--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We are all just monkeys with money and…" description: "\"We are all just monkeys with money and guns.\" — Tom Waits" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e7/tom-waits-916_gun_we-are-all-just-monkeys-with-money-and-g_2463859.jpg" --- # We are all just monkeys with money and guns. ![“We are all just monkeys with money and guns.” quote by Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e7/tom-waits-916_gun_we-are-all-just-monkeys-with-money-and-g_2463859.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e7/tom-waits-916_gun_we-are-all-just-monkeys-with-money-and-g_2463859.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e7/tom-waits-916_gun_we-are-all-just-monkeys-with-money-and-g_2463859.jpg) > “We are all just monkeys with money and guns.” [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Humans are reduced to primal instincts when wealth and power dominate behavior. **In simple terms:** People act like monkeys when driven by money and weapons. Key Takeaway Recognize and resist materialistic impulses. Themes materialism power human nature Mood reflective critical Type philosophical social commentary When to use this quote - political discourse - personal finance - media consumption - social media Key Concepts greed violence social critique Questions to Reflect On - What values guide you beyond material gain? - How can society curb the influence of power? A Different Perspective Not all individuals are driven solely by wealth or aggression. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Gun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gun/) [Guns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/guns/) [Just Monkeys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/just-monkeys-687451/) [Money](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/money/) [Money Guns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/money-guns-687450/) [Monkeys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/monkeys/) [Monkeys Money](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/monkeys-money-687449/) ## Related quotes > [Humans are just monkeys with feelings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikhil-saluja/humans-are-just-monkeys-with-feelings/) [Nikhil Saluja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikhil-saluja/) > [Uhhh...the sea monkeys have my money...yes, I'm a natural blue... -Dory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/finding-nemo/uhhh-the-sea-monkeys-have-my-money-yes-i-m-a-natural-blue-dory/) [Finding Nemo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/finding-nemo/) > [As long as we have have predatory capitalism, we'll have guns because the gun industry loves to make money out of guns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fantastic-negrito/as-long-as-we-have-have-predatory-capitalism-we-ll-have-guns-because/) [Fantastic Negrito](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fantastic-negrito/) > [ Dory: \[dreaming\] Uhhh... the sea monkeys have my money... yes, I'm a natural blue. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/finding-nemo/dory-dreaming-uhhh-the-sea-monkeys-have-my-money-yes-i-m-a-natural/) [Finding Nemo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/finding-nemo/) > [I won't cry cause I live to die, with my mind on my money and my guns in the sky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ja-rule/i-won-t-cry-cause-i-live-to-die-with-my-mind-on-my-money-and-my-guns/) [Ja Rule](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ja-rule/) > [People who relieve others of their money with guns are called robbers. It does not alter the immorality of the act when the income…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cal-thomas/people-who-relieve-others-of-their-money-with-guns-are-called-robbers/) [Cal Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cal-thomas/) > [“The notion that you can somehow defeat violence by submitting to it is simply a flight from fact. As I have said, it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/the-notion-that-you-can-somehow-defeat-violence-by-submitting-to-it/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Our main agenda is to have all guns banned of course. We must use whatever means possible. It doesn't matter if you have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-brady/our-main-agenda-is-to-have-all-guns-banned-of-course-we-must-use/) [Sarah Brady](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-brady/) > [My idols have always stuck to their guns and said what they want to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-patrick/my-idols-have-always-stuck-to-their-guns-and-said-what-they-want-to-do/) [Richard Patrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-patrick/) > [I'm a registered, vetted gun owner, but that's because I live way out in the country, like way out in the middle of nowhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-judd/i-m-a-registered-vetted-gun-owner-but-that-s-because-i-live-way-out/) [Naomi Judd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-judd/) > [I have a lot of guns on my ranch. I don't use them for hunting. I'm not a hunter. It's for protection. The Second…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-norris/i-have-a-lot-of-guns-on-my-ranch-i-don-t-use-them-for-hunting-i-m-not/) [Chuck Norris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-norris/) > [I don't know anybody that doesn't own a gun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-manchin/i-don-t-know-anybody-that-doesn-t-own-a-gun/) [Joe Manchin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-manchin/) > [Guns cause crime like flies cause garbage!