History Main / ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules

* ''Literature/TheBible'':
** A classic and rather well-known example:
--->Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve." ~ Matthew 4:9-10 NKJV
** And in Acts of the Apostles, Simon Magus offers Peter a fortune in exchange for an ordination. Peter's reply? "May your money perish with you, for you have thought that the gift of God can be bought with money!"

* ''Literature/TheFountainhead'': the hero is an interesting example, in fact, because making money is a central part of Ayn Rand's philosophy. The catch is that one must create real value in order to make money, and anyone who offers her heroes money to create something that's not valuable is rejected out of hand. This in itself demonstrates Rand's own naivete regarding finance and economy.

For some people, money isn't an issue. Maybe a hero/heroine's morals and convictions are so strong that they can never be bought out, not even for all the money and riches in the world. Maybe someone is so committed to a goal he'll spend all the money he has to in order to reach it. Or perhaps there are some people who just don't need the money; the [[GoodFeelsGood warm fuzzy feeling after doing a good deed is reward enough]]. Or there is simply no amount of money that can replace what they were stripped of. Whatever the reason, wealth comes second to personal values. [[UnableToSupportAWife Even a chance at matrimony]] may not be enough.

* Doc Emmett Brown in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' refuses to use his time machine to get rich - not because he wouldn't want to be rich, but because any fiddling with the timeline could have dire consequences for all of humanity, making this more of a "There ''are'' rules" example rather than an "I ''have'' rules" example (in [[Film/BackToTheFuture the first movie]] he hints that he would very much like to bet on the winners of the next 25 World Series during or after his trip to 2010). He also managed to acquire a suitcase full of money from various eras, when it had previously been stated he'd spent his entire family fortune on the time machine.

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Hank Hill is incredibly passionate about selling propane and propane accessories, but when push comes to shove, he'll stick to his principles.

* Evil version in ''Film/LayerCake''. The [[RuthlessForeignGangsters Serbian drug lords]] hunt down some British crooks who stole $2 million worth of ecstacy tablets from them. In the end, they're happy to simply kill the crooks. Their vengeance was about honor, not the money. In fact, when they think that the tablets were seized by the police, they don't make any effort to force the protagonist to pay them back. In the end, it's shown that they're producing so much ecstasy that the lost shipment is a mere pittance, so they care enough to kill anyone connected with the theft, but not really about the money.

* In ''Literature/FleetOfWorlds'', we have Sigmund. He is extremely wealthy and hence cannot be bribed. As a mere accountant, he undertook an investigation into a Space Mafia gang which nearly costs him his life. After this, he joins the ARM (Earth's military) and goes after the enemies of Earth with such zealousness (due to his natural extreme intelligence and paranoia) that the Puppeteers (a species of SufficientlyAdvancedAliens) consider him a significant threat to their plans. Ironically, [[spoiler:a Puppeteer, Nessus, saves his life, seeing in him a potent ally]].
* Played with in ''Literature/TheCurseOfChalion''. Caz, the protagonist, enters a negotiation on behalf of his princess with a ruthless, cunning ruler of another country. Said ruler tries repeatedly to bribe Caz into accepting terms that would disadvantage his princess, and Caz refuses. The ruler asks him why. Caz's answer? [[spoiler:"I have been given a plot of six by eight, to be mine in perpetuity, and I find it suits my needs." Caz has a tumor which he's certain will kill him, and bribes are worthless to a dead man.]] That's not his real reason -- he's loyal to the princess -- but it's one the ruler will accept.

''Series/SquidGame'', LoserProtagonist Gi-hun tries to leave the DeadlyGame offering millions in prize money, only to discover that his mother is SecretlyDying from diabetes because of him cancelling their insurance [[TheGamblingAddict to feed his gambling addiction]]. He goes to everyone he knows begging for money to pay for the treatment, including his ex-wife and her well-off new husband. The husband then offers Gi-hun the money he needs on the condition that he [[TakingTheKids stop trying to contact his daughter]], causing Gi-hun to punch him while shouting that money can't solve everything.

