if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys

proverb If you pay very low wages, you will only attract incompetent or unskilled workers (because better workers can go elsewhere to earn better wages). "Peanuts" is a slang term for low wages, and "monkeys" implies stupidity. If you want a top flight design team, you have to raise your salary levels. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys

BRITISH

People say if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys to mean that if an employer pays very low wages, they cannot expect to find good staff. The present pay policy will inevitably have an adverse effect on quality. As Sir Roger put it, `The truth of the matter is that if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.' Note: Monkeys are thought to like eating peanuts, and `peanuts' also has the meaning of a very small amount of money.