--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: They had been corrupted by money, and he…" description: "\"They had been corrupted by money, and he had been corrupted by sentiment. Sentiment was the more dangerous, because you couldn’t name its price. A man ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb0/graham-greene-441_bribe_they-had-been-corrupted-by-money-and-he_1467254.jpg" --- # They had been corrupted by money, and he had been… ![“They had been corrupted by money, and he had been corrupted by sentiment. Sentiment was the more dangerous, because you couldn’t name its price. A man open to bribes was to be relied upon below a certain figure, but sentiment might uncoil in the heart at a name, a photograph, even a smell…” quote by Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb0/graham-greene-441_bribe_they-had-been-corrupted-by-money-and-he_1467254.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb0/graham-greene-441_bribe_they-had-been-corrupted-by-money-and-he_1467254.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb0/graham-greene-441_bribe_they-had-been-corrupted-by-money-and-he_1467254.jpg) > “They had been corrupted by money, and he had been corrupted by sentiment. Sentiment was the more dangerous, because you couldn’t name its price. A man open to bribes was to be relied upon below a certain figure, but sentiment might uncoil in the heart at a name, a photograph, even a smell remembered.” [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Money corrupts openly; sentiment corrupts silently, harder to quantify and more dangerous. **In simple terms:** Sentiment corrupts quietly, harder to price. Key Takeaway Beware hidden emotional influences. Themes corruption money sentiment ethics Mood cautionary reflective Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - political intrigue - personal relationships - legal decisions - financial dealings Key Concepts moral ambiguity human vulnerability Questions to Reflect On - What unseen sentiments guide you? - How to price emotional influence? A Different Perspective Sentiment can be manipulated unknowingly. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bribe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bribe/) [Certain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/certain/) [Corrupted Sentiment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/corrupted-sentiment-5315672/) [Dangerous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dangerous/) [Figures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/figures/) [Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Might](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/might/) [Money](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/money/) [Money Corrupted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/money-corrupted-5315673/) [Names](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/names/) [Photograph](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photograph/) [Remembered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remembered/) [Sentiment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sentiment/) [Sentiment Dangerous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sentiment-dangerous-2452771/) [Sentiment Uncoil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sentiment-uncoil-5315674/) [Sentiments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sentiments/) [Smell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smell/) ## Related quotes > [“I didn’t want to listen to Rook offering me roses whose perfume would make me forget all my childhood memories, or diamonds that would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-rogerson/i-didn-t-want-to-listen-to-rook-offering-me-roses-whose-perfume-would/) [Margaret Rogerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-rogerson/) > [I have often noticed that a bribe has that effect - it changes a relation. The man who offers a bribe gives away a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-have-often-noticed-that-a-bribe-has-that-effect-it-changes-a/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Sentimentality - that's what we call the sentiment we don't share.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/sentimentality-that-s-what-we-call-the-sentiment-we-don-t-share/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“Bribe cartographers to remove us from the atlas.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melancton-hawks/bribe-cartographers-to-remove-us-from-the-atlas/) [Melancton Hawks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melancton-hawks/) > [Bribe is such an ugly word. I prefer extortion. The X makes it sound cool.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bender-the-cartoon-character/bribe-is-such-an-ugly-word-i-prefer-extortion-the-x-makes-it-sound/) [Bender (The Cartoon Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bender-the-cartoon-character/) > [What I’m talking about is more than recompense for past injustices—more than a handout, a payoff, hush money, or a reluctant bribe. What I’m…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/what-i-m-talking-about-is-more-than-recompense-for-past-injustices/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [The best thing you can do for the planet is to stay home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-snyder/the-best-thing-you-can-do-for-the-planet-is-to-stay-home/) [Gary Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-snyder/) > [How is a magician to exist without books? Let someone explain that to me. It is like asking a politician to achieve high office…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susanna-clarke/how-is-a-magician-to-exist-without-books-let-someone-explain-that-to/) [Susanna Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susanna-clarke/) > [I usually accept bribes from both sides so that tainted money can never influence my decision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-bacon/i-usually-accept-bribes-from-both-sides-so-that-tainted-money-can/) [Francis Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-bacon/) > [The community has no bribe that will tempt a wise man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/the-community-has-no-bribe-that-will-tempt-a-wise-man/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [The enemy's spies who have come to spy on us must be sought out, tempted with bribes, led away and comfortably housed. Thus they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/the-enemy-s-spies-who-have-come-to-spy-on-us-must-be-sought-out/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [I think if people give you their time and they haven't got any money then they deserve to get something. Not so that you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-broomfield/i-think-if-people-give-you-their-time-and-they-haven-t-got-any-money/) [Nick Broomfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-broomfield/) > [To give money to a sufferer is only a come-off. It is only a postponement of the real payment, a bribe paid for silence,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/to-give-money-to-a-sufferer-is-only-a-come-off-it-is-only-a/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Lobbying' is the activity of attempting to influence legislation by privately influencing the legislators. It is the result and creation of a mixed economy-of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/lobbying-is-the-activity-of-attempting-to-influence-legislation-by/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [You can't lose with the Stuff I use!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reverend-ike/you-can-t-lose-with-the-stuff-i-use/) [Reverend Ike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reverend-ike/) ## More by Graham Greene > [“Time gives poetry to a battlefield...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“What is cowardice in the young is wisdom in the old, but all the same one can be ashamed of wisdom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/what-is-cowardice-in-the-young-is-wisdom-in-the-old-but-all-the-same/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Pity is cruel. Pity destroys.