live by bread alone

Verb

live by bread alone (third-person singular simple present lives by bread alone, present participle living by bread alone, simple past and past participle lived by bread alone)

1. (idiomatic) To sustain oneself materially while neglecting moral or spiritual beliefs, especially Christianity.
   • Micah said that the prophets in his day divined for money, and that they would prepare war against those who would not feed them. These good managers, who lived by bread alone, must have pitied the poor prophets who lived by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God!1917, Andrew W. Blackwood, The Prophets Elijah to Christ, New York, NY: Fleming H. Revell Company, page 162
   • Living by bread alone will provide us with the means of living; but it will leave us short on the true purpose of life.1943, J. B. Lawrence, The Peril of Bread, Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, page 18