--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is by bribing, not so often by being…" description: "\"It is by bribing, not so often by being bribed, that wicked politicians bring ruin on mankind. Avarice is a rival to the pursuits of many.\" — Edmund Burke" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f4/edmund-burke-400_avarice_it-is-by-bribing-not-so-often-by-being-b_1559802.jpg" --- # It is by bribing, not so often by being bribed, that… ![“It is by bribing, not so often by being bribed, that wicked politicians bring ruin on mankind. Avarice is a rival to the pursuits of many.” quote by Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f4/edmund-burke-400_avarice_it-is-by-bribing-not-so-often-by-being-b_1559802.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f4/edmund-burke-400_avarice_it-is-by-bribing-not-so-often-by-being-b_1559802.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f4/edmund-burke-400_avarice_it-is-by-bribing-not-so-often-by-being-b_1559802.jpg) > “It is by bribing, not so often by being bribed, that wicked politicians bring ruin on mankind. Avarice is a rival to the pursuits of many.” [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Wicked politicians cause ruin by bribing, not being bribed; greed competes with noble pursuits. **In simple terms:** Corrupt leaders harm society through bribery; greed opposes virtue. Key Takeaway Combat corruption and prioritize virtue over greed. Themes politics corruption greed Mood critical concerned Type political ethical When to use this quote - voting - activism - transparent governance - ethical education Key Concepts ethics public policy Questions to Reflect On - How can societies reduce political bribery? - What values should guide leaders? A Different Perspective Changing entrenched systems is difficult. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Avarice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/avarice/) [Bribed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bribed-989147/) [Bribed Wicked](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bribed-wicked-5849446/) [Bribing Bribed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bribing-bribed-5849445/) [Mankind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mankind/) [Politician](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politician/) [Politicians Bring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politicians-bring-5849447/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Pursuit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pursuit/) [Rivals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rivals/) [Ruins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ruins/) [Wicked](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wicked/) [Wicked Politicians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wicked-politicians-5849444/) ## Related quotes > [“You will hear everlastingly, in all discussions about newspapers, companies, aristocracies, or party politics, this argument that the rich man cannot be bribed. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garry-wills/you-will-hear-everlastingly-in-all-discussions-about-newspapers/) [Garry Wills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garry-wills/) > [“Real happiness cannot be bribed by anything sordid or low.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orison-swett-marden/real-happiness-cannot-be-bribed-by-anything-sordid-or-low/) [Orison Swett Marden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orison-swett-marden/) > [I've never bribed my way into a restaurant. I've never slipped a C-note or greased a palm. In truth, I've never even considered it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-chang/i-ve-never-bribed-my-way-into-a-restaurant-i-ve-never-slipped-a-c/) [David Chang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-chang/) > [I have never been bribed as a Prime Minister.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamisese-mara/i-have-never-been-bribed-as-a-prime-minister/) [Kamisese Mara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamisese-mara/) > [When one sense has been bribed the others readily bear false witness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/when-one-sense-has-been-bribed-the-others-readily-bear-false-witness/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [More people are bribed by their own money than anybody else's.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-daniels/more-people-are-bribed-by-their-own-money-than-anybody-else-s/) [Jonathan Daniels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-daniels/) > [Men are more often bribed by their loyalties and ambitions than by money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/men-are-more-often-bribed-by-their-loyalties-and-ambitions-than-by/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Is it truly being good if the only reason I behave well is so I can get more loot at Christmas? I mean, really,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-watterson/is-it-truly-being-good-if-the-only-reason-i-behave-well-is-so-i-can/) [Bill Watterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-watterson/) > [“...some heroes are born. Some are made. And some are bribed with promises of food and sex.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-peeler/some-heroes-are-born-some-are-made-and-some-are-bribed-with-promises/) [Nicole Peeler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-peeler/) > [It looks like bribery. I mean,there is every appearance that Hillary Clinton was bribed to grease the sale of, what, 20 percent of America's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jedediah-bila/it-looks-like-bribery-i-mean-there-is-every-appearance-that-hillary/) [Jedediah Bila](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jedediah-bila/) > [“Some of you rich men have to be taught that all the world cannot be bribed into condoning your offences.