“Than all Bocara's vaunted gold,
Than all the gems of Samarcand.”
A Persian Song of Hafiz, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
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William Jones 12
Anglo-Welsh philologist and scholar of ancient India 1746–1794Related quotes
“Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons.”
“Your skull in gold will be more valuable than others, being solid all through.”
Source: Declare (2001), Chapter 12 (p. 345)
The trial of Charles B. Reynolds for blasphemy (1887)
Context: I want you to understand what has been done in the world to force men to think alike. It seems to me that if there is some infinite being who wants us to think alike he would have made us alike. Why did he not do so? Why did he make your brain so that you could not by any possibility be a Methodist? Why did he make yours so that you could not be a Catholic? And why did he make the brain of another so that he is an unbeliever — why the brain of another so that he became a Mohammedan — if he wanted us all to believe alike?
After all, maybe Nature is good enough and grand enough and broad enough to give us the diversity born of liberty. Maybe, after all, it would not be best for us all to be just the same. What a stupid world, if everybody said yes to everything that everybody else might say.
The most important thing in this world is liberty. More important than food or clothes — more important than gold or houses or lands — more important than art or science — more important than all religions, is the liberty of man.
“Rich and rare were the gems she wore,
And a bright gold ring on her wand she bore.”
Rich and Rare Were the Gems She Wore, st. 1.
Irish Melodies http://www.musicanet.org/robokopp/moore.html (1807–1834)
“Gold is good in its place; but living, brave, and patriotic men are better than gold.”
1860s, On Democratic Government (1864)
Context: But the election, along with its incidental and undesirable strife, has done good, too. It has demonstrated that a people's government can sustain a national election in the midst of a great civil war. Until now, it has not been known to the world that this was a possibility. It shows, also, how sound and strong we still are. It shows that even among the candidates of the same party, he who is most devoted to the Union and most opposed to treason can receive most of the people's votes. It shows, also, to the extent yet known, that we have more men now than we had when the war began. Gold is good in its place; but living, brave, and patriotic men are better than gold.
"The Poet's License".
The Masquerade and Other Poems (1866)