What nature wants, commodious gold bestows;
'Tis thus we cut the bread another sows.

What nature wants, commodious gold bestows;
'Tis thus we cut the bread another sows.

Speech is silver; silence is golden.

Speech is silver; silence is golden.

I see, the jewel best enamelled
Will lose his beauty; yet the gold bides still
That others read more

I see, the jewel best enamelled
Will lose his beauty; yet the gold bides still
That others touch, and often touching will
Wear gold; and no man that hath a name,
By falsehood and corruption doth it shame.

As every thread of gold is valuable, so is every moment of time

As every thread of gold is valuable, so is every moment of time

Commerce has set the mark of selfishness,
The signet of its all-enslaving power
Upon a shining ore, read more

Commerce has set the mark of selfishness,
The signet of its all-enslaving power
Upon a shining ore, and called it gold;
Before whose image bow the vulgar great,
The vainly rich, the miserable proud,
The mob of peasants, nobles, priests, and kings,
And with blind feelings reverence the power
That grinds them to the dust of misery.
But in the temple of their hireling hearts
Gold is a living god, and rules in scorn
All earthly things but virtue.

Gold's father is dirt, yet it regards itself as noble.

Gold's father is dirt, yet it regards itself as noble.

Not Philip, but Phillip's gold, took the cities of Greece.

Not Philip, but Phillip's gold, took the cities of Greece.

Gold gives to the ugliest thing a certain charming air,
For that without it were else a miserable affair.
read more

Gold gives to the ugliest thing a certain charming air,
For that without it were else a miserable affair.
[Fr., L'or donne aux plus laids certain charme pour plaire,
Et que sans lui le reste est une triste affaire.]

Curst greed of gold, what crimes thy tyrant power has caused.

Curst greed of gold, what crimes thy tyrant power has caused.