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Anime and Manga
"If you're begging for your life, why don't you ask your money to save you?!"
— Kenshin to Kanryu, Rurouni Kenshin
Comic Books
Statoc: Believe me, I admire you. A good handyman is what I need. Not all those incompetents who should have stopped you from getting here. So as you have seen, I need new blood... People like you.
Blacksad: (silently glares at Statoc with his gun drawn)
Statoc: (jovially) Hey now, son, why the silent treatment? That's now way to treat somebody offering you a job.
Blacksad: I didn't come here looking for a job. In fact, my future looks brighter than yours.
Statoc: (casually writes a check) Well, everything is negotiable. Will a hundred thousand do justice to your skills?
Blacksad: (steps closer, gun still drawn) Statoc, you got a twisted idea of justice. It has nothing to do with money. Money has it's limits... It can't bring the dead back to life, and it can't quiet the conscience of those needing vengeance. Can't even stop me from killing you.
Blacksad: (silently glares at Statoc with his gun drawn)
Statoc: (jovially) Hey now, son, why the silent treatment? That's now way to treat somebody offering you a job.
Blacksad: I didn't come here looking for a job. In fact, my future looks brighter than yours.
Statoc: (casually writes a check) Well, everything is negotiable. Will a hundred thousand do justice to your skills?
Blacksad: (steps closer, gun still drawn) Statoc, you got a twisted idea of justice. It has nothing to do with money. Money has it's limits... It can't bring the dead back to life, and it can't quiet the conscience of those needing vengeance. Can't even stop me from killing you.
— Blacksad: Somewhere Within the Shadows
Film — Live-Action
"My men measure riches in gold. But it's more. It's power and fame."
— Don Lope de Aguirre, Aguirre, the Wrath of God
"All you care about is money. This town deserves a better class of criminal, and I'm gonna give it to 'em."
Bane: (to an underling) Leave us.
Daggett: No! You stay here. I'm in charge!
(Bane places a heavy hand on Daggett's shoulder)
Bane: Do you feel in charge?
Daggett: (slowly realizing just how thoroughly screwed he actually is) ...I paid you a small fortune.
Bane: (disapprovingly) And this gives you power over me?
Daggett: (almost whimpering) What is this?
Bane: Your money and infrastructure have been important. (grabs Daggett's neck) 'Til now.
Daggett: No! You stay here. I'm in charge!
(Bane places a heavy hand on Daggett's shoulder)
Bane: Do you feel in charge?
Daggett: (slowly realizing just how thoroughly screwed he actually is) ...I paid you a small fortune.
Bane: (disapprovingly) And this gives you power over me?
Daggett: (almost whimpering) What is this?
Bane: Your money and infrastructure have been important. (grabs Daggett's neck) 'Til now.
Erik: (armed with a big stick) It's just the two of us now, Silverhielm. It's 2 kilometres to the stable and even further to the school. You could make a run for it. You're fairly quick. If you run now, it'll take me 100 metres to catch up with you.
Otto: (trying, and failing, to keep his cool) ...What the hell are you talking about?
Erik: Down on your knees!
Otto: You're out of your mind!
Erik: (raises his stick threateningly) I SAID, "DOWN ON YOUR KNEES!"
Otto: (hurriedly obeys) ...What do you want? Money? I'll give you 10.000! On my word!
Erik: (scoffs) "10.000?!" ls that all you're worth?
Otto: (trying, and failing, to keep his cool) ...What the hell are you talking about?
Erik: Down on your knees!
Otto: You're out of your mind!
Erik: (raises his stick threateningly) I SAID, "DOWN ON YOUR KNEES!"
Otto: (hurriedly obeys) ...What do you want? Money? I'll give you 10.000! On my word!
Erik: (scoffs) "10.000?!" ls that all you're worth?
Mohandas Gandhi: But you're a rich man. Why'd you put up with it?
Mr. Khan: Yes, I am rich. But I am Indian. I therefore do not expect to travel first class.
Mohandas Gandhi: In England, I was a poor student.
Mr. Khan: That was England.
Mohandas Gandhi: This is part of England's empire.
Mr. Baker: Mr. Gandhi, you look at Mr. Khan and you see a successful Muslim trader. But most South Africans see him simply as an Indian, and the vast majority of Indians, mostly Hindus, like yourself, were brought here to work the mines and harvest the crops. Most Europeans don't want them doing anything else.
Mohandas Gandhi: But that is very unchristian!
Mr. Khan: Yes, I am rich. But I am Indian. I therefore do not expect to travel first class.
Mohandas Gandhi: In England, I was a poor student.
Mr. Khan: That was England.
Mohandas Gandhi: This is part of England's empire.
Mr. Baker: Mr. Gandhi, you look at Mr. Khan and you see a successful Muslim trader. But most South Africans see him simply as an Indian, and the vast majority of Indians, mostly Hindus, like yourself, were brought here to work the mines and harvest the crops. Most Europeans don't want them doing anything else.
Mohandas Gandhi: But that is very unchristian!
— Gandhi
"Respect is the ultimate coin. What's the point of being rich if you can't look at yourself in the mirror?"
— Dalton Russell, Inside Man
"Do you know what money can't buy, Kanryu? It's what you're begging for right now. Your life."
— Kenshin to Kanryu, Rurouni Kenshin, live-action version.
Dr. Sivana: What sin best befits you, father?
Mr. Sivana: I'll give you anything. Money. The company? You want the company?
