All That Glitters is Not Gold
People are often attracted by the outward brightness of things. The superficial brilliance dazzles their eyes and the eyes deceive their minds. The result is that they are prone to take every shining thing for gold. Most of us fail to distinguish between what is real gold and what merely shines like it — between gilded and gold, the valueless shining imitation, and the precious metal. The weakness of people gives the purveyors of cheap and shoddy shining trinkets their chance of making capital out of the folly of people. This deceptiveness of appearances and the proneness of people to be imposed upon by the showy exterior is a quite common phenomenon. We are cheated at every step of our life if we are not constantly on the lookout. Glittering things abound in this world and real gold is really rare. Every day, we are guided more by our eyes than by our minds. And crafty people are ever ready to exploit this human weakness and to show as gold what is, in fact, brass with thin gilding. The proverb warns us against the folly of being taken in by appearances.
