Payment Quotes

“When a gift is deserved, it is not a gift but a payment.”
― Gene Wolfe, Shadow & Claw

“People are willing to work free, and they are willing to work for a reasonable wage; but offer them just a small payment and they will walk away.”
― Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

“[I]t is not by being richer or more powerful that a man becomes better; one is a matter of fortune, the other of virtue. Nor should she deem herself other than venal who weds a rich man rather than a poor, and desires more things in her husband than himself. Assuredly, whomsoever this concupiscence leads into marriage deserves payment rather than affection.”
― Héloïse, The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

“In it's purest form, an act of retribution provides symmetry. The rendering payment of crimes against the innocent. But a danger on retaliation lies on the furthering cycle of violence. Still, it's a risk that must be met; and the greater offense is to allow the guilty go unpunished.”
― Emily Thorne

“If you wrote something for which someone sent you a cheque, if you cashed the cheque and it didn't bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented.”
― Stephen King

“Life is nothing more than moments in time. To achieve greatness, you have to give up those moments. You have to give your life to your goal.”
― Evan Winter, The Rage of Dragons

“Poets are never unemployed, just unpaid.”
― Kathy Skaggs

“He could not believe that any of them might actually hit somebody. If one did, what a nowhere way to go: killed by accident; slain not as an individual but by sheer statistical probability, by the calculated chance of searching fire, even as he himself might be at any moment. Mathematics! Mathematics! Algebra! Geometry! When 1st and 3d Squads came diving and tumbling back over the tiny crest, Bell was content to throw himself prone, press his cheek to the earth, shut his eyes, and lie there. God, oh, God! Why am Ihere?Why am Ihere?After a moment's thought, he decided he better change it to: why arewehere. That way, no agency of retribution could exact payment from him for being selfish.”
― James Jones, The Thin Red Line

“If someone is not exchanging with you (not paying you back, not returning the favor), you stopped it”
― Meir Ezra

“Of course, in the process, you must never do harm to others in any serious way, or you'll cease to amuse Him. Then payment comes due for promises you didn't keep.”
― Dean Koontz, Odd Thomas

“With todays modern technologies, it's easier to pay reward for value provided directly to the source of that value, instead of having a lot of the reward being extracted by a lot of middlemen.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr, CEO of Mayflower-Plymouth

“Much sweat, much pay - Less sweat, less pay.”
― Oscar Auliq-Ice

“Imagine a personality so taking that others would pay their last simply to be in its presence. Then of course a number of people go for the polar opposite, too (the one not 'as well'): the one so toxic, others would rather pay their last for it to go away.”
― Criss Jami, Healology

“Continuous reading is the price that each author must pay.”
― Mwanandeke Kindembo

“Power comes at a price, love," Veliss replied through bared teeth, maintaining the smile she offered to the townsfolk lining the square.
"What power?"
"All power. The power to rule, to kill, or, in your case this fine morning, the power to incite the lust of the old goat you're about to meet."
"Lust? I have no desire to incite lust in anyone."
Veliss turned to her with a quizzical expression, her smile suddenly genuine. "Then I'm afraid you're in for a lifetime of disappointment.”
― Anthony Ryan, Queen of Fire

“Sex is often, or even usually, a woman’s conscious or subconscious way of paying a man for the service he provides, or has provided, of making her feel special, happy, alive, like the most important person… or merely important.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Hey, brah,” Quinn said.
“What is going on, do you know?” Sam asked.
“It’s a club.” Quinn grinned. “Man, you must be working too hard. Everyone knows about it.”
Sam stared at him. “It’s a what?”
“McClub, brah. All you need is some batteries or some toilet paper.”
This announcement left Sam baffled. He considered asking Quinn for clarification, but then Albert appeared, formally dressed, like he thought it was graduation or something. He actually had on a dark sports coat and slacks in a lighter shade. His shirt was pale blue, collared, and ironed. Spotting Sam, he extended his hand.
Sam ignored the hand. “Albert, what is going on here?”
“Dancing, mostly,” Albert said.
“Excuse me?”
“Kids are dancing.”
Quinn caught up then and stepped in front of Sam to shake Albert’s still-extended hand. “Hey, dude. I have batteries.”
“Good to see you, Quinn. The price is four D cells, or eight double As, or ten triple As, or a dozen Cs. If you have a mix, I can work it out.”
Quinn dug in his pocket and produced four triple A batteries and three D cells. He handed them to Albert, who agreed to the price and dropped the batteries into a plastic bag at his feet.
“Okay, the rules are no food, no alcohol, no attitude, no fights, and when I call ‘time,’ there’s no arguing about it. Do you agree to these rules?”
“Dude, if I had any food, would I be here? I’d be home eating it.” Quinn put his hand over his heart like he was pledging allegiance to the flag and said, “I do.” He jerked a thumb back at Sam. “Don’t bother with him: Sam doesn’t dance.”
“Have a good time, Quinn.”
― Michael Grant, Hunger

“If you would devote your time to an activity even if you didn’t receive payment, you have found a key to your destiny”
― Sunday Adelaja

“We will understand the depth of our vision when at some point we are finally faced with the price we must pay to achieve it. And when the price comes calling, most visions end up falling.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Although I’m seldom aware enough to see it, the greater cost regarding that which I possess was not what I paid for it, but what someone along the way sacrificed so that I might have the opportunity to pay for it.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“You won't get credit for everything you do. Be find with that. You did it because it needed to be done.”
― Darnell Lamont Walker

“If you want to transition from your lower self to your higher self, a sacrifice is demanded. Everything has a cost. The greatest things have the greatest cost. Most people will never pay the price, hence they never become great.”
― Thomas Stark, Holenmerism and Nullibism: The Two Faces of the Holographic Universe

“As a CEO, make sure you pay your people very well, but also, make sure they pay back well with their performance. Enrich them to enrich you.”
― Ned Bryan Abakah

“We make lots of mistakes in our lives, but not every mistake creates a similar result. Sometimes we pay, sometimes others pay.”
― Shon Mehta, Lair Of The Monster

“Praying is without any payment.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Your life undeniably revolves around the way you are paid. Believe it or not, the key to reinventing yourself is reinventing how you get paid.”
― Richie Norton, Anti-Time Management: Reclaim Your Time and Revolutionize Your Results with the Power of Time Tipping

“You pay for some things with money. Some things with time. And some with portions of your life.”
― Rajesh`

“What is the payment the Treaty requires?'

His eyes didn't leave my face as he said, 'A life for a life. Any unprovoked attacks on faerie-kind by humans are to be paid only by a human life in exchange.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses

“In school, you get a paid education.
In nature, you get a free education.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, Night of a Thousand Thoughts

“In our society, there seems a general rule that, the more obviously one's work benefits other people, the less one is likely to be paid for it. Again, an objective measure is hard to find, but one easy way to get a sense is to ask: what would happen were this entire class of people to simply disappear? Say what you like about nurses, garbage collectors, or mechanics, it's obvious that were they to vanish in a puff of smoke, the results would be immediate and catastrophic. A world without teachers or dock-workers would soon be in trouble, and even one without science fiction writers or ska musicians would clearly be a lesser place. It's not entirely clear how humanity would suffer were all private equity CEOs, lobbyists, PR researchers, actuaries, telemarketers, bailiffs or legal consultants to similarly vanish. (Many suspect it might markedly improve.) Yet apart from a handful of well-touted exceptions (doctors), the rule holds surprisingly well.”
― David Graeber