‘It is an old Maxim, that every Man has his Price,’ if you can but come up to it.
[1734 W. Wyndham in Bee VIII. 97]
The political axiom generally attributed to him [Walpole]‥was perverted by leaving out the word those. ‥He ascribed to the interested views of themselves‥the declaration of pretended patriots, of whom he said, ‘All those men have their price.’
[1798 W. Coxe Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole I. lxiv.]
‘You can do nothing with Mowle. He never took a penny in his life.’ ‘Oh, every man has his price.’
[1845 G. P. R. James Smuggler I. x.]
It was the sort of deal his father might have pulled. ‘Every man has his price.’
[1949 N. Mailer Naked & Dead ii. xi.]
‘Howard Air's accountants, sir, assure us that all their clients are men and women of unimpeachable integrity.’ ‘No such thing,’ came back Leeyes smartly. ‘Everyone's got their price.’
[2000 ‘C. Aird’ Little Knell xiv. 162]
Related to: bribery and corruption
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