\\”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sir-arthur-conan-doyle/some-of-you-rich-men-have-to-be-taught-that-all-the-world-cannot-be/) [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sir-arthur-conan-doyle/) > [Repeat business or behavior can be bribed. Loyalty has to be earned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-l-robinson/repeat-business-or-behavior-can-be-bribed-loyalty-has-to-be-earned/) [Janet L. Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-l-robinson/) > [“There's probably no one so easily bribed, but he lacks even the fundamental honesty of honorable corruption. He doesn't stay bribed; not for any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/there-s-probably-no-one-so-easily-bribed-but-he-lacks-even-the/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [There is nothing that would upset me more than my dad being bribed by the press. It's like, 'Just let them run it, then.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adele/there-is-nothing-that-would-upset-me-more-than-my-dad-being-bribed-by/) [Adele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adele/) > [The power of perpetuating our property in our families is one of the most valuable and interesting circumstances belonging to it, and that which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/the-power-of-perpetuating-our-property-in-our-families-is-one-of-the/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) ## More by Edmund Burke > [It is the interest of the commercial world that wealth should be found everywhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/it-is-the-interest-of-the-commercial-world-that-wealth-should-be/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [“Many of the greatest tyrants on the records of history have begun their reigns in the fairest manner. But the truth is, this unnatural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/many-of-the-greatest-tyrants-on-the-records-of-history-have-begun/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [In this choice of inheritance we have given to our frame of polity the image of a relation in blood; binding up the constitution…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/in-this-choice-of-inheritance-we-have-given-to-our-frame-of-polity/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [“Wise men will apply their remedies to vices, not to names; to the causes of evil which are permanent, not to the occasional organs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/wise-men-will-apply-their-remedies-to-vices-not-to-names-to-the/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [“A man full of warm, speculative benevolence may wish his society otherwise constituted than he finds it; but a good patriot, and a true…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/a-man-full-of-warm-speculative-benevolence-may-wish-his-society/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [My vigour relents. I pardon something to the spirit of liberty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/my-vigour-relents-i-pardon-something-to-the-spirit-of-liberty/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [A speculative despair is unpardonable where it our duty to act.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/a-speculative-despair-is-unpardonable-where-it-our-duty-to-act/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [The great must submit to the dominion of prudence and of virtue, or none will long submit to the dominion of thegreat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/the-great-must-submit-to-the-dominion-of-prudence-and-of-virtue-or/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/those-who-have-been-once-intoxicated-with-power-and-have-derived-any/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [What is it we all seek for in an election? To answer its real purposes, you must first possess the means of knowing the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/what-is-it-we-all-seek-for-in-an-election-to-answer-its-real-purposes/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [Society is indeed a contract. It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/society-is-indeed-a-contract-it-is-a-partnership-in-all-science-a/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [You can never plan the future by the past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/you-can-never-plan-the-future-by-the-past/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [The great inlet by which a colour for oppression has entered into the world is by one man's pretending to determine concerning the happiness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/the-great-inlet-by-which-a-colour-for-oppression-has-entered-into-the/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [By the disposition of a stupendous wisdom, moulding together the great mysterious incorporation of the human race, the whole, at one time, is never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/by-the-disposition-of-a-stupendous-wisdom-moulding-together-the-great/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [Religion, to have any force upon men's understandings,--indeed, to exist at all,--must be supposed paramount to law, and independent for its substance upon any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/religion-to-have-any-force-upon-men-s-understandings-indeed-to-exist/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) [Explore all 595 Edmund Burke quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) ## More Avarice quotes > [In our own time the whole of Greece has been subject to a low birth rate and a general decrease of the population, owing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/polybius/in-our-own-time-the-whole-of-greece-has-been-subject-to-a-low-birth/) [Polybius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/polybius/) > [avarice breeds envy, a worm that is always gnawing, letting the avaricious enjoy neither their own nor anyone else's good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-catherine-of-siena/avarice-breeds-envy-a-worm-that-is-always-gnawing-letting-the/) [St. Catherine of Siena](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-catherine-of-siena/) > [The man who worships mere wealth is a snob.