"Money doesn't mind if we say it's evil, it goes from strength to strength. It's a fiction, an addiction, and a tacit conspiracy"
About this Quote
Money, in Amis's hands, isn't just a tool or a temptation; it's a character with plot armor. Calling it "evil" flatters the speaker with moral seriousness, but Amis punctures that self-image immediately: money "doesn't mind". The jab is aimed at our favorite modern ritual, denunciation as absolution. We can sneer at finance, capitalism, or greed all day, and the system keeps compounding. Moral language becomes background noise to interest rates.
The triad that follows is classic Amis: brisk, nasty, and diagnostic. "A fiction" signals money's weird ontology - value propped up by shared belief, not physical necessity. It's a made-up story powerful enough to organize cities, wars, and identities. "An addiction" shifts from economics to compulsion. Money isn't only desired; it rewires desire, promising control while breeding anxiety and appetite. Amis implies that even the people who "have enough" are trapped in the chase, because the chase is the point.
Then the knife twist: "a tacit conspiracy". No smoke-filled room required. The conspiracy is our collective agreement not to look too closely at the bargain: we uphold the fiction because it keeps life legible, and we tolerate the addiction because it keeps the machine fed. The line lands in late-20th/early-21st-century Britain - deregulation, swaggering wealth, cultural cynicism - but it reads as a broader indictment of how critique gets commodified. Even calling money corrupt can be a form of participation, another way to pay in.
The triad that follows is classic Amis: brisk, nasty, and diagnostic. "A fiction" signals money's weird ontology - value propped up by shared belief, not physical necessity. It's a made-up story powerful enough to organize cities, wars, and identities. "An addiction" shifts from economics to compulsion. Money isn't only desired; it rewires desire, promising control while breeding anxiety and appetite. Amis implies that even the people who "have enough" are trapped in the chase, because the chase is the point.
Then the knife twist: "a tacit conspiracy". No smoke-filled room required. The conspiracy is our collective agreement not to look too closely at the bargain: we uphold the fiction because it keeps life legible, and we tolerate the addiction because it keeps the machine fed. The line lands in late-20th/early-21st-century Britain - deregulation, swaggering wealth, cultural cynicism - but it reads as a broader indictment of how critique gets commodified. Even calling money corrupt can be a form of participation, another way to pay in.
Quote Details
| Topic | Money |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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