“Empire may be gained by gold, not gold by empire. It used, indeed, to be a proverb that "It is not Philip, but Philip's gold that takes the cities of Greece."”

— Plutarch , book Parallel Lives

Aemilius, sec. 12
Parallel Lives

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Empire may be gained by gold, not gold by empire. It used, indeed, to be a proverb that "It is not Philip, but Philip's…" by Plutarch?

Plutarch 251

ancient Greek historian and philosopher 46–127

Related quotes

“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

“Somewhere between the gold rush of easy internet profits and an arrogant sense of endless empire, we heard kind of a pinging noise, and uh, then the damn thing just died on us.”

Jon Stewart (1962) American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian

College of William & Mary Commencement Address (2004)
Context: Let's talk about the real world for a moment. We had been discussing it earlier, and I… I wanted to bring this up to you earlier about the real world, and this is I guess as good a time as any. I don’t really know to put this, so I’ll be blunt. We broke it. Please don’t be mad. I know we were supposed to bequeath to the next generation a world better than the one we were handed. So, sorry.
I don’t know if you’ve been following the news lately, but it just kinda got away from us. Somewhere between the gold rush of easy internet profits and an arrogant sense of endless empire, we heard kind of a pinging noise, and uh, then the damn thing just died on us. So I apologize.

“Love's gifts are like the vein of gold
That intersects earth's darker mould;
The gold is gained, the coin is wrought;
But how much trouble has it brought?”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

The Vow of the Peacock (1835)

“This is truly the age of gold,
since only gold wins and gold reigns.”

Torquato Tasso Aminta

Veramente il secol d'oro è questo,
Poiché sol vince l'oro, e regna l'oro.
Act II, scene i.
Aminta (1573)

“The mine owners "did not find the gold, they did not mine the gold, they did not mill the gold, but by some weird alchemy all the gold belonged to them!"”

Bill Haywood (1869–1928) Labor organizer

Haywood, William D. The Autobiography of Big Bill Haywood. New York: International Publishers, 1929, p. 171.

“We still, pull up in Spreewells,
The ice sends me chills, like Gold Member, I love gold,
but what's the point to gain the world if ya lose ya soul?”

Kanye West (1977) American rapper, singer and songwriter

Fly Away, featuring Kanye west, The Hip Hop Violinist (2005)
Bible References

“If gold must be gold, it must pass through the furnace.”

T. B. Joshua (1963) Nigerian Christian leader

On the fact that difficulties serve a purpose - "Bewitching Favour" http://www.africanews.com/site/Bewitching_Favour/list_messages/27081 Africa News (September 22 2009)