBE.
—Caliborn, Homestuck
Every client is one missed payment away from becoming a target and every target is one bribe away from becoming a client.
—Maxim 49, Schlock Mercenary
Web Videos
Woman: I'll cover you in gold.
Théo: I am very tall.
Grunlek: No no, I'm smaller, so I'd have less.
B.O.B.: And I'm scrawny, I'd be getting screwed over.
Théo: I'll raise my hands.
Balthazar: Or my staff. (to Grunlek) I'm sure you could use your grappling hook. You say we're incorruptible, it just means we're more expensive.
Théo: I am very tall.
Grunlek: No no, I'm smaller, so I'd have less.
B.O.B.: And I'm scrawny, I'd be getting screwed over.
Théo: I'll raise my hands.
Balthazar: Or my staff. (to Grunlek) I'm sure you could use your grappling hook. You say we're incorruptible, it just means we're more expensive.
Western Animation
"Everyone has his price. What if I gave you these priceless diamonds?"
— Dr. Robotnik, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
"Pay a man enough, and he'll walk barefoot into Hell."
Sherman: How could you vote for Burns's movie?
Krusty: Let's just say, it moved me... [leaps up] to a BIGGER HOUSE! [shrinks back] Oops, I said the quiet part loud and the loud part quiet, oh-ho dear...
Krusty: Let's just say, it moved me... [leaps up] to a BIGGER HOUSE! [shrinks back] Oops, I said the quiet part loud and the loud part quiet, oh-ho dear...
Wrestling
"Everybody's got a price
Everybody's gonna pay
'Cause the Million Dollar Man
Always gets his way
Some may cost a little
Some may cost a lot
But I'm the Million Dollar Man
And you will be bought!
Hahahahahahaha!"
Everybody's gonna pay
'Cause the Million Dollar Man
Always gets his way
Some may cost a little
Some may cost a lot
But I'm the Million Dollar Man
And you will be bought!
Hahahahahahaha!"
— The Million Dollar Man's entrance music, WWF
Other
"Isn't it funny how you magically get your memory back after sniffing a bunch of cash stuffed into a Big Bird suitcase? The scent of cash really is truth perfume (or lie perfume, depending on the situation)."
—Michael K., "Elmo Accuser Gets a Visit From the Sesame Street Mafia"
, "Elmo Accuser Gets a Visit From the Sesame Street Mafia" Real Life
"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."
— George Washington, Moral Maxims
"By the time a man gets to be presidential material, he has been bought several times over."
"Modern man has transformed himself into a commodity; he experiences his life energy as an investment with which he should make the highest profit, considering his position and the situation on the personality market. He is alienated from himself, from his fellow men and from nature. His main aim is profitable exchange of his skills, knowledge, and of himself, his "personality package" with others who are equally intent on a fair and profitable exchange. Life has no goal except the one to move, no principle except the one of fair exchange, no satisfaction except the one to consume."
—Erich Fromm
"Germany is one big nation of nothing but cheap, corrupt, court-house politics, ruled by a single party whose leaders are mostly fanatical ascetics, but whose several million underlings are as buyable as postcards. For a half-pound of coffee I have rewritten whole German law books in my favour."
— Howard K. Smith, Last Train from Berlin
"The surprising thing is not that every man has his price, but how low it usually is."
— Napoléon Bonaparte''' (attributed)
