Entry from March 29, 2006
Almighty Dollar
Washington Irving (1783-1859) was America's first great writer, and he authored the great American expression "the almighty dollar."
(Oxford English Dictionary)
almighty, a.
All-powerful (in a general sense). spec. (chiefly U.S.) almighty dollar and similar phrases.
c1386 CHAUCER Monk's T. 62 O noble almighty Sampson. 1588 SHAKES. L.L.L. V. ii. 650 The Armipotent Mars, of Launces the almighty. 1606 Tr. & Cr. V. ii. 174 Constring'd in masse by the almighty Fenne [v.r. sunne]. 1782 COWPER Hope 655 Insensible of Truth's almighty charms. 1836 W. IRVING in New Yorker 12 Nov. 115 The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land. 1842 DICKENS Amer. Notes I. iii. 63 The almighty dollar sinks into something comparatively insignificant.
http://www.online-literature.com/irving/
Washington Irving, (1783-1859) American author, short story writer, essayist, poet, travel book writer, biographer, and columnist, best known for the short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle".
Washington Irving was born in New York City on April 3, 1789 as the youngest of 11 children.
http://www.trivia-library.com/b/origins-of-sayings-the-almighty-dollar.htm
Irving was impressed by the small, isolated riverbank communities and wrote: "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." It should be noted that Ben Jonson had used the term "almighty gold" in his "Epistle to Elizabeth, Countess of Rutland," which he wrote in 1616.
(Oxford English Dictionary)
almighty, a.
All-powerful (in a general sense). spec. (chiefly U.S.) almighty dollar and similar phrases.
c1386 CHAUCER Monk's T. 62 O noble almighty Sampson. 1588 SHAKES. L.L.L. V. ii. 650 The Armipotent Mars, of Launces the almighty. 1606 Tr. & Cr. V. ii. 174 Constring'd in masse by the almighty Fenne [v.r. sunne]. 1782 COWPER Hope 655 Insensible of Truth's almighty charms. 1836 W. IRVING in New Yorker 12 Nov. 115 The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land. 1842 DICKENS Amer. Notes I. iii. 63 The almighty dollar sinks into something comparatively insignificant.
http://www.online-literature.com/irving/
Washington Irving, (1783-1859) American author, short story writer, essayist, poet, travel book writer, biographer, and columnist, best known for the short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle".
Washington Irving was born in New York City on April 3, 1789 as the youngest of 11 children.
http://www.trivia-library.com/b/origins-of-sayings-the-almighty-dollar.htm
Irving was impressed by the small, isolated riverbank communities and wrote: "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." It should be noted that Ben Jonson had used the term "almighty gold" in his "Epistle to Elizabeth, Countess of Rutland," which he wrote in 1616.
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