Being paid — what will compare with it? The urbane activity with which a man receives money is really marvelous, considering that we so earnestly believe money to be the root of all earthly ills, and on no account can a monied man enter heaven. Ah! how cheerfully we consign ourself to perdition!

Herman Melville (1819-1891) American writer

Moby-Dick, ch. 1 [Ishmael] (1851)