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/pity-is-cruel-pity-destroys/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Hate is a lack of imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/hate-is-a-lack-of-imagination/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Despair is the price one pays for setting oneself an impossible aim. It is, one is told, the unforgivable sin, but it is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/despair-is-the-price-one-pays-for-setting-oneself-an-impossible-aim/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“Knowledge was the great thing--not abstract knowledge in which Dr. Forester had been so rich, the theories which lead one enticingly on with their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/knowledge-was-the-great-thing-not-abstract-knowledge-in-which-dr/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [With Your great schemes, You ruin our happiness like a harvester ruins a mouse's nest: I hate You, God, I hate You as though…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/with-your-great-schemes-you-ruin-our-happiness-like-a-harvester-ruins/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/heresy-is-only-another-word-for-freedom-of-thought/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“He had thought that home was something one possessed, but the things one had possessed were cursed with change; it was what one didn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/he-had-thought-that-home-was-something-one-possessed-but-the-things/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Perhaps the comparison is closer to the Chinese cook who leaves hardly any part of a duck unserved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/perhaps-the-comparison-is-closer-to-the-chinese-cook-who-leaves/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“He said, ‘Oh god, help her. Damn me, I deserve it, but let her live forever.’ This was the love he should have felt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/he-said-oh-god-help-her-damn-me-i-deserve-it-but-let-her-live-forever/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“A police photograph is like a passport photograph: the intelligence which casts a veil over the crude common shape is never recorded by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/a-police-photograph-is-like-a-passport-photograph-the-intelligence/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [ “I tossed up whether I'd see \[the critic\] or not: I knew too well the pompous phrases of his article, the buried significance he… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-tossed-up-whether-i-d-see-the-critic-or-not-i-knew-too-well-the/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [Success is more dangerous than failure, the ripples break over a wider coastline.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/success-is-more-dangerous-than-failure-the-ripples-break-over-a-wider/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“But we do not love people for what they do for us. Love happens to us; it isn't created.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/but-we-do-not-love-people-for-what-they-do-for-us-love-happens-to-us/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) [Explore all 550 Graham Greene quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) ## More Bribe quotes > [You can't lose with the Stuff I use!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reverend-ike/you-can-t-lose-with-the-stuff-i-use/) [Reverend Ike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reverend-ike/) > [Lobbying' is the activity of attempting to influence legislation by privately influencing the legislators. It is the result and creation of a mixed economy-of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/lobbying-is-the-activity-of-attempting-to-influence-legislation-by/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [To give money to a sufferer is only a come-off. It is only a postponement of the real payment, a bribe paid for silence,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/to-give-money-to-a-sufferer-is-only-a-come-off-it-is-only-a/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [I think if people give you their time and they haven't got any money then they deserve to get something. Not so that you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-broomfield/i-think-if-people-give-you-their-time-and-they-haven-t-got-any-money/) [Nick Broomfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-broomfield/) > [The enemy's spies who have come to spy on us must be sought out, tempted with bribes, led away and comfortably housed. Thus they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/the-enemy-s-spies-who-have-come-to-spy-on-us-must-be-sought-out/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [The community has no bribe that will tempt a wise man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/the-community-has-no-bribe-that-will-tempt-a-wise-man/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [I usually accept bribes from both sides so that tainted money can never influence my decision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-bacon/i-usually-accept-bribes-from-both-sides-so-that-tainted-money-can/) [Francis Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-bacon/) > [How is a magician to exist without books? Let someone explain that to me. It is like asking a politician to achieve high office…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susanna-clarke/how-is-a-magician-to-exist-without-books-let-someone-explain-that-to/) [Susanna Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susanna-clarke/) > [The best thing you can do for the planet is to stay home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-snyder/the-best-thing-you-can-do-for-the-planet-is-to-stay-home/) [Gary Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-snyder/) > [What I’m talking about is more than recompense for past injustices—more than a handout, a payoff, hush money, or a reluctant bribe. What I’m…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/what-i-m-talking-about-is-more-than-recompense-for-past-injustices/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [Bribe is such an ugly word. I prefer extortion. The X makes it sound cool.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bender-the-cartoon-character/bribe-is-such-an-ugly-word-i-prefer-extortion-the-x-makes-it-sound/) [Bender (The Cartoon Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bender-the-cartoon-character/) > [“Bribe cartographers to remove us from the atlas.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melancton-hawks/bribe-cartographers-to-remove-us-from-the-atlas/) [Melancton Hawks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melancton-hawks/) > [There's a property in Panama where Trump has collected somewhere around $30 million just from selling his name to this property - it's somewhere…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-klein/there-s-a-property-in-panama-where-trump-has-collected-somewhere/) [Naomi Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-klein/) > [There are not many companies in China that dare to say in public, 'We don't offer bribes', or companies that operate only by market…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wang-jianlin/there-are-not-many-companies-in-china-that-dare-to-say-in-public-we/) [Wang Jianlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wang-jianlin/) > [The median family of four ... paid $4,722 in federal taxes last year. That's enough to pay for a new curtain for the secretary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-bock/the-median-family-of-four-paid-4-722-in-federal-taxes-last-year-that/) [Alan Bock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-bock/) [Browse all 185 Bribe quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bribe/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "They had been corrupted by money, and he had been corrupted by sentiment. Sentiment was the more dangerous, because you couldn’t name its price. 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