"All that glitters is not gold" is an aphorism stating that not everything that looks precious or true turns out to be so. This can be applied to just about any experience in life. While early expressions of the idea are known from at least the 12th-13th century, the current saying is derived from a 16th-century line by William Shakespeare, "All that glisters is not gold".
Origins
The expression, in various forms, originated in or before the 12th century and may date back to Æsop. The Latin is Non omne quod nitet aurum est.The French monk Alain de Lille wrote "Do not hold everything gold that shines like gold" in 1175. Chaucer gave two early versions in English: "But al thyng which that shyneth as the gold / Nis nat gold, as that I have herd it told" in "The Canon's Yeoman's Tale", and "Hyt is not al golde that glareth" in "The House of Fame". The popular form of the expression is a derivative of a line in William Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice, which employs the word "glisters," a 17th-century synonym for "glitters." The line comes from a secondary plot of the play, in the scroll inside the golden casket the puzzle of Portia's boxes : Panning for gold often results in finding pyrite, nicknamed fool's gold, which reflects substantially more light than authentic gold does. Gold in its raw form appears dull and lusterless.
Glitters or glisters
The original version of the saying used the word s, but slong ago became the predominant form. Poet John Dryden used glitter in his 1687 poem The Hind and the Panther. The words glister and glitter have the same meaning.
uses the saying in his song "Don't Be Denied" , from his 1973 album Time Fades Away, to express his "realization that even success wouldn't make him happy", even after he obtained fame and money. The phrase shows up in Bob Marley and Peter Tosh's song "Get Up, Stand Up". It is also used as lyrics in the songs "A Gilded Masquerade" by Alesana, "Domino Rain" by Antemasque, "Gold" by Prince, and "Family Business" by Kanye West. The phrase is referenced with a reversal of meaning in J.R.R. Tolkien's poem, "The Riddle of Strider", originally written for The Fellowship of the Ring: SpongeBob SquarePants's season 4 episode, "All that Glitters" is titled after the quote, and SpongeBob is heard repeating the full phrase in a scene. Another common formulation with the same meaning is "All that shines is not gold", which appears in the lyrics of "Next Time You See Me", as well as Curtis Mayfield's "That's What Mama Say". The well-known songs "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin and "All Star" by Smash Mouth make references to the saying, although they turn it on its head by saying "All that glitters is gold."
