C.N. Douglas, comp. Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical. 1917.

Bribery

All men have their price.

Ascribed to Walpole.

Judges and senates have been bought for gold.

Pope.

The universe would not be rich enough to buy the vote of an honest man.

St. Gregory.

Who thinketh to buy villainy with gold,
Shall ever find such faith so bought—so sold.

Shakespeare.

Out supple tribes repress their patriot throat
And ask no questions but the price of vote.

Samuel Johnson.

It is a great mistake to suppose that bribery and corruption, although they may be very convenient for gratifying the ambition or the vanity of individuals, have any great effect upon the fortunes or the power of parties. And it is a great mistake to suppose that bribery and corruption are means by which power can either be obtained or retained.

Beaconsfield.

’Tis pleasant purchasing our fellow-creatures;
And all are to be sold, if you consider
Their passions, and are dext’rous; some by features
Are bought up, others by a warlike leader;
Some by a place—as tend their years of natures;
The most by ready cash—but all have prices,
From crowns to kicks, according to their vices.

Byron.

Petitions, not sweetened with gold, are but unsavory and oft refused; or, if received, are pocketed, not read.

Massinger.

Silver, though white,
Yet it draws black lines; it shall not rule my palm
There to mark forth its base corruption.

Middleton and Rowley.

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