All that glitters is not gold facts for kids

"All that glitters is not gold" is a famous saying. It means that not everything that looks valuable or true really is. Something might seem amazing on the outside, but it could be worthless or fake inside.

This idea has been around for a very long time. People have used different versions of this saying for hundreds of years.

Where Did This Saying Come From?

The idea behind "all that glitters is not gold" is very old. It might even go back to Aesop, who wrote many ancient fables. One early Latin version was Non omne quod nitet aurum est. This means "Not everything that shines is gold."

Around the year 1175, a French monk named Alain de Lille wrote something similar. He said, "Do not hold everything gold that shines like gold."

Later, in England, the famous writer Chaucer used this idea in his stories. In "The Canon's Yeoman's Tale", he wrote: "But al thyng which that shyneth as the gold / Nis nat gold, as that I have herd it told." This means, "Not everything that shines like gold is gold, as I have heard."

Shakespeare's Famous Version

The most popular way we say this today comes from William Shakespeare. He used the phrase in his play The Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare's version used the word "glisters," which was an old word for "glitters."

In the play, there's a part where a character named Portia has three caskets: one gold, one silver, and one lead. Suitors must choose the correct casket to win her hand. Inside the golden casket, there's a scroll with this message:

All that glisters is not gold—

Often have you heard that told.

Many a man his life hath sold

But my outside to behold.

Gilded tombs do worms enfold.

Had you been as wise as bold,

Young in limbs, in judgment old,

Your answer had not been inscrolled

Fare you well. Your suit is cold—

This message warns the suitor that just because something looks shiny and valuable on the outside, it doesn't mean it's the right choice. The golden casket was a trick!

Glitters or Glisters?

The original word Shakespeare used was "glisters." This word meant the same thing as "glitters" back in the 1500s. Over time, "glitters" became more common.

Other writers also used similar phrases:

• In 1577, Arthur Golding used "But al is not gold that glistereth" in his translation of sermons.
• In 1687, the poet John Dryden used "glitter" in his poem The Hind and the Panther.
• In 1747, Thomas Gray wrote a poem called Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes. It ends with the lines:

Not all that tempts your wandering eyes
And heedless hearts, is lawful prize;
Nor all that glisters, gold".

This shows how the saying has changed slightly over the centuries but kept its main meaning.

See Also

In Spanish: No es oro todo lo que reluce para niños

• "Gods of the Copybook Headings" – a poem by Rudyard Kipling about lasting truths.
• "Things are seldom what they seem" – a song from the play HMS Pinafore that talks about how things might look different from what they truly are.
• "Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes" – a poem by Thomas Gray.