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-trollope/the-man-who-worships-mere-wealth-is-a-snob/) [Anthony Trollope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-trollope/) > [Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mohican, the Pcanet, and other powerful tribes of our people? They have vanished before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tecumseh/where-today-are-the-pequot-where-are-the-narragansett-the-mohican-the/) [Tecumseh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tecumseh/) > [The corruption of the age is made up by the particular contribution of every individual man; some contribute treachery, others injustice, atheism, tyranny, avarice,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/the-corruption-of-the-age-is-made-up-by-the-particular-contribution/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [Where poverty ceases, avarice begins.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/where-poverty-ceases-avarice-begins/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [Five enemies of peace inhabit with us - avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/petrarch/five-enemies-of-peace-inhabit-with-us-avarice-ambition-envy-anger-and/) [Petrarch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/petrarch/) > ['Maneater' is about N.Y.C. in the '80s. It's about greed, avarice, and spoiled riches.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-oates/maneater-is-about-n-y-c-in-the-80s-it-s-about-greed-avarice-and/) [John Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-oates/) > [A woman's whole life is a history of the affections. The heart is her world: it is there her ambition strives for empire; it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/a-woman-s-whole-life-is-a-history-of-the-affections-the-heart-is-her/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [Gluttony should be destroyed by self-control; unchastity by desire for God and longing for the blessings held in store; avarice by compassion for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-of-damascus/gluttony-should-be-destroyed-by-self-control-unchastity-by-desire-for/) [John of Damascus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-of-damascus/) > [Riches with their wicked inducements increase; nevertheless, avarice is never satisfied.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/riches-with-their-wicked-inducements-increase-nevertheless-avarice-is/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [Poverty wants much; but avarice, everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/publilius-syrus/poverty-wants-much-but-avarice-everything/) [Publilius Syrus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/publilius-syrus/) > [When virtue is banished, ambition invades the minds of those who are disposed to receive it and avarice possesses the whole community.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baron-de-montesquieu/when-virtue-is-banished-ambition-invades-the-minds-of-those-who-are/) [Baron de Montesquieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baron-de-montesquieu/) > [He who is always in a hurry to be wealthy and immersed in the study of augmenting his fortune has lost the arms of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/he-who-is-always-in-a-hurry-to-be-wealthy-and-immersed-in-the-study/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [Goodness is weakness, pleasantness is poisonous, serenity is mediocrity and kindness is for losers. The best reason for committing loathsome and detestable acts –…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jasper-fforde/goodness-is-weakness-pleasantness-is-poisonous-serenity-is-mediocrity/) [Jasper Fforde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jasper-fforde/) [Browse all 318 Avarice quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/avarice/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is by bribing, not so often by being bribed, that wicked politicians bring ruin on mankind. Avarice is a rival to the pursuits of many.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Edmund Burke" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/it-is-by-bribing-not-so-often-by-being-bribed-that-wicked-politicians/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Avarice" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/it-is-by-bribing-not-so-often-by-being-bribed-that-wicked-politicians/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f4/edmund-burke-400_avarice_it-is-by-bribing-not-so-often-by-being-b_1559802.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f4/edmund-burke-400_avarice_it-is-by-bribing-not-so-often-by-being-b_1559802.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f4/edmund-burke-400_avarice_it-is-by-bribing-not-so-often-by-being-b_1559802.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is by bribing, not so often by being bribed, that wicked politicians bring ruin on mankind. Avarice is a…” — Edmund Burke", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Edmund Burke", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "It is by bribing, not so...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/it-is-by-bribing-not-so-often-by-being-bribed-that-wicked-politicians/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/it-is-by-bribing-not-so-often-by-being-bribed-that-wicked-politicians/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```