The love of money is the root of all evil.

What it means

Greed is what leads people into wrongdoing — money is merely the object of it. The distinction matters: the saying is about an appetite, not about wealth as such, and the shortened version is often used to argue something the original does not say.

Where it comes from

From 1 Timothy 6:10. The usual modern quotation, “money is the root of all evil”, drops two words that change the claim entirely: the verse condemns the *love* of money, not money, and most translations render it as *a* root of *all kinds of* evil rather than the single root of everything bad.

Example sentences

• “She sold her share of the company and lost every friend she had; the love of money is the root of all evil.”
• “The scheme was legal and utterly cynical — the love of money is the root of all evil.”
• “He quotes it as ‘money is the root of all evil’, which is not what the verse says.”

When it fits — and when it does not

Use the full wording in writing. The clipped “money is the root of all evil” is extremely common in speech but misquotes the source and states a much stronger claim.

Similar phrases

• Greed is the root of all evil.
• You cannot serve two masters.