“Don't gain the world and lose your soul
Wisdom is better than silver and gold.”
Bob Marley (1945–1981) Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician
Zion Train
Uprising (1979)
Quotes about silver
A collection of quotes on the topic of silver, gold, likeness, time.
Quotes about silver
“And silver, though few people knew it, was a rarer metal than gold.”
Cassandra Clare (1973) American author
Source: The Course of True Love [and First Dates]
Chris Cornell (1964–2017) American singer-songwriter, musician
On why he shaved his head in 1993 ** Interview with Details Magazine, December 1996 https://pitchfork.com/features/article/10081-chris-cornell-searching-for-solitude/, <br class="br">Soundgarden Era
Babur (1483–1530) 1st Mughal Emperor
Babur-Nama, translated into English by A.S. Beveridge, pp. 554-5. https://archive.org/stream/baburnama017152mbp#page/n623/mode/2up/search/dashed Also cited in Harsh Narain, The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute: Focus on Muslim Sources
“they possess most gold and silver, by which war, like everything else, flourishes.”
Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War
Book VI, 6.34; "they have abundance of gold and silver, and these make war, like other things, go smoothly" ( trans. http://www.classicpersuasion.org/pw/thucydides/jthucbk6rv2.htm Benjamin Jowett) <br class="br">History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VI
“Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate”
Johnny Depp (1963) American actor, film producer, and musician
J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) British Romantic landscape painter, water-colourist, and printmaker
Source: J.M.W. Turner
Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935) Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher
Come chocolates, pequena;
Come chocolates!
Olha que não há mais metafísica no mundo senão chocolates.
Olha que as religiões todas não ensinam mais que a confeitaria.
Come, pequena suja, come!
Pudesse eu comer chocolates com a mesma verdade com que comes!
Mas eu penso e, ao tirar o papel de prata, que é de folhas de estanho,
Deito tudo para o chão, como tenho deitado a vida.
Tabacaria (1928), trans. Richard Zenith
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Source: Letter to Isaac Disraeli (c. 8 September 1826), quoted in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume. I. 1804–1859 (1929), p. 108
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892–1973) British philologist and author, creator of classic fantasy works
Context: PIPPIN: I didn't think it would end this way.
GANDALF: End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it.
PIPPIN: What? Gandalf? See what?
GANDALF: White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.
PIPPIN: Well, that isn't so bad.
GANDALF: No. No, it isn't.
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
The Harlot's House http://www.poetry-archive.com/w/the_harlots_house.html, st. 12 (1885)
Khalid Abdul Muhammad (1948–2001) American activist
Speech in Baltimore (19 February 1994), quoted in New York Times (28 February 1994) "Islamic Figure In New Tirade Against Jews"
Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933) American diplomat
Who Follow the Flag, Phi Kappa Beta Ode, Harvard University (June 30, 1910).
Philibert de l'Orme (1514–1570) French architect of the Renaissance.
Livre d'architecture as quoted by Edward Fenton, "Messer Philibert Delorme" The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin Vol. 13, No. 4, Dec., 1954
“Just for a handful of silver he left us,
Just for a riband to stick in his coat.”
Robert Browning (1812–1889) English poet and playwright of the Victorian Era
The lost Leader, i.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) Irish poet and playwright
The Magi http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1652/ <br class="br">Responsibilities (1914)
Stan Lee (1922–2018) American comic book writer
they have to do the Ghost Rider.
On characters he created in comic books which are being used as the basis of movies. Interview at the DareDevil movie premiere (February 2003).
Stefan Zweig (1881–1942) Austrian writer
Confusion of Feelings or Confusion: The Private Papers of Privy Councillor R. Von D (1927)
Enya (1961) Irish singer, songwriter, and musician
Song lyrics, Amarantine (2005)
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States
1900s, "In God we Trust" letter (1907)
“Unlike some people, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth.”
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
Misquoted by [2012-04-18, Allahpundit, Obama: Unlike some people, I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth, Hot Air, http://hotair.com/archives/2012/04/18/obama-unlike-some-people-i-wasnt-born-with-a-silver-spoon-in-my-mouth/, 2012-10-08], and publicized by Steve Doocy, Fox & Friends (), Fox News <br class="br">President Obama actually said, in a campaign speech in Elyria, Ohio http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2012/04/18/president-obama-speaks-skills-american-workers on , "Somebody gave me an education. <span style="color:gray">I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth.</span> Michelle wasn't. But somebody gave us a chance, just like these folks up here are looking for a chance." <br class="br">2012-04-23 <br class="br">Steve Doocy's Silver Spoon Subtext Reporting <br class="br">The Colbert Report <br class="br">Comedy Central <br class="br">http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/413071/april-23-2012/steve-doocy-s-subtext-reporting <br class="br">Misattributed
John of the Cross (1542–1591) Spanish mystic and Roman Catholic saint
Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom
Auguste Comte (1798–1857) French philosopher
Source: A General View of Positivism (1848, 1856), p. 430
Mario Andretti (1940) Italian-American racing driver
Super Speedway. Dir. Stephen Low. Perf. Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti. DVD. Openwheel Productions Inc., 1997..