-->"No money man can buy me love"

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', wherein you can almost always demand/request a reward for your services without repercussion. Meanwhile, giving charitable donations doesn't get you any kind of reward whatsoever, it just means you lose money. On the other hand, even when you are offered the chance to make a questionable moral decision, money isn't usually part of the reward. So what kind of hero are you, anyway?* Petra from ''VideoGame/EmeraldCityConfidential'' proves that she has limits when she refuses to get any more involved in obtaining illegal magical items, even though Dee--her client--offers to pay her more.

-->-- ''Series/BurnNotice'', "Truth and Reconciliation"

* UsefulNotes/SimonBolivar went from being one of the richest men in the New World to being an ImpoverishedPatrician because of his commitment to principle. Born to a family of aristocratic ''criollos'' (i.e. of European origin but born in the New World) that had come to Venezuela 200 years earlier, Bolívar was heir to a massive fortune... that consisted largely of agricultural estates and mines that depended on slave labor for their profits. In his youth, he was too focused on partying to much care, but as he grew into the radical and revolutionary he would become, he began to accept that [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil slavery was indeed bad]], though like many rich liberals of his day he offhandedly dismissed the idea of actually ''abolishing'' slavery as impractical. However, after taking refuge in UsefulNotes/{{Haiti}} after the disastrous collapse of the Second Venezuelan Republic in 1815, Bolívar seems to have been persuaded of the moral urgency of abolishing slavery (and damn the consequences) during his extensive discussions with Haitian leader Alexandre Pétion. At the very least, Pétion had conditioned his promise to give Bolívar ships, guns, and men on a promise from Bolívar to end slavery in any territory he managed to control, and whatever Bolívar's convictions, he absolutely insisted on [[IGaveMyWord scrupulously keeping his promises]]. Whatever his reason, Bolívar absolutely followed through, pushing abolition in all the lands he liberated, and freeing all his own slaves as soon as he got back to his estates. The lack of slave labor and the continuing wars of independence meant that Bolívar could not sustain most of his properties profitably, and over time he lost them and thus most of his fortune. Thus, despite his historically massive family wealth and ancient (by Venezuelan standards) pedigree, Bolívar found himself a pauper whenever he was not in office (and admittedly, he was usually in office)--but he wouldn't have had it any other way.

* ''Series/SirArthurConanDoylesTheLostWorld'': In "Absolute Power", a dying Professor Challenger has a dream where he gains amazing superpowers that quickly go to his head and make him incredibly arrogant and reckless. When his recklessness gets Veronica killed, his friends shun him. He desperately tries to at least get Marguerite on his side by conjuring up a huge diamond for her. Even though Marguerite is usually known for her greed, she rejects the diamond and calls him out for thinking a bribe could make her forget what happened to her friend.* In

Note that this does not necessarily mean "wealth comes second to ''good'' personal values." This is a very common trope for KnightTemplar types, and outright ChaoticEvil villains can enact it too, as can people who [[ItAmusedMe give amusement a higher priority than personal gain]]. The HonestCorporateExecutive lives by this mantra.

* ''Series/NightCourt''; one episode had a snobbish foreign prince who offered Christine a quarter of a million dollars to be his bride, and her refusal caused him to up it to half a million, then a million. While she did say it was tempting, she turned it down. * Even the ultra-avaricious Sergeant Bilko of ''Series/ThePhilSilversShow'' has been shown to have his limits. In one episode, 'Elvin Pelvin' (a thinly disguised Elvis clone) joins Bilko's regiment, and Bilko spends most of the episode trying to secretly record him singing. Eventually, Bilko manages to get a recording of Elvin singing... and the song turns out to be [[ObliviousGuiltSlinging a song he wrote praising Bilko for all his kindness]]. [[HeelRealization Upset at his hypocrisy]], Bilko destroys the record.

* Done in Season 2 of ''Series/PrisonBreak'', when Henry Pope and Brad Bellick are both hauled in front of a review board for failing to stop the Fox River Eight from escaping the prison at the end of the previous season. Bellick is ultimately fired from his job as Head Correctional Officer on the spot, but the review board decides to let Pope keep his (rather lucrative) job as Senior Warden. Pope, AFatherToHisMen to the last, refuses to let Bellick go down alone--so he willingly ''resigns'' on the spot.* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'':

* In the ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'' series, this is pretty much the Cooper Clan's entire M.O.; they ''only'' steal from other criminals because stealing from ordinary civilians is not only [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction neither fun nor challenging]], but also immoral and wrong. Sly is also occasionally seen donating the cash he swipes to charities such as orphans.

* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}},'' [[BadSanta Robot Santa]] may be a psychotic KnightTemplar, but he can't be bought.

* It's a somewhat well-known fact that Creator/JimCarrey has a very strict "No Sequels" policy, which he still refused to compromise when he was one of the highest paid entertainers in Hollywood.[[note]]He only appeared in ''Film/AceVentura: When Nature Calls'' (one of only two sequels on his resumé, and the one which led to this policy) because of contractual obligations, and it took him ''twenty years'' to agree to star in ''Film/DumbAndDumberTo''.[[/note]] How committed is he to that policy? In 1995, he turned down a $10 million paycheck--at the time, the highest sum ever offered to an actor for a single role--to reprise his role as Stanley Ipkiss in ''Film/TheMask II''. Even though not all of Carrey's movies have been what most would call "high art", he takes his integrity as an actor very seriously, believing that reprising a role is a waste of time because it doesn't challenge his acting ability. Presumably, he made an exception for ''Film/DumbAndDumberTo'' because he considered [[SequelGap playing a twenty-years-older Lloyd Christmas]] to be a worthwhile acting challenge. One of the few exceptions to this was agreeing to reprise his role as Dr. Robotnik for the ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'' sequel.

** The villains in the franchise are more generally inversions. All of them claim to be idealists who are motivated by moral reasons (each Gruber brother as a left-wing radical, Colonel Stuart as an anticommunist, Thomas Gabriel as a concerned citizen trying to wake America up to the glaring holes in its defense system). In every case, it's all smoke and mirrors. They're just in it for the money. * In ''Film/FlashOfGenius'', Kearns rejects Ford's settlement offer of $30 million but no admission of wrongdoing, and goes to trial. Ultimately, he was awarded $10.1 million in damages, and Ford had to admit they infringed on his intermittent windshield wiper patents. The real Kearns, however, subverts this, in that he was actually seeking exclusive manufacturing rights. He also settled with Ford for the $10 million.
* ''Film/TheFlintstonesInVivaRockVegas'': Chip offers to release Fred from [[TrappedByGamblingDebts his gambling debts]] if Fred agreed to leave Wilma. Fred refuses.* In ''Film/{{Flubber}}'', the bad guy offers to make Creator/RobinWilliams' AbsentMindedProfessor character and his fiancée, the college president, very rich if they would sell him the formula to the titular substance. The reply: "If we were interested in being rich, we wouldn't have become teachers." The reason why he was interested in him in the first place is because Robin's character was flunking the Bad's spoiled son who was otherwise [[BribingYourWayToVictory paying off the teachers to pass him without actually attending class.]] Naturally, our professor wasn't having any of that.

* In ''Film/{{Daredevil}}'', when [[ComicBook/TheKingpin Fisk]] first meets Murdock, he makes him a lucrative offer to take Fisk on as a client, only for Murdock to cite his firm's policy to only represent innocent clients. Fisk just laughs at such absurdity and leaves. Murdock's partner then tells him that he should be more like other lawyers and have something he calls a "moral vacuum" (i.e. represent a client whether or not he's guilty).* ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'':

* Papa Smurf in ''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'' comic book story "The Finance Smurf" refuses to go along with the title character's suggestion of charging his little Smurfs for his services, even as impoverished as he became when he has to pay off his little Smurfs for taking care of him when he was sick during the time the Smurf Village monetary system was in place. Eventually, every Smurf decides to go Screw The Money to Finance Smurf when they realize that their old ways of cooperation and sharing were better.* ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'':

* In''Series/TheDropout'', the Creator/{{Hulu}} series about the Theranos scandal, Elizabeth and Sunny are used to getting their way by dazzling people with what amounts to good marketing. But none of that means anything to Gary Yamamoto, the CMS inspector, whose only job is to inspect the lab. As a result, he issues a report that results in the shutdown of Theranos's blood testing facilities.* ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' plays it straight; Logan and the entire Huntzberger Clan, for that matter. Richard sometimes crosses into this realm, but Emily's treatment of her maids is a good example of this.