all that glitters is not gold

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Calque of Latin nōn omne quod nitet aurum est (not all that shines is gold). Popularized by William Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice, see quotations.

Pronunciation

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  • Audio (US):(file)

Proverb

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all that glitters is not gold

  1. Things that appear valuable or worthwhile might not actually be so; things that look nice might not be as good as they look.

Synonyms

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Translations

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See also

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References

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  • Gregory Y. Titelman, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, 1996, →ISBN, p. 9.

Further reading

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