“Genuine gold does not exist, children, he said. Gold is by its nature not genuine.”
Brekkukotsannáll (The Fish Can Sing) (1957)
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Halldór Laxness216
Icelandic author 1902–1998Related quotes
Elaine Goodale Eastman (1863–1953) American novelist, poet
Goldenrod; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 326.
“The dissident does not operate in the realm of genuine power at all. He is not seeking power.”
Václav Havel (1936–2011) playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and 1st President of the Czech Republic
Living in Truth (1986), An Anatomy of Reticence
Context: The dissident does not operate in the realm of genuine power at all. He is not seeking power. He has no desire for office and does not gather votes. He does not attempt to charm the public, he offers nothing and promises nothing. He can offer, if anything, only his own skin — and he offers it solely because he has no other way of affirming the truth he stands for. His actions simply articulate his dignity as a citizen, regardless of the cost.
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
BBC Radio Debate on the Existence of God, Russell vs. Copleston (1948)
1940s
George Holmes Howison (1834–1916) American philosopher
Source: The Limits of Evolution, and Other Essays, Illustrating the Metaphysical Theory of Personal Ideaalism (1905), Modern Science and Pantheism, p.79-80
“For gold in phisike is a cordial;
Therefore he loved gold in special.”
Geoffrey Chaucer book The Canterbury Tales
General Prologue, l. 445
The Canterbury Tales
“Gold is good in its place; but living, brave, and patriotic men are better than gold.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
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.
“Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!
Bright and yellow, hard and cold.”
Thomas Hood (1799–1845) British writer
Her Moral; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
20th century
Northrop Frye (1912–1991) Canadian literary critic and literary theorist
Source: "Quotes", Notebooks and Lectures on the Bible and Other Religious Texts (2003), p. 149