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

“In olden times gold was manufactured by science; nowadays science must be renewed by gold. We have fixed the volatile and we must now volatilize the fixed—in other words, we have materialized spirit, and we must now spiritualize matter.”

“There is nothing that can hurt the soul but sin; it is not affliction that hurts it, it often makes it better, as the furnace makes gold the purer; but it is sin that damnifies.”

“Such was life in the Golden Gate:
Gold dusted all we drank and ate,
And I was one of the children told,
'We all must eat our peck of gold.”

“And as an afterthought, this too must be told: Some people have taken pure bullshit and turned it into gold.”

“Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!
Bright and yellow, hard and cold.”

“Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her;
If you can bounce high, bounce for her too,
Till she cry "Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover,
I must have you!”

“Every man will have his own criterion in forming his judgment of others. I depend very much on the effect of affliction. I consider how a man comes out of the furnace; gold will lie for a month in the furnace without losing a grain.”

“You of all people should know that everything in this world must be paid for, whether in gold, time, or blood.”

“Plant your lands and reap; these be your best gold fields, for all must eat while they live.”