Talk:man shall not live by bread alone

RFV discussion: September–December 2022
Rfv-sense- the phrase is common but is this phrase really used with this meaning? --Geographyinitiative (talk) 12:05, 8 September 2022 (UTC)


 * It’s proving harder than I thought it would be to find cites that demonstrate usage of this phrase consistent with the definition at our entry. I think there are two issues. The first issue is that many religious people interpret living by the word of God that occurs in the second part of the phrase to not just mean following God’s commandments but having faith in God and living a spiritual life full of enjoyment in things like art, music, science, literature and mathematics and the study of such things. The second issue is that the shortened form of the phrase is sometimes used, or at least alluded to, by atheists, agnostics and secularists to refer to abstract and non-physical things like education, the arts, and nature, that are necessary to thrive rather than just survive - mainly things which would be thought of as spiritual in nature by most believers.
 * I’ve no doubt that the famous slogan alludes to this more secular sense but apart from the fact that the title of the autobiography of the trade unionist, who created a socialist organisation called Bread and Roses, is Not For Bread Alone it’s hard to find proof of this. Overlordnat1 (talk) 09:46, 12 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Cited from congressional/parliamentary records. —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 13:04, 25 November 2022 (UTC)
 * RFV-passed. —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 23:23, 4 December 2022 (UTC)