# Glittering Gold **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 24, 2000, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glittering-gold/11113 "2000-04-24T19:08:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zarkon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47774/32.png) [@zarkon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zarkon)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glittering-gold/11113/1 "2000-04-24T19:08:00Z")
I frequently see the phrase ‘All that glitters is not gold’ and many variations of same floating around, and I’ve become curious as to its origin. The oldest ref I’ve found is Tolkien’s _Fellowship of the Ring_, which includes the phrase ‘All that does not glitter is gold’. I’m wondering if any of the Straight Dope cogniscenti happen to know where it really began… ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glittering-gold/11113/2 "2000-04-24T19:12:00Z")
Well, my WAG would be that the first time someone used Iron Pyrite ( “Fool’s Gold” ) in place of real gold dust, and got away with it, that phrase had significance. I would think that it pre-dates JRR Tolkien by centuries, but I don’t have the wherewithal to prove such. * * * If you want to kiss the sky, you’d better learn how to kneel. ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glittering-gold/11113/3 "2000-04-24T19:20:00Z")
The _Dictioary of Phrase and Fable_ has three sources each older than th next: > [@](#): > > Gold All that glitters is not gold. (Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, ii. 7.) > > “All thing which that schineth as the gold is nought gold.” > Chaucer: Canterbury Tales, 12,890. > > “Non teneas aurum totum quod splendet ut aurum. Nec pulchrum pomum quodlibet esse bonum.” Alanus de Insulis: Parabolæ. Alanus de Insulis did most of his writing in the late 1100’s. * * * **Tony Soprano** : We’re the only country in the world where the pursuit of happiness is guaranteed in writing… Where’s _my_ happiness then? **Dr. Melfi** : It’s the _pursuit_ that’s guaranteed. **Tony Soprano** Yeah, always a fucking loophole. ---
**Author:** ![zarkon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47774/32.png) [@zarkon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zarkon)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glittering-gold/11113/4 "2000-04-24T19:34:00Z")
Damn, that was quick. Thanks, folks. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glittering-gold/11113/5 "2000-04-24T19:42:00Z")
We live to serve. * * * “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glittering-gold/11113/6 "2000-04-24T20:07:00Z")
I seem to recall it being from _Don Quioxte_(sp?) originally, but I really wouldn’t refute what the others said on this flimsy evidence. ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glittering-gold/11113/7 "2000-04-25T00:03:00Z")
Yep, Miguel said it, too. “All is not gold that glisters.” _Don Quixote_ Actually, the Shakespeare line uses “glisters” as well. ---
**Author:** ![Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glittering-gold/11113/8 "2000-04-25T16:30:00Z")
Btw, the Tolkien quote is: “All that is gold does not glitter. Not all those who wander are lost.” * * * Your brain-in-a-jar, Myron Imbibo, ergo sum. ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glittering-gold/11113/9 "2000-04-25T16:44:00Z")
Anybody else but me notice that the Tolkien quote actually says something completely different from the original, proverbial saying? **Original, Paraphrased:** Some shiny things are worthless. **Tolkien, Paraphrased:** Some very valuable things don’t look like much. Y’see, it’s a play on words, son. Get it? (I also liked **zarkon** ’s original mis-remembering of the quote as “All that does not glitter is gold.” Hey, you know, my ass doesn’t glitter…) * * * I’m your only friend I’m not your only friend But I’m a little glowing friend But really I’m not actually your friend But I am ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glittering-gold/11113/10 "2000-04-25T16:48:00Z")
I think this whole thread shows how grammar has changed over the years. I read the Tolkein quote years ago and barely remembered it, because it never made sense to me. At some point I amended it mentally to say, “Not all that glitters is gold” and then it made sense. But I’m not sure that’s what Tolkein meant; he might have meant, “Not everything that is made of gold glitters.” Anyway, I think it’s interesting that grammar has changed so much. The Don Quixote quote seems to make most sense in modern grammar, probably because the translation is much younger than the other quotes. But to me, in modern (unprepared) grammar, “All that glitters is not gold” means “If something glitters, then it must not be gold” which clearly isn’t what Shakespeare meant. ---
**Author:** ![KeithB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/48db29/32.png) [@KeithB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KeithB)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glittering-gold/11113/11 "2000-04-25T19:38:00Z")
The poem refers to Aragorn (Strider). Tolkien meant “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” Aragorn starts out scruffy and meanacing and ends up as the King of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms by the end of _The Return of the King_. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glittering-gold/11113/12 "2000-04-25T23:49:00Z")
Aww, Myron, ya beat me to it. Dang server crash! It’s nice to know, though, that there’s another nitpicker on the board 🙂 And Tolkien’s meaning was “some gold things don’t glitter”, Aragorn was gold but didn’t glitter (as KeithB said). * * * “There are only two things that are infinite: The Universe, and human stupidity-- and I’m not sure about the Universe” –A. Einstein ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glittering-gold/11113/13 "2000-04-26T12:30:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Boris B: > **I think this whole thread shows how grammar has changed over the years. I read the Tolkein quote years ago and barely remembered it, because it never made sense to me. At some point I amended it mentally to say, “Not all that glitters is gold” and then it made sense. But I’m not sure that’s what Tolkein meant; he might have meant, "Not everything that is made of gold glitters."** I wonder why you had so much trouble with this; “Not everything that is made of gold glitters” is exactly what the quote says, in practically those words. Maybe you read it with the proverbial version in your head, and it didn’t quite track. But the sentence is very clear gramatically. > [@](#): > > \*\*Anyway, I think it’s interesting that grammar has changed so much. The Don Quixote quote seems to make most sense in modern grammar, probably because the translation is much younger than the other quotes. > > But to me, in modern (unprepared) grammar, “All that glitters is not gold” means “If something glitters, then it must not be gold” which clearly isn’t what Shakespeare meant.\*\* No, that’s not what the quote says at all. It doesn’t say that **nothing** that glitters is gold (which is what you seem to be taking it as), it says that **not all** that glitters is gold. See, there are glittering things that are gold, and there are glittering things that are not gold. “Gold,” in this context, is generally meant proverbialy to me “a thing of great worth.” I wonder why you’re having such trouble with what seems to me to be a perfectly plain English sentence? (This is not a flame, I’m genuinely interested.) * * * I’m your only friend I’m not your only friend But I’m a little glowing friend But really I’m not actually your friend But I am ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glittering-gold/11113/14 "2000-04-26T12:56:00Z")
The problem seems to be dividing the sentence as [all that glitters][is not gold] [all that glitters] is taken as a unit that includes all glittering things [is not gold] describes this unit as not being gold Of course, that’s not the intended way to read it, but it does make sense. * * * “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” - Adam Smith