Quotes
Quotes about Gold
The learned pate Ducks to the golden fool. All's obliquy; There's nothing level in our cursed natures But direct villainy.
Again the violet of our early days Drinks beauteous azure from the golden sun, And kindles into fragrance at his blaze.
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!) Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace, And say, within the moonlight in his room, Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom, An angel, writing in a book of gold; Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold, And to the presence in the room he said-- "What writest thou?" The Vision raised its head, And, with a look made all of sweet accord, Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."
Hence the fool's paradise, the statesman's scheme, The air-built castle, and the golden dream, The maid's romantic wish, the chemist's flame, And poet's vision of eternal fame.
O Lord! methought what pain it was to drown! What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears! What sights of ugly death within mine eyes! Methoughts I saw a thousand fearful wracks; A thousand men that fishes gnawed upon; Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels, All scatt'red in the bottom of the sea: Some lay in dead men's skulls, and in the holes Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept (As 'twere in scorn of eyes) reflecting gems, That wooed the slimy bottom of the deep And mocked the dead bones that lay scatt'red by.
But I have learned a thing or two; I know as sure as fate, When we lock up our lives for wealth, the gold key comes too late.
And you prate of the wealth of nations, as if it were bought and sold, The wealth of nations is men, not silk and cotton and gold.
All gold and silver rather turn to dirt, An 'tis no better reckoned but of these Who worship dirty gods.
All that glisters is not gold; Often have you heard that told; Many a man his life hath sold; But my outside to behold.
No, he was no such charlatan-- Count de Hoboken Flash-in-the-Pan-- Full of gasconade and bravado, But a regular, rich Don Rataplane, Santa Claus de la Muscavado, Senor Grandissimo Bastinado! His was the rental of half Havana And all Matanzas; and Santa Ana, Rich as he was, could hardly hold A candle to light the mines of gold Our Cuban owned.
He that is proud of riches is a fool. For if he be exalted above his neighbors because he hath more gold, how much inferior is he to a gold mine!
We want men to rule the nation who care more for and love better the nation's welfare than gold and silver, fame or popularity.
Wind of the sunny south! oh, still delay In the gay woods and in the golden air, Like to a good old age released from care, Journeying, in long serenity, away. In such a bright, late quiet, would that I Might wear out life like thee, mid bowers and brooks, And, dearer yet, the sunshine of kind looks, And music of kind voices ever nigh; And when my last sand twinkled in the glass, Pass silently from men as thou dost pass.
The wind, the wandering wind Of the golden summer eyes-- Whence is the thrilling magic Of its tunes amongst the leaves? Oh, is it from the waters, Or from the long, tall grass? Or is it from the hollow rocks Through which its breathings pass?
Ten thousand casks, Forever dribbling out their base contents, Touch'd by the Midas finger of the state, Bleed gold for ministers to sport away. Drink, and be mad then; 'tis your country bids!
"Man wants but little here below Nor wants that little long," 'Tis not with me exactly so; But 'tis so in the song. My wants are many, and, if told, Would muster many a score; And were each wish a mint of gold, I still should long for more.
He shall have chariots easier than air, That I will have invented; . . . And thyself, That art the messenger, shalt ride before him On a horse cut out of an entire diamond. That shall be made to go with golden wheels, I know not how yet.
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
With hand on the spade and heart in the sky Dress the ground and till it; Turn in the little seed, brown and dry, Turn out the golden millet. Work, and your house shall be duly fed: Work, and rest shall be won; I hold that a man had better be dead Than alive when his work is done.
I empathize with those who yearn for a simpler world, for some bygone golden age of domestic and international tranquility. But for the mass of humanity it is an age that never was.
Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead! There's none of these so lonely and poor of old, But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold. These laid the world away: poured out the red Sweet wine of youth; gave up the years to be Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene That men call age, and those who would have been Their sons, they gave their immortality.
A young Apollo, golden haired, Stands dreaming on the verge of strife, Magnificently unprepared For the long littleness of life.
I remember a passage in Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield," which he was afterwards fool enough to expunge: "I do not love a man who is zealous for nothing."
The tighter you squeeze, the less you have. The best leaders of all, the people know not they exist. They turn to each other and say We did it ourselves. The mind that does not understand is the Buddha. There is no other. â¢Ma-Tsu You cannot describe it or draw it. You cannot praise it enough or perceive it. No place can be found in which to put the Original Face; it will not disappear even when the universe is destroyed. â¢Mumon Learning Zen is a phenomenon of gold and dung. Before you understand it, it's like gold; after you understand it, it's like dung. â¢Zen Saying No thought, no reflection, no analysis, no cultivation, no intention; let it settle itself. â¢Tilopa When you pass through, no one can pin you down, no one can call you back. â¢Ying-An There are no mundane things outside of Buddhism, and there is no Buddhism outside of mundane things. â¢Yuan-Wu The only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there. â¢Robert M. Pirsig Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it's dark. â¢Zen Proverb Sit quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.
