Money is power. Power is an aphrodisiac. — Felix Dennis

Money is power. Power is an aphrodisiac.

Author: Felix Dennis

Insight: There's a reason people get excited around money and status—it's not just about what you can buy. Money genuinely changes how people treat you. Someone with resources walks into a room differently. They get listened to faster, their jokes land harder, their problems suddenly seem more interesting. It's intoxicating because it works. And that rush of being taken seriously, being wanted, being heard? That's the real addiction, not the dollars themselves. The tricky part is recognizing this dynamic in yourself and others without being cynical about it. You notice it most when you lose status or money—suddenly you become invisible in ways that sting. Or when you gain it, you see how quickly people's warmth shifts. It's not that people are evil; it's that power creates a gravitational pull in human nature that's hard to resist. The insight that matters now is this: if you understand that power is seductive, you can spot when you're being seduced by it in yourself. That promotion feels amazing partly because of the actual work, but also because of how differently people will treat you. Once you see that clearly, you get to choose whether that's what you actually want to chase, or whether it's just a pleasant side effect of something more meaningful.