Every man has a price
Meaning: Self-interest ultimately overcomes principle when temptation or desperation grows large enough.
Origin: Usually attributed to Sir Robert Walpole, Britain's first prime minister. According to a biography of 1798, what he actually said in 1734, about a group of opponents he considered pretended patriots, was narrower: "All those men have their price." The generalized version drops "those."
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.
From our tongue twisters
- Tigre contro tigre, tigre contro un'altra tigre. — Pure 't/ig/re' drill — short and merciless; the double-g demands a crisp Italian stop.
- Apelle figlio di Apollo fece una palla di pelle di pollo e tutti i principi della città di Capua la palpeggiarono. — A wall of 'p/ll/l/a' that seems to grow longer as you speak it faster.
- Se la serpe si avvicina alla siepe del serpente, il serpente scappa dalla siepe. — A sibilant 's/se/si/sci' minefield; both words (serpe and serpente) slither through the s…