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Quote#Politics & Power

The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion…

Quote byWashington Irving · 1783–1859

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Creole Village published in The Knickerbocker magazine (November 1836). This is origin of the expression almighty dollar. See Edward Bulwer-Lytton for "the pursuit of the almighty dollar". Compare: "Whilst that for which all virtue now is sold, And almost every vice,—almighty gold", Ben Jonson, .

English (original)

The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land, seems to have no genuine devotees in these peculiar villages; and unless some of its missionaries penetrate there, and erect banking houses and other pious shrines, there is no knowing how long the inhabitants may remain in their present state of contented poverty.

— Washington Irving

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