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Who really said it

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase

Written by The Preacher (Qoheleth), speaker of Ecclesiastes Hebrew text c. 450–180 BCE · King James translation 1611
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Ecclesiastes 5:10 in the King James Version (1611), word for word. The full verse ends “…nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.” The book's Hebrew text numbers it 5:9.

Last verified 1 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase” Ecclesiastes 5:10, King James Version (1611) · Verbatim: “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.”

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Evoking the world of The Preacher (Qoheleth) — Hebrew Bible, c. 450–180 BCE. Theme: "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

The verse in the King James Bible

Work
Ecclesiastes 5:10 (Hebrew numbering 5:9)
Translation
King James Version (Authorized Version), published 1611
Original
Biblical Hebrew, c. 450–180 BCE
Status
Exact wording confirmed (verse truncated)

5:9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field.

5:10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.

5:11 When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? Ecclesiastes 5:9–11, KJV

The popular quotation stops before the verse's last clause, “this is also vanity.” Text from the Project Gutenberg King James Bible.

Ecclesiastes, King James Version, on Wikisource

How we confirmed it

  • The Project Gutenberg King James Bible text ↗ gives 5:10 as “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.”
  • Wikisource's KJV Ecclesiastes ↗ and Blue Letter Bible ↗ have the same wording. Blue Letter Bible also sets it beside dozens of other translations.
  • In the Hebrew text the verse is numbered 5:9 (Sefaria ↗). It begins אֹהֵב כֶּסֶף לֹא־יִשְׂבַּע כֶּסֶף, which the Revised JPS renders “A lover of money is never satisfied with money.”
  • Quote Investigator has no page on this line, and Wikiquote's Ecclesiastes page ↗ quotes 5:10 only in the NIV (“Whoever loves money never has money enough…”). The King James Bible itself is the primary source.
Public domain

This English wording is from the King James Version, published in 1611 ↗, so it is in the public domain in the United States. The ancient Hebrew original is too. In the UK the KJV is under perpetual Crown rights; Wikipedia describes it as “perpetually copyrighted in UK.”

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Who gets the credit

The line is genuine scripture, and there is no famous mix-up over it. But it travels under several names, and it usually travels cut short.

King Solomon Traditional

Rabbinic tradition ↗ holds that Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes in his old age, and many quote sites credit him. The book itself never uses the name Solomon. Critical scholars date it to no earlier than about 450 BCE, centuries after Solomon's reign.

The truncated form Cut short

The popular quotation stops at “increase”. The full KJV verse ↗ ends “this is also vanity,” tying it to the book's refrain that such pursuits are vanity.

Modern paraphrases Other translations

Lines like “Whoever loves money never has money enough” are the same verse in modern translations such as the NIV (Wikiquote ↗), not a separate saying.

The exact wording is the King James Version (1611) of Ecclesiastes 5:10, spoken by “the Preacher” (Qoheleth). See the KJV text on Wikisource ↗.

Context

Why the line endures

The verse comes from a run of sayings on wealth in Ecclesiastes 5. The next verse observes that “when goods increase, they are increased that eat them.” Its point is that the love of money cannot be satisfied by getting more of it.

The archaic King James wording (“loveth,” “abundance with increase”) is the form most often quoted in English. Modern translations put the same thought more plainly as a lover of money never having enough.

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver.

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Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Happiness Wisdom Simplicity

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Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

King James Bible (full text)gutenberg.org

Project Gutenberg's plain-text KJV, which contains Ecclesiastes 5:10 word for word.
Ecclesiastes (KJV)en.wikisource.org

The full King James text of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes 5:10 in 30+ translationsblueletterbible.org

The KJV verse beside modern, Hebrew, Greek and Latin versions.
Ecclesiastesen.wikipedia.org

The name Qoheleth, the Solomon tradition and scholarly dating.
King James Versionen.wikipedia.org

Commissioned in 1604, published in 1611; copyright status.
Ecclesiastes quotesen.wikiquote.org

Wikiquote's verse-by-verse selection, which quotes 5:10 in the NIV.

The author

About The Preacher (Qoheleth)

The Preacher (Qoheleth)

Speaker of Ecclesiastes · Hebrew Bible, c. 450–180 BCE

“The Preacher” is how the King James Version renders Qoheleth (or Kohelet), the voice of the Book of Ecclesiastes. Wikipedia glosses the name as “someone speaking before an assembly”. Rabbinic tradition credits the book to King Solomon in his old age, but the text never names Solomon. Critical scholars date it to no earlier than about 450 BCE and no later than 180 BCE, when Ben Sira quotes from it.

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Primary source

Ecclesiastes 5:10. The Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). 1611.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase’?” Last verified 1 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/he-that-loveth-silver-shall-not-be-satisfied-with-silver/

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