Meaning
A blunt claim that the pursuit of wealth lies behind wrongdoing and suffering in the world. In everyday use it is aimed at greed and corrupting materialism rather than at money itself, and it is usually quoted as a reproach to avarice. Familiar and often sententious or ironic; quoting it verbatim risks pedantic correction of the missing 'love of'. Regional use: General English.
Origin
A common misquotation of 1 Timothy 6:10. The King James Version reads 'For the love of money is the root of all evil', and modern translations render the Greek as 'a root of all kinds of evil(s)'. The popular shortened form makes two changes: it drops 'the love of', shifting blame from human greed onto money itself, and it drops the indefinite article and 'kinds', making money the sole cause of every evil. The truncated wording circulates so widely that it now functions as an independent proverb, although commentators regularly point out that it distorts the verse, whose actual subject is the craving for wealth.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- for the love of money is the root of all evil
- money is the root of all kinds of evil
- the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil
Usage Examples
- He blamed the whole scandal on the bankers, muttering that money is the root of all evil.
- Money is the root of all evil, my grandmother used to say, and then she would bargain fiercely at the market anyway.
- The founder insisted that money is the root of all evil shortly before asking us for another donation.