History Main / ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules

* American officials are ''LEGENDARILY'' hard to bribe. In fact, trying to bribe one is a very good way to get yourself in even bigger trouble than you're already in. Zealous I.R.S inspections are a good deterrent.

** In ComicBook/KurtBusiek's run, the Prankster has a peculiar code of his own. He expects to be paid for hiring himself out as a distraction, and paid well, but he refuses to sell his gadgets to his clients, regardless of how much they offer, because that's not what he does. In the course of humiliating a criminal who failed to understand this, he reveals that he can enter the vault of Metropolis Bank any time he likes. He's never robbed it because ''that wouldn't be a prank''.
* In the ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]] storyline ''ComicBook/JudgmentInInfinity'', the Mayor of Mega City offers the Horseman of Death anything he wants in exchange for their lives. Unflappably, Death replies that the only thing he wants is their lives, as per his boss' orders.

Compare MoneyIsNotPower, KeepTheReward, HonorBeforeReason, WhatYouAreInTheDark, DoingItForTheArt, ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight. TheLastDJ is a specific character type who is likely to do this, although he may pay for it, especially in missed opportunities. If the character's refusal includes making the situation even worse for the offerer, that's a BribeBackfire.

* ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'': Guan Yu, to Cao Cao. At one point, Guan Yu agrees to temporarily swear allegiance to Cao Cao, but only until such time that he learns of Liu Bei, his [[BloodBrothers sworn brother]], and his whereabouts. Cao Cao accepts, and then spends all his time giving Guan Yu kingly gifts every other day, from magnificent feasts, to gold, silks, pretty servant girls, and even the horse Red Hare (the finest warhorse in all of China, previously owned by [[WorldsStrongestMan Lu Bu]]). Cao Cao had hoped he could buy Guan Yu's loyalty, but when Liu Bei is found, Guan Yu immediately departs and leaves all of the riches behind without a second thought, only keeping Red Hare because the horse will allow him to rejoin Liu Bei that much faster. Cao Cao is stunned at this display of loyalty, and far from feeling angry, comes to respect Guan Yu all the more for it.

* Brought up in the ''Series/{{Friends}}'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10272341/1/Fix-You Fix You]]" when Rachel learns that her new husband Marco is gay and only married her so that she could be TheBeard for the benefit of his disapproving father. When Marco offered a raise, her own house and anything else she wanted if she stayed married to him, Rachel is disgusted at the idea that someone could think she's so shallow that she'd accept all that to stay with a man who lied to her for three years.

'''Bane''': And you think this gives you ''power'' over me?

* ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': While Naofumi is serving food, former enemy S'yne Lokk joins the line. Naofumi refuses to give her anything and orders her to leave, even when she offers to pay for the food, saying he refuses to trust her.

* In ''Film/JamesBond'', several villains (and occasionally even allies) have tried to bribe the title character away from Her Majesty's Secret Service, invariably to find that his loyalty isn't for sale.
** Creator/TimothyDalton's Bond was especially prone to this, possibly in response to the the greed-is-good zeitgeist of TheEighties:
** ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'':

** The title character's family motto is: "Orbis non suffit" (lit. the world is not enough) meaning that you can't bribe them even if you offered the whole world in return.

** The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are globally renowned for being professional, efficient, and unyielding: while local police are more or less just that, and pretty individual, the RCMP is known as the group you do not want to mess with. Usually they're handing out traffic citations, or chilling out on horses, or just doing normal police work. But when they go full bore on a crime, they have ''enormous'' power, and ''extreme'' financing to back it up. If you only know them from their checkerboard hats and red tunics and [[BewareTheSillyOne think them to be a joke]], they will ''ruin you'', and no amount of money or power will deter them. One reason is that the RCMP are very well paid, especially to those of many other countries, can make a LOT of overtime especially with local staffing shortages, and have excellent pension, medical and dental plans. Which they would lose if thrown out for corruption charges. Why throw away a sure thing for something that's going to have you suffering stress illnesses, sleepless nights and ulcers for the rest of your life? [[BewareTheNiceOne But at least they're very polite about it.]]

* ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': Scrooge [=McDuck=], as created by Creator/CarlBarks. It's true that he ''is'' the richest duck in the world, but he earned his money by being [[CatchPhrase smarter than the smarties and tougher than the toughies,]] and [[SelfMadeMan he made it square]].

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':

** During Creator/JMichaelStraczynski's run on the book, Spider-Man faced Digger, [[OurZombiesAreDifferent a radioactive zombie created from the corpses of 13 slain mobsters]]. Forelli, the mobster who ordered the hit on the "Vegas 13", offered to pay Spider-Man to take him down. After a bit of soul-searching, Spider-Man seemed to avert this trope by accepting the money (albeit after confirming that he was being asked to do nothing but keep in contact with Forelli, who he already suspected was Digger's main target, to protect him from Digger, which Spidey would do if he was in the area when Digger attacked Forelli anyway), but ultimately played it straight by donating the money to the school where Peter Parker was teaching to build a new library.
** In another story, Spider-Man acquired a briefcase of laundered, untraceable cash. He then gave it to the Vulture, because he knew the Vulture's daughter and granddaughter were struggling and the Vulture could use the money to help them. This actually fits with Spider-Man's character, as he'd rather use the money that way then end up fighting the Vulture for robbing banks to get money for them.

* Hardcore Communists proved too fanatical to be bribed. Of course, the hardcore often gets swept out over time, and often through ThePurge by even ''more'' devoted members - [[NiceJobBreakingItHero which opens the path to bribable officials taking the post instead]].

** The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are globally renowned for being professional, efficient, and unyielding: while local police are more or less just that, and pretty individual, the RCMP is known as the group you do not want to mess with. Usually they're handing out traffic citations, or chilling out on horses, or just doing normal police work. But when they go full bore on a crime, they have ''enormous'' power, and ''extreme'' financing to back it up. If you only know them from their checkerboard hats and red tunics, and think them to be a joke, they will ''ruin you'', and no amount of money or power will deter them. One reason is that the RCMP are very well paid, especially to those of many other countries, can make a LOT of overtime especially with local staffing shortages, and have excellent pension, medical and dental plans. Which they would lose if thrown out for corruption charges. Why throw away a sure thing for something that's going to have you suffering stress illnesses, sleepless nights and ulcers for the rest of your life? [[HilarityEnsues But at least they're very polite about it.]]

* A far more notorious example from the {{grunge}} era was that of Music/KurtCobain, the Music/{{Nirvana}} frontman who [[DrivenToSuicide killed himself]] because he couldn't reconcile his anti-establishment punk values with his newfound stardom. In his [[https://kurtcobainssuicidenote.com/kurt_cobains_suicide_note.html suicide note]], he stated that he felt like a phony standing on stage and trying to play TheRockStar.

* American independent post-hardcore band Music/{{Fugazi}} and its label, Dischord Records, is well known for their egalitarian views: they sell no merch, only music. After the declaration of their (still ongoing) hiatus in 2003, they recieved various offers from venues with lucrative amounts of money (Coachella being an example), but have declined all of them. In the early 90's, they were approached by Creator/AtlanticRecords and were offered 10 million dollars to sign with them, allowing for full creative control of their music, and even allowing them to start a vanity label under Atlantic's wing: basically offering everything and the moon. Fugazi refused to take it.

‘’TheBible'':