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Gold: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
Or else flushed Ganymede, his rosy thigh Half buried in the Eagle's down, Sole as a flying star, shot thro' the sky, Above the pillared town.— TENNYSON — Palace of Art. St. 31.
Or sweet Europa's mantle blew unclasped From off her shoulder backward borne; From one hand drooped a crocus: one hand grasped The mild bull's golden horn.— TENNYSON — The Palace of Art. St. 30.
Oh, meet is the reverence unto Bacchus paid! We will praise him still in the songs of our fatherland, We will pour the sacred wine, the chargers lade, And the victim kid shall unresisting stand, Led by his horns to the altar, where we turn The hazel spits while the dripping entrails burn.— VERGIL — Georgics. Bk. II. St. 17. L. 31. H. W. Preston's trans.
A thirst for gold, The beggar's vice, which can but overwhelm The meanest hearts.— BYRON — The Vision of Judgment. St. 43.
And yet he hadde "a thombe of gold" pardee.— CHAUCER — Canterbury Tales. Prologue. L. 563.
For gold in phisik is a cordial; Therefore he lovede gold in special.— CHAUCER — Canterbury Tales. Prologue, L. 443.
Gold begets in brethren hate; Gold in families debate; Gold does friendship separate; Gold does civil wars create.— ABRAHAM COWLEY — Anacreontics. Gold. L. 17.
What female heart can gold despise? What cat's averse to fish? S.— GRAY — On the Death of a Favourite Cat.
Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Bright and yellow, hard and cold.— HOOD — Miss Kilmansegg. Her Moral.
Stronger than thunder's winged force All-powerful gold can speed its course; Through watchful guards its passage make, And loves through solid walls to break.— HORACE — Ode XVI. Bk. III. L. 12.
Francis' trans. The lust of gold succeeds the rage of conquest; The lust of gold, unfeeling and remorseless! The last corruption of degenerate man.— SAM'L JOHNSON — Irene. Act I. Sc. 1.
Judges and senates have been bought for gold; Esteem and love were never to be sold.— POPE — Essay on Man. Ep. IV. L. 187.
What nature wants, commodious gold bestows; 'Tis thus we cut the bread another sows.— POPE — Moral Essay. Ep. III. L. 21.
How quickly nature falls into revolt When gold becomes her object! For this the foolish over-careful fathers Have broke their sleep with thoughts, their brains with care, Their bones with industry: For this they have engrossed and pil'd up The canker'd heaps of strange-achieved gold; For this they have been thoughtful to invest Their sons with arts and martial exercises.— Shakespeare — Henry IV. Pt. II. Act IV. Sc. 5. L. 66.
There is gold for you. Sell me your good report.— Shakespeare — Cymbeline. Act II. Sc. 3. L. 87.
There is thy gold, worse poison to men's souls, Doing more murders in this loathsome world, Than these poor 'compounds that thou mayst not sell. I sell thee poison, thou hast sold me none.— Shakespeare — Romeo and Juliet. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 80.
Thou that so stoutly hast resisted me, Give me thy gold, if thou hast any gold; For I have bought it with an hundred blows.— Shakespeare — Henry VI. Pt. III. Act II. Sc. 5. L. 79.
'Tis gold Which buys admittance; oft it doth; yea, and makes Diana's rangers false themselves, yield up Their deer to the stand o' the stealer: and 'tis gold Which makes the true man kill'd and saves the thief; Nay, sometime hangs both thief and true man.— Shakespeare — Cymbeline. Act II. Sc. 3. L. 72.
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.— SHELLEY — Queen Mab. Pt. V. St. 4.
No, let the monarch's bags and coffers hold The flattering, mighty, nay, all-mighty gold.— JOHN WOLCOTT — To Kieu Long. Ode IV.
Aurum per medios ire satellites Et perrumpere amat saxa potentius Ictu fulmineo. Gold loves to make its way through guards, and breaks through barriers of stone more easily than the lightning's bolt.— HORACE — Carmina. III. 16. 9.
Auro pulsa fides, auro venalia jura, Aurum lex sequitur, mox sine lege pudor. By gold all good faith has been banished; by gold our rights are abused; the law itself is influenced by gold, and soon there will be an end of every modest restraint.— PROPERTIUS — Elegiæ. III. 13. 48.
Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, Auri sacra fames? Accursed thirst for gold! what dost thou not compel mortals to do?— VIRGIL — Enerd. III. 56.