John Gruber of Daring Fireball recently spoke at XOXO, giving an account of how he became an independent writer. It's a great talk, worth watching in its entirety. One of his take-aways was: "Prioritize Quality Over Money". Gruber:
“It matters what order you put your priorities.... I firmly believe, I don’t know a way to prove it, but in my gut I do think it’s true that the surprising part is if you do it this way you can make more money than you would if you valued the money first and concentrated on it first.”
Such is the case because money is not the end, and to make it the end corrupts. "End" in the philosophical sense is the "that for which" or "final cause". No genuine human activity is by nature directed toward money-making (with the possible exception of banking and stock-trading and the like), for every activity is directed at the good of its primary object: medicine is for the health of the patient, cabinet-making for damn fine cabinetry, design for the optimal form and function of a product.
Money is a byproduct and a means and a practical necessity, but it is not an end. To confuse money for a proper end is antithetical to the activity in which one is engaged and ruinous folly: for when money becomes the "that for which" the enterprise is spoiled and perverted.
This confusion is common enough in capitalist culture where everything from hospitals to hamburgers suffers from subordinating the true ends of human striving. But not always. As Gruber points out, Apple puts quality above monetary quantity, and it's one reason why they have been so successful, and why they deserve their success. Apple understands that they do what they do primarily to make great products, that their art lies in perfecting the object produced by their art. And in general people, in their gut, can feel when an activity is carried out well and truly, and when it is not. It shows, and it is rewarded.
“I tell you that virtue does not come from money, but from virtue comes money and all other good things to man, both to the individual and to the state.”