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Every man has a price

Meaning: Self-interest ultimately overcomes principle when temptation or desperation grows large enough.

Origin: English proverb.

More proverbs about Human Nature

  • He laughs best that laughs last — Final triumph matters more than immediate advantage or temporary mockery.
  • It's a man's world — Women historically faced systemic exclusion from power, property, and opportunity in male…
  • Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan — Kennedy in the context of the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961).
  • There's many a good tune played on an old fiddle — Worn-out tools and aging people retain their value and capability despite visible deterio…
  • A man cannot live by the air. — No one survives on nothing; real sustenance, not mere hope, is required.
  • Every man must eat a peck of ashes before he dies. — Everyone must swallow their share of hardship before they die.

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