A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

MONEY is the root of all evil

Cf. I TIMOTHY vi. 10 (AV) The love of money is the root of all evil. Both the biblical
original and the shorter version are current.

c 1000 AELFRIC Homilies (1843) I. 256 Seo gytsung is ealra yfelra thinga wyrtruma

[covetousness is the root of all evil things]. c 1449 R. PECOCK Repressor of Blaming of

Clergy (1860) II. 555 Loue to money.. is worthi to be forborn.. as Poul seith, it is ‘the

roote of al yuel’. 1616 J. WITHALS Dict. (rev. ed.) 546 Riches are the root of all euill.

1777 in L. H. Butterfield et al. Adams Family Correspondence (1963) II. 345 Many have

been loth to believe.. That Money is the Root of all Evil. 1858 TROLLOPE Dr. Thorne I.

xii. ‘But, doctor, you’ll take the money.’.. ‘Quite impossible.. ‘ said the doctor,.. valiantly

rejecting the root of all evil. 1978 W. L. DEANDREA Killed in Ratings ii. Magazines

have got these funny little sayings... Here’s one. ‘Money is the root of all evil.. but

that’s one evil I’m rooting for.’ 2001 R. HILL Dialogues of Dead xliii. 355 ‘Anyway

there we have it, a dollar sign and a Roman coin. I suppose it could be some kind of

statement about money being the root of all evil?’ good and evil; money

MONEY, like manure, does no good till it is spread

1625 F. BACON ‘Of Seditions and Troubles’ in Essays 85 Money is like muck; not

good except it be spread. 1816 W. MAVOR English Spelling-Book (ed. 198) 103 Money,

like manure, does no good till it is spread. 2001 Las Vegas Review-Journal 7 Oct.

(electronic ed.) ‘Jack always says,’ Wagner recalled, ‘money’s like manure. You’ve got

to spread it around in your company to make things grow. money

MONEY makes a man

Cf. L. divitiae virum faciunt, wealth makes the man.

a 1500 in R. L. Greene Early English Carols (1935) 263 Yt ys allwayes sene now-

adayes That money makythe the man. a 1661 T. FULLER Worthies (Hants.) 3 We

commonly say.. In the Change [Exchange], Money makes a man, which puts him in a

solvable condition. 1828 BULWER-LYTTON Pelham I. xxxiv. The continent only does

for us English people to see... Here, you know, ‘money makes the man.’ 1920 D. H.

LAWRENCE Letter 7 May (1962) I. 629 Money maketh a man; even if he was a monkey

to start with. 1950 C. E. VULLIAMY Henry Plumdew 203 I doubt whether he understands

the place of money in vulgar estimation... Money maketh man. money