1990s
W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) Irish poet and playwright
The Song Of Wandering Aengus http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1690/ <br class="br">The Wind Among the Reeds (1899)
“Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon.”
Walter de la Mare (1873–1956) English poet and fiction writer
Silver.
H.P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) American author
Fiction, The Crawling Chaos (1921)
Context: There now ensued a series of incidents which transported me to the opposite extremes of ecstasy and horror; incidents which I tremble to recall and dare not seek to interpret. No sooner had I crawled beneath the overhanging foliage of the palm, than there dropped from its branches a young child of such beauty as I never beheld before. Though ragged and dusty, this being bore the features of a faun or demigod, and seemed almost to diffuse a radiance in the dense shadow of the tree. It smiled and extended its hand, but before I could arise and speak I heard in the upper air the exquisite melody of singing; notes high and low blent with a sublime and ethereal harmoniousness. The sun had by this time sunk below the horizon, and in the twilight I saw an aureole of lambent light encircled the child's head. Then in a tone of silver it addressed me: "It is the end. They have come down through the gloaming from the stars. Now all is over, and beyond the Arinurian streams we shall dwell blissfully in Teloe." As the child spoke, I beheld a soft radiance through the leaves of the palm tree, and rising, greeted a pair whom I knew to be the chief singers among those I had heard. A god and goddess they must have been, for such beauty is not mortal; and they took my hands, saying, "Come, child, you have heard the voices, and all is well...."
W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) Irish poet and playwright
The Ragged Wood http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1673/ <br class="br">In The Seven Woods (1904) <br class="br">Context: p>O hurry where by water among the trees<br>The delicate-stepping stag and his lady sigh,<br>When they have but looked upon their images--<br>Would none had ever loved but you and I!Or have you heard that sliding silver-shoed<br>Pale silver-proud queen-woman of the sky,<br>When the sun looked out of his golden hood?--<br>O that none ever loved but you and I!O hurry to the ragged wood, for there<br>I will drive all those lovers out and cry—<br>O my share of the world, O yellow hair!<br>No one has ever loved but you and I.</p
“Her hands came out of her sleeves. There was a rod of blinding silver in each.”
Henry Kuttner book The Dark World
Source: The Dark World (1954), Ch. 16 : Self Against Self
Context: Her hands came out of her sleeves. There was a rod of blinding silver in each. Before I could stir she had brought the rods together, crossing them before her smiling face. At the intersection forces of tremendous power blazed into an instant's being, forces that streamed from the poles of the world and could touch only for the beat of a second if that world were not to be shaken into fragments. I felt the building reel below me.
I felt the gateway open.
Galileo Galilei book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
Sagredo<br>Variant translation: I cannot without great wonder, nay more, disbelief, hear it being attributed to natural bodies as a great honor and perfection that they are impassable, immutable, inalterable, etc.: as conversely, I hear it esteemed a great imperfection to be alterable, generable, and mutable. It is my opinion that the earth is very noble and admirable by reason of the many and different alterations, mutations, and generations which incessantly occur in it. And if, without being subject to any alteration, it had been one great heap of sand, or a mass of jade, or if, since the time of the deluge, the waters freezing which covered it, it had continued an immense globe of crystal, wherein nothing had ever grown, altered, or changed, I should have esteemed it a wretched lump of no benefit to the Universe, a mass of idleness, and in a word superfluous, exactly as if it had never been in Nature. The difference for me would be the same as between a living and a dead creature. I say the same concerning the Moon, Jupiter, and all the other globes of the Universe.<br>The more I delve into the consideration of the vanity of popular discourses, the more empty and simple I find them. What greater folly can be imagined than to call gems, silver, and gold noble, and earth and dirt base? For do not these persons consider that if there were as great a scarcity of earth as there is of jewels and precious metals, there would be no king who would not gladly give a heap of diamonds and rubies and many ingots of gold to purchase only so much earth as would suffice to plant a jessamine in a little pot or to set a tangerine in it, that he might see it sprout, grow up, and bring forth such goodly leaves, fragrant flowers, and delicate fruit? It is scarcity and plenty that makes things esteemed and despised by the vulgar, who will say that there is a most beautiful diamond, for it resembles a clear water, and yet would not part from it for ten tons of water. 'These men who so extol incorruptibility, inalterability, and so on, speak thus, I believe, out of the great desire they have to live long and for fear of death, not considering that, if men had been immortal, they would not have come into the world. These people deserve to meet with a Medusa's head that would transform them into statues of diamond and jade, that so they might become more perfect than they are.<br>Part of this passage, in Italian, I detrattori della corruptibilitá meriterebber d'esser cangiati in statue., has also ben translated into English as "Detractors of corruptibility deserve being turned into statues."