--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It's okay to bribe people with books…" description: "\"“It's okay to bribe people with books, right?”\" — Eliezer Yudkowsky" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ba/eliezer-yudkowsky-1207_books_it-s-okay-to-bribe-people-with-books-rig_614413.png" --- # It's okay to bribe people with books, right? ![“It's okay to bribe people with books, right?” quote by Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ba/eliezer-yudkowsky-1207_books_it-s-okay-to-bribe-people-with-books-rig_614413.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ba/eliezer-yudkowsky-1207_books_it-s-okay-to-bribe-people-with-books-rig_614413.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ba/eliezer-yudkowsky-1207_books_it-s-okay-to-bribe-people-with-books-rig_614413.png) > ““It's okay to bribe people with books, right?”” [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Offering books as a bribe can be a clever way to motivate learning, but it raises ethical concerns about manipulation. **In simple terms:** Using books to influence behavior may be effective yet questionable. Key Takeaway Consider motivations behind incentives. Themes education ethics motivation incentives Mood thoughtful critical inquisitive Type philosophical ethical When to use this quote - classroom rewards - library programs - personal development Key Concepts intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation manipulation learning strategies Questions to Reflect On - Is it better to inspire love of reading than to use books as a bargaining tool? - What are the long‑term effects of reward‑based learning? A Different Perspective Bribes can undermine genuine curiosity and create dependency. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Books Right](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books-right-2663636/) [Bribe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bribe/) [Bribe People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bribe-people-4984029/) [Okay Bribe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/okay-bribe-4984030/) [People Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people-books-313541/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [“I have a handful of prayers that I pray all the time... One is that God will put my books into the right hands…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-batterson/i-have-a-handful-of-prayers-that-i-pray-all-the-time-one-is-that-god/) [Mark Batterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-batterson/) > [“How have you kept yourself as yourself all these years? 'Books,' the boy said. 'Thousands of books.' 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There's something special about bringing people and books together”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-truman/i-love-books-i-really-really-love-them-there-s-something-special/) [Margaret Truman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-truman/) > [“It really is an APPALLING thing to think of the people who have no books...It is only by books that most men and women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-collins/it-really-is-an-appalling-thing-to-think-of-the-people-who-have-no/) [Paul Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-collins/) > [I have spent more time with other people's books than with my own. I do not regret it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/italo-calvino/i-have-spent-more-time-with-other-people-s-books-than-with-my-own-i/) [Italo Calvino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/italo-calvino/) > [“People are the same except for the books they read and the people they meet”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-jones/people-are-the-same-except-for-the-books-they-read-and-the-people/) [Charlie Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-jones/) > [“He was an average-looking, hard working fellow who was more comfortable reading about people in books than socializing with them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cindy-thomson/he-was-an-average-looking-hard-working-fellow-who-was-more/) [Cindy Thomson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cindy-thomson/) > [Just the circumstances of being in D.C., people give you books, and there are issues you want to learn more about, so you are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-quigley/just-the-circumstances-of-being-in-d-c-people-give-you-books-and/) [Mike Quigley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-quigley/) > [Books are the building blocks of civilization and a people without books are a people without history, a people with no story older than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-l-amour/books-are-the-building-blocks-of-civilization-and-a-people-without/) [Louis L'Amour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-l-amour/) > [If you're not reading - with your heart as well as your brain - you will be one stupid grown up. Even worst, you'll…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-patterson/if-you-re-not-reading-with-your-heart-as-well-as-your-brain-you-will/) [James Patterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-patterson/) ## More by Eliezer Yudkowsky > [“But I really am Ravenclaw, you know, not Slytherin. I don't want to rule the universe. I just think it could be more sensibly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/but-i-really-am-ravenclaw-you-know-not-slytherin-i-don-t-want-to-rule/) [Eliezer Yudkowsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/) > [“‎If you regard evidence as a constraint and seek to free yourself, you sell yourself into the chains of your whims. 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And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It's okay to bribe people with books, right?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Eliezer Yudkowsky" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/it-s-okay-to-bribe-people-with-books-right/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Books" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/it-s-okay-to-bribe-people-with-books-right/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ba/eliezer-yudkowsky-1207_books_it-s-okay-to-bribe-people-with-books-rig_614413.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ba/eliezer-yudkowsky-1207_books_it-s-okay-to-bribe-people-with-books-rig_614413.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ba/eliezer-yudkowsky-1207_books_it-s-okay-to-bribe-people-with-books-rig_614413.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It's okay to bribe people with books, right?” — Eliezer Yudkowsky", "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": "Eliezer Yudkowsky", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliezer-yudkowsky/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“It's okay to bribe people with...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/it-s-okay-to-bribe-people-with-books-right/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliezer-yudkowsky/it-s-okay-to-bribe-people-with-books-right/#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 } } ] } ```