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-neil-smith/guns-cause-crime-like-flies-cause-garbage/) [L. Neil Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-neil-smith/) > [If you reduce the guns and the ammo, you'll reduce the murders.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-moore/if-you-reduce-the-guns-and-the-ammo-you-ll-reduce-the-murders/) [Michael Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-moore/) > [I'm OK with guns in schools, if it's a security, trained security personnel. But every teacher having a gun, I don't know if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrea-tantaros/i-m-ok-with-guns-in-schools-if-it-s-a-security-trained-security/) [Andrea Tantaros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrea-tantaros/) ## More by Tom Waits > [Most of us have the residue of thousands of songs in our ears, that if you end up songwriting, I think you're mostly smoking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/most-of-us-have-the-residue-of-thousands-of-songs-in-our-ears-that-if/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [Bill Hicks - blowtorch, excavator, truthsayer, and brain specialist. He will correct your vision. Others will drive on the road he built.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/bill-hicks-blowtorch-excavator-truthsayer-and-brain-specialist-he/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [Don't plant your days they turn into weeds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/don-t-plant-your-days-they-turn-into-weeds/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [“T’ain’t no sin to take off your skin, and dance around in your bones.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/t-ain-t-no-sin-to-take-off-your-skin-and-dance-around-in-your-bones/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [“an all time favorite: "The large print giveth, the small print taketh away.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/an-all-time-favorite-the-large-print-giveth-the-small-print-taketh/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [I'll tell you all my secrets but I lie about my past…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/i-ll-tell-you-all-my-secrets-but-i-lie-about-my-past/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [For a songwriter, you don't really go to songwriting school; you learn by listening to tunes. And you try to understand them and take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/for-a-songwriter-you-don-t-really-go-to-songwriting-school-you-learn/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [I'm trying to learn how to write faster.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/i-m-trying-to-learn-how-to-write-faster/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [The world is a hellish place, and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/the-world-is-a-hellish-place-and-bad-writing-is-destroying-the/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [I'm always looking for sounds that are pleasing at the time. The sound of a helicopter is really annoying until you're drowning, and it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/i-m-always-looking-for-sounds-that-are-pleasing-at-the-time-the-sound/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [I was born in the back seat of a Yellow Cab in a hospital loading zone and with the meter still running. I emerged…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/i-was-born-in-the-back-seat-of-a-yellow-cab-in-a-hospital-loading/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [There's not much difference between what I appear to be on stage and what I am. I think people like that, that I'm not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/there-s-not-much-difference-between-what-i-appear-to-be-on-stage-and/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [Most of the things you absorb you will ultimately secrete.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/most-of-the-things-you-absorb-you-will-ultimately-secrete/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [The devil knows the Bible like the back of his hand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/the-devil-knows-the-bible-like-the-back-of-his-hand/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) > [I bark my voice out through a closed throat, pretty much. It's more, perhaps, like a dog in some ways. It does have its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/i-bark-my-voice-out-through-a-closed-throat-pretty-much-it-s-more/) [Tom Waits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) [Explore all 328 Tom Waits quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/) ## More Gun quotes > [When you reach that competing point, when you reach that time when the gun is about to go off, everyone's level is pretty much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/apolo-ohno/when-you-reach-that-competing-point-when-you-reach-that-time-when-the/) [Apolo Ohno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/apolo-ohno/) > [Guns have little or nothing to do with juvenile violence. The causes of youth violence are working parents who put their kids into daycare,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-delay/guns-have-little-or-nothing-to-do-with-juvenile-violence-the-causes/) [Tom DeLay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-delay/) > [If Jovan Belcher didn't possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-costas/if-jovan-belcher-didn-t-possess-a-gun-he-and-kasandra-perkins-would/) [Bob Costas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-costas/) > [I'm OK with guns in schools, if it's a security, trained security personnel. But every teacher having a gun, I don't know if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrea-tantaros/i-m-ok-with-guns-in-schools-if-it-s-a-security-trained-security/) [Andrea Tantaros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrea-tantaros/) > [I saw this anti-drug commercial that showed a kid smoking pot in his dad's room with his friend. This kid finds a gun, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-maher/i-saw-this-anti-drug-commercial-that-showed-a-kid-smoking-pot-in-his/) [Bill Maher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-maher/) > [For Christmas one year I bought my son a BB gun. He bought me a t-shirt with a bulls eye on the back.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rodney-dangerfield/for-christmas-one-year-i-bought-my-son-a-bb-gun-he-bought-me-a-t/) [Rodney Dangerfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rodney-dangerfield/) > [In France they spend six months training policemen, then they give them a gun and put them on the streets, and I don't know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mathieu-kassovitz/in-france-they-spend-six-months-training-policemen-then-they-give/) [Mathieu Kassovitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mathieu-kassovitz/) > [In Bosnia, little children shot in the head by a guy who thinks it's okay to aim his gun at a child.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christiane-amanpour/in-bosnia-little-children-shot-in-the-head-by-a-guy-who-thinks-it-s/) [Christiane Amanpour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christiane-amanpour/) > [If you reduce the guns and the ammo, you'll reduce the murders.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-moore/if-you-reduce-the-guns-and-the-ammo-you-ll-reduce-the-murders/) [Michael Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-moore/) > [Gun control laws don't work. What is worse, they act perversely. While legitimate users of firearms encounter intense regulation, scrutiny and bureaucratic control, illicit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-d-polsby/gun-control-laws-don-t-work-what-is-worse-they-act-perversely-while/) [Daniel D. Polsby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-d-polsby/) > [Can you understand why the Congress, most states and most cities refuse to pass legislation requiring the registration and licensing of any and all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-forbes/can-you-understand-why-the-congress-most-states-and-most-cities/) [Malcolm Forbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-forbes/) > [Only a coward will use a gun to protect and get respect for themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmanuel-jal/only-a-coward-will-use-a-gun-to-protect-and-get-respect-for-themselves/) [Emmanuel Jal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmanuel-jal/) > [The proliferation of right-to-carry laws throughout the states has drawn plaintive complaints from the criminal element. They feel that it makes their profession too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-cooper/the-proliferation-of-right-to-carry-laws-throughout-the-states-has/) [Jeff Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-cooper/) > [We have no butter... but I ask you, would you rather have butter or guns? Preparedness makes us powerful. Butter merely makes us fat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-goring/we-have-no-butter-but-i-ask-you-would-you-rather-have-butter-or-guns/) [Hermann Goring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-goring/) > [When personal freedom's being abused, you have to move to limit it. That's what we did in the announcement I made last weekend on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-j-clinton/when-personal-freedom-s-being-abused-you-have-to-move-to-limit-it/) [William J. Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-j-clinton/) [Browse all 3,584 Gun quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gun/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We are all just monkeys with money and guns.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tom Waits" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/we-are-all-just-monkeys-with-money-and-guns/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Gun" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/we-are-all-just-monkeys-with-money-and-guns/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e7/tom-waits-916_gun_we-are-all-just-monkeys-with-money-and-g_2463859.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e7/tom-waits-916_gun_we-are-all-just-monkeys-with-money-and-g_2463859.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e7/tom-waits-916_gun_we-are-all-just-monkeys-with-money-and-g_2463859.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We are all just monkeys with money and guns.” — Tom Waits", "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": "Tom Waits", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-waits/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We are all just monkeys with...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/we-are-all-just-monkeys-with-money-and-guns/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-waits/we-are-all-just-monkeys-with-money-and-guns/#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 } } ] } ```