A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from December 27, 2010
“Money can’t buy happiness; it can, however, rent it”

“Money can’t buy happiness” is a proverb that has been cited in English since at least 1821. There have been many jocular additions to the proverb. A 1985 Chicago (IL) Tribune article by Clarence Page about “yuppies” stated: “And money can’t buy happiness; it can only rent it for a little while.” A popular form of this proverb variation in the 2000s was: “Money can’t buy happiness; it can, however, rent it.”
 
Another popular variation of the proverb has been “Anyone who says money can’t buy happiness doesn’t know where to shop.”
 
   
Wiktionary: money can’t buy happiness
Proverb
money can’t buy happiness

1. Money can buy external things, but true happiness comes from inside.
Usage notes
Sometimes used ironically.
 
Wikiquote: French proverbs
L’argent ne fait pas le bonheur.
. Idiomatic translation: Money can’t buy happiness.
. Literal meaning: Money doesn’t make happiness.
     
Basic Funny Quotes
Money can’t buy happiness; it can, however, rent it.
More funny Anonymous quotes
 
5 May 1985, Chicago (IL) Tribune, “Even Yuppies Can’t Buy Happiness” by Clarence Page, Prespective, pg. 3:
And money can’t buy happiness; it can only rent it for a little while.
   
3-9 February 1993. Santa Fe (NM) Reporter, “Brezsny’s Real Astrology,” pg. 36, col. 3:
Money can’t buy happiness, but it may be able to rent happiness while you’re figuring out how to get happiness for free.
 
Google Books
Life’s Little Instruction Book from Mothers to Daughters
By H. Jackson Brown and Kim Shea
Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill ; St. Albans : Verulam
2001
Pg. ?:
Remember that money can’t buy happiness; it can only rent it for a while.
   
Google Books
The Mammoth Book of Zingers, Quips, and One-Liners:
Over 10,000 Gems of Wit and Wisdom, One-Liners and Wisecracks

By Geoff Tibballs
New York, NY: Carroll & Graff
2004
Pg. 244:
Money can’t buy happiness, but it can rent it.

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityBanking/Finance/Insurance • Monday, December 27, 2010 • Permalink


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