"All I ask is the chance to prove that money…

“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.

“All I ask is the chance to prove that money can’t make me happy” is a jocular one-line saying that has been printed on many images. The saying was printed in March 1975 newspapers by American syndicated cartoonist Ashleigh Brilliant. British-Irish comedian Spike Milligan (1918-2002) has been credited with the saying since at least the 1990s, but his use hasn’t been documented.

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.

Wikipedia: Ashleigh Brilliant
Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant (born 9 December 1933) is an author and syndicated cartoonist born in London, UK, and living in Santa Barbara, California, USA. He is best known for his Pot-Shots, single-panel illustrations with one-line humorous remarks, which began syndication in the United States of America in 1975. Brilliant achieved American citizenship in 1969.

Wikipedia: Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Milligan KBE (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was a British-Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an Irish father and an English mother, his early life was spent in India where he was born. The majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He disliked his first name, and began to call himself “Spike” after hearing a band on Radio Luxembourg called Spike Jones and his City Slickers.

10 March 1975, Seattle (WA) Times, “Pot-Shots” by Ashleigh Brilliant, pg. D10, col. 3:
ALL I ASK IS A CHANCE TO PROVE THAT MONEY CAN’T MAKE ME HAPPY

17 February 1993, Courier and Journal (Lafayette, IN), “Debt,” pg. A2, col. 4:
“I just want the opportunity to prove that money can’t make me happy,” she said.

Google Books
The Unofficial Guide to Investing in Mutual Funds
By Stacie Zoe Berg
New York, NY: Macmillan General Reference
1999
Pg. 12:
All I ask is a chance to prove that money can’t make me happy. — Unknown

Twitter
TWiG’s ADV - KOTP‏
@TWiG
“All I ask is the chance to prove that money can’t make me happy.” - Spike Milligan
1:10 PM - 23 Aug 2007

Google Books
The Mammoth Book of Great British Humour
By Michael Powell
London, UK Constable & Robinson Ltd
2010
Pg. ?:
All I ask is a chance to prove that money can’t make me happy.
Spike Milligan

Google Books
Money and Wealth: A Book of Quotations
Edited by Joslyn Pine
Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc.
2013
Pg. 181:
All I ask is the chance to prove that money can’t make me happy.
Spike Milligan (1918-2002), English comedian, musician and writer

Reddit—Jokes
Spike Milligan: “All I ask is the chance to prove that money can’t make me happy.”
submitted May 27, 2015 by Linalg2