Then again, I've seen some fantastic images made with a $100 50mm f/1.8 plastic wonder and a couple of off-camera shoe mount flashes.
I don't have the fantastic plastic nifty-fifty, but this was made with the 50mm f/1.4 and two (relatively cheap) shoe mount flashes:
In my opinion, as long as you have a lens that performs decently, you can do more for your images with creative lighting.