> If it was a video game the progression would be marked by the prestige of the vehicle but it isn't a game.

ca. 300 BC, Aristippus (returning from a dinner party at the palace) passes a student of Diogenes eating lentils:

— You know, if you'd just learn to say what the King wants to hear, you wouldn't have to eat lentils.

— How about: if you'd just learn to eat lentils, you wouldn't have to say what the King wants to hear?

Lagniappe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8SVYDvMVzY

EDIT: unfortunately (unlike the Alexander/Diogenes story) there's insufficient overlap for Aristippus/Diogenes to be plausible; added "a student of".