<br> Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo. (PDF) http://www.liberliber.it/biblioteca/g/galilei/le_opere_di_galileo_galilei_edizione_nazionale_sotto_gli_etc/pdf/le_ope_p.pdf, Le Opere di Galileo Galilei vol. VII, pg. 58.<br>Compare Maimonides "If man were never subject to change there could be no generation; there would be one single being..." Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190) <br class="br">Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632) <br class="br">Context: I cannot without great astonishment — I might say without great insult to my intelligence — hear it attributed as a prime perfection and nobility of the natural and integral bodies of the universe that they are invariant, immutable, inalterable, etc., while on the other hand it is called a great imperfection to be alterable, generable, mutable, etc. For my part I consider the earth very noble and admirable precisely because of the diverse alterations, changes, generations, etc. that occur in it incessantly. If, not being subject to any changes, it were a vast desert of sand or a mountain of jasper, or if at the time of the flood the waters which covered it had frozen, and it had remained an enormous globe of ice where nothing was ever born or ever altered or changed, I should deem it a useless lump in the universe, devoid of activity and, in a word, superfluous and essentially non-existent. This is exactly the difference between a living animal and a dead one; and I say the same of the moon, of Jupiter, and of all other world globes.<br>The deeper I go in considering the vanities of popular reasoning, the lighter and more foolish I find them. What greater stupidity can be imagined than that of calling jewels, silver, and gold "precious," and earth and soil "base"? People who do this ought to remember that if there were as great a scarcity of soil as of jewels or precious metals, there would not be a prince who would not spend a bushel of diamonds and rubies and a cartload of gold just to have enough earth to plant a jasmine in a little pot, or to sow an orange seed and watch it sprout, grow, and produce its handsome leaves, its fragrant flowers, and fine fruit. It is scarcity and plenty that make the vulgar take things to be precious or worthless; they call a diamond very beautiful because it is like pure water, and then would not exchange one for ten barrels of water. Those who so greatly exalt incorruptibility, inalterability, etc. are reduced to talking this way, I believe, by their great desire to go on living, and by the terror they have of death. They do not reflect that if men were immortal, they themselves would never have come into the world. Such men really deserve to encounter a Medusa's head which would transmute them into statues of jasper or of diamond, and thus make them more perfect than they are.
The quote is mistakenly attributed to the author
Jesus (-7–30 BC) Jewish preacher and religious leader, central figure of Christianity
Source: Gospel of Barnabas (c. 16th century AD manuscript), Ch. 33. The gospel's origins and author have been debated; several theories are speculative, and none has general acceptance. The Gospel of Barnabas is dated to the 13th to 15th centuries,[2] much too late to have been written by Barnabas (fl. 1st century CE). Many of its teachings are synchronous with those in the Quran and oppose the Bible, especially the New Testament; some, however, contradict the Quran.
“A black pall, you know, with a silver cross on it, or R. I. P.”
Thomas Mann book The Magic Mountain
requiescat in pace — you know. That seems to me the most beautiful expression — I like it much better than ‘He is a jolly good fellow,’ which is simply rowdy.
Source: The Magic Mountain (1924), Ch. 5
“Flat muscled and honey coloured. Sea secrets in his eyes. A silver raindrop in his ear.”
Arundhati Roy book The God of Small Things
Source: The God of Small Things
“The trees were full of silver-white sunlight and the meanest of them sparkled.”
Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) American novelist, short story writer
James Redfield book The Celestine Prophecy
Source: The Celestine Prophecy
Muriel Spark book The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Source: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
“DISOBEDIENCE, n. The silver lining to the cloud of servitude.”
Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist
Source: The Devil's Dictionary and Other Works
“Guess that's thirty-one pieces of silver you've got now, huh? Sleep well, Judas.”
Mark Millar (1969) Scottish comic book writer
Source: Civil War: A Marvel Comics Event
Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist
Source: Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith
Rebecca Wells book Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Source: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
“He was all silver and ashes, not like Will's strong colors of blue and black and gold.”
Cassandra Clare (1973) American author
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel
Gregory Maguire book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Source: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
“Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.”
Arthur Yorinks (1953) American writer and director
Aurangzeb (1618–1707) Sixth Mughal Emperor
Maasir-i-alamgiri, translated into English by Sir Jadu-Nath Sarkar, Calcutta, 1947, pp. 107-120, also quoted in part in Shourie, Arun (2014). Eminent historians: Their technology, their line, their fraud. Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India : HarperCollins Publishers. Different translation: “Darab Khan was sent with a strong force to punish the Rajputs of Khandela and demolish the great temple of that place.” (M.A. 171.) “He attacked the place on 8th March 1679, and pulled down the temples of Khandela and Sanula and all other temples in the neighbourhood.”(M.A. 173.) Sarkar, Jadunath (1972). History of Aurangzib: Volume III. App. V.
Quotes from late medieval histories, 1670s