Dr. Sivana: There it is: greed. Do you honestly think all this... material you've accumulated amounts to actual power?
Mr. Sivana: I'll give you anything. Money. The company? You want the company?
Dr. Sivana: There it is: greed. Do you honestly think all this... material you've accumulated amounts to actual power?
First Officer Murdoch: (brandishing his gun) GET BACK!
Cal Hockley: We had a deal, damn you!
(Murdoch takes the money that Cal gave him earlier out of his pocket and throws it at him)
First Officer Murdoch: Your money can't save you any more than it could save me!
Cal Hockley: We had a deal, damn you!
(Murdoch takes the money that Cal gave him earlier out of his pocket and throws it at him)
First Officer Murdoch: Your money can't save you any more than it could save me!
— Titanic
Literature
"And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, 'Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.' But Peter said to him, 'Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God.'"
Live-Action TV
"Government is more powerful than any corporation. The only reason they think it tilts the other way is because we poor public servants are always looking for some fat private sector's payoff down the road. But I'm not looking, and by the time they can pull the strings for force me out, it will be too late."
— Chrisjen Avasarala, The Expanse
"Fools look at the Westerlands and see gold. Fools see our wealth and call it strength. Gold is just another rock. The Westerlands are strong because of House Lannister. From strong leadership comes unity; from unity comes power."
— Tywin Lannister, Game of Thrones
"The Borg is the ultimate user. They're unlike any threat your Federation has ever faced. They're not interested in political conquest, wealth, or power as you know it. They're simply interested in your ship, its technology. They've identified it as something they can consume."
— Q, Star Trek: The Next Generation "Q Who"
Tabletop Games
"Making money is all well and good, but it's ultimately a form of myopia. The secret is not found in how much money a person makes, but in what that money represents."
— Mage: The Ascension - Convention Book: Syndicate
"As you grew older, you realized that wealth, once it passes a certain point, becomes irrelevant — a mere tool with which to acquire other tools. The real currency of the world is reputation and credibility."
— Character Assassin, Vampire: The Masquerade — Clanbook: Assamite (Revised)
Video Games
Lamar: (about Devin Weston) That dude real shady.
Trevor: Oh, he's repulsive, but, well, once he's paid us, he can be whatever we want him to be.
Lamar: What you want him to be?
Trevor: I want him to be someone who understands that all the money in the world can't save him from a nasty guy who thinks he's an asshole.
Trevor: Oh, he's repulsive, but, well, once he's paid us, he can be whatever we want him to be.
Lamar: What you want him to be?
Trevor: I want him to be someone who understands that all the money in the world can't save him from a nasty guy who thinks he's an asshole.
— Grand Theft Auto V, "Pack Man"
"Old moneybags was looking to harvest occult energy and infuse it into himself. The kind of power he was after would usually require years - even lifetimes - of secluded study. Oh, and a little something called talent. Winter thought he could bypass all that with cash. Lots of it. I'm all for pay-to-win, but at some point you need to cut your losses. Occult powers are like strings on the President - you either wield them or you don't."
— Kirsten Geary on Nathaniel Winter, The Secret World
"The Morgans fear what may not be purchased, for a trader cannot comprehend a thing that is priceless."
— Sister Miriam Godwinson, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Glitterbeard: Stories. Tall tales and big names, lad - don't let them fool you. Elminster the archmage. Drizzt the drow exile. Heroes have power, aye - but not half so much as we do. A little coin into the right purse. A soft word in the right ear. It's not glory that spins these planes, lad - it's gold. See? Now-
(The mimic starts to shake, before Minsc's arm punches out and starts ripping it open to free himself.)
Glitterbeard: Moradin's cracked clay...!
Webcomics
Red Mage: The world will end in less than 24 hours, Thief. Who cares about money?
Thief: I don't know what you guys have in mind, but I'm going to stay rich and opulent in the end times.
Red Mage: Are you joking?
Black Mage: Day-to-day survival will be the only thing anyone cares about. Money wouldn't be worth the act of picking it up.
Red Mage: A dirt farmer with a plow would be the richest man in the world because he could make the food.
Thief: Wealth that belongs to those who make it? Great elf in the sky... We must stop this horrible future no matter the cost! So long as said cost remains on the backs of the poor.
Thief: I don't know what you guys have in mind, but I'm going to stay rich and opulent in the end times.
Red Mage: Are you joking?
Black Mage: Day-to-day survival will be the only thing anyone cares about. Money wouldn't be worth the act of picking it up.
Red Mage: A dirt farmer with a plow would be the richest man in the world because he could make the food.
Thief: Wealth that belongs to those who make it? Great elf in the sky... We must stop this horrible future no matter the cost! So long as said cost remains on the backs of the poor.
Websites
When the power of money faces off against the power of violence, money comes out a distant second.
— John Michael Greer, The Archdruid Report — Housebreaking the Corporations
The uselessness of throwing money at law enforcement and hoping that stops immigration is perfectly illustrated by the scene where the Chronotaur finds Slate cowering in the men’s bathroom, and before getting his comeuppance Slate takes out his wallet and fruitlessly tries bribing the Chronotaur into sparing his life with a wad of $100 bills. The Chronotaur, of course, only snorts quizzically at the money and then taps the businessman with one of his glowing hoof-hands, immediately decaying Slate into a cobweb-encrusted skeleton.
Miscellaneous
When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will man realize that he cannot eat money.
— Native American proverb (supposedly)
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