Welcome to the Gold Standard of Gold Quotes
Gold has fascinated humanity for millennia. From philosophers and poets to politicians, economists and humorists, people across ages and cultures have commented on its value, symbolism and power. These observations—witty, wise, cynical and admiring—have become part of our shared cultural memory.
Some remarks celebrate gold’s material worth, others use it as a metaphor for virtues or vices, and many reflect how societies have measured wealth and influence. While this collection is not exhaustive, it highlights memorable lines about gold that capture its role in history, commerce and imagination.
Gold appears in the stories of ancient empires, the coinage of the Renaissance and colonial eras, and the jewelry and bullion of modern times. Its presence across three thousand years of human history suggests it will remain meaningful for generations to come. Below is a curated selection of notable quotes about gold—pick the ones that resonate with you, and perhaps one will become a fitting caption for your own moments.
The Ancients Advise
1) “O Zeus, why is it you have given men clear ways of testing whether gold is counterfeit but, when it comes to men, the body carries no stamp of nature for distinguishing bad from good.” — Euripides
2) “When Gold argues the cause, eloquence is impotent.” — Publilius Syrus
3) “Gold loves to make its way through guards, and breaks through barriers of stone more easily than the lightning’s bolt.” — Horace
4) “If it were possible to cure evils by lamentation and to raise the dead with tears, then gold would be a less valuable thing than weeping.” — Sophocles
5) “Every man now worships gold, all other reverence being done away.” — Sextus Propertius
6) “There is no honest man — not one — that can resist the attraction of gold!” — Aristophanes
7) “Water is best, but gold shines like fire blazing in the night, supreme of lordly wealth.” — Pindar
Speaking of Gold Proverbially
8) “If speaking is silver, then listening is gold.” — Turkish Proverb
9) “He fishes well who uses a golden hook.” — Latin Proverb
10) “Not all that glitters is gold; not all that is sticky is tar.” — Lithuanian Proverb
11) “Where gold speaks, every tongue is silent.” — Italian Proverb
12) “The castle gates will always open for gold-laden donkeys.” — Russian Proverb
13) “Real gold is not afraid of the melting pot.” — Chinese Proverb
14) “If you are sick, think about your life; if you are better, think about your gold.” — Mongolian Proverb
Poets and Writers Opine
15) “The anarch is on the side of gold. This is not to be construed as a lust for gold. He recognizes gold as the central and immobile power…” — Ernst Jünger
16) “I did not know that mankind were suffering for want of gold. I have seen a little of it. I know that it is very malleable, but not so malleable as wit. A grain of gold will gild a great surface, but not so much as a grain of wisdom.” — Henry David Thoreau
17) “…the anarch is again no different from anyone else. But he does not like to attach himself. He does not squander his best energies. He accepts no substitute for his gold.” — Ernst Jünger
18) “Pure gold does not rust. Only gold alloys do so. You may have golden dreams. But if you go in the company of toxic people, you become ‘a gold alloy’ and what that means is that you can rust at any time!” — Israelmore Ayivor
19) “The beauty about gold, though, is that in all states from uncertainty to conviction, it never for once gives up its luster.” — Ufuoma Apoki
20) “Gold has at all times been considered the best of testimonies of good faith…” — Rafael Sabatini
21) “Gold — what can it not do, and undo?” — William Shakespeare
22) “Gold is a living god and rules, in scorn, all earthly things but virtue.” — Percy Bysshe Shelley
23) “Gold gives to the ugliest thing a certain charming air, for that without it were else a miserable affair.” — Molière
24) “Gold opens all locks. No lock will hold against the power of gold.” — George Herbert
25) “Those who worship Gold in a world so corrupt as this we live in, have at least one thing to plead in defense of their idolatry — the power of their Idol…” — Charles Caleb Colton
26) “Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.” — Leo Tolstoy
27) “Beauty attracts us men; but if, like an armed magnet it is pointed, beside, with gold and silver, it attracts with tenfold power.” — Jean Paul
28) “O Gold! I still prefer thee unto paper, which makes bank credit like a bark of vapour.” — Lord Byron
29) “Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence…” — Ayn Rand
30) “You have to choose (as a voter) between trusting to the natural stability of gold and the natural stability of the honesty and intelligence of the members of the Government… to vote for gold.” — George Bernard Shaw
31) “Gold would have value if for no other reason than that it enables a citizen to fashion his financial escape from the state.” — William F. Rickenbacker
32) “Like Liberty, gold never stays where it is undervalued.” — John S. Morrill
33) “It is extraordinary how many emotional storms one may weather in safety if one is ballasted with ever so little gold.” — William McFee
34) “Though wisdom cannot be gotten for gold, still less can it be gotten without it.” — Samuel Butler
Philosophers Philosophize
35) “They wonder much to hear that gold which in itself is so useless a thing, should be everywhere so much esteemed…” — Thomas More
36) “The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
37) “The inflated imitations of gold and silver … an urn of gold is found and then restored.” — Nostradamus
38) “Because silver and gold have their value from the matter itself, they have first this privilege, that the value of them cannot be altered by the power of one…” — Thomas Hobbes
Prominent Historical Figures Speak
39) “Gold is a treasure, and he who possesses it does all he wishes to in this world, and succeeds in helping souls into paradise.” — Christopher Columbus
40) “We Spaniards know a sickness of the heart that only gold can cure.” — Hernán Cortés
41) “In a private room he showed me the first specimens of gold … immediately I made the proof and found that it was gold.” — John Sutter
42) “Brass shines as fair to the ignorant as gold to the goldsmiths.” — Queen Elizabeth I
43) “Gold is not necessary. I have no interest in gold. We will build a solid state, without an ounce of gold behind it…” — Adolf Hitler
44) “There can be no other criterion, no other standard than gold. Yes, gold which never changes…” — Charles de Gaulle
Politicians Pontificate
45) “We have gold because we cannot trust governments.” — Herbert Hoover
46) “It’s absolutely critical that we audit the Fed … so that we can have transparency … we need to go back to the gold standard.” — Paul Broun
47) “Fear, prejudice, malice, and the love of approbation bribe a thousand men where gold bribes one.” — Robert G. Ingersoll
Economists, Investors, and Bankers Impart Their Wisdom
48) “Gold is money. Everything else is credit.” — J. P. Morgan
49) “Never trust money more than gold.” — Toba Beta
50) “Gold and silver, like other commodities, have an intrinsic value … dependent on their scarcity and the labour required.” — David Ricardo
51) “In reality, there is no such thing as an inflation of prices, relatively to gold. There is such a thing as a depreciated paper currency.” — Lysander Spooner
52) “In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation.” — Alan Greenspan
53) “A gold standard doesn’t imply stability in the prices of the goods and services that people buy every day, it implies a stability in the price of gold itself.” — Ben Bernanke
54) “The desire for gold is the most universal and deeply rooted commercial instinct of the human race.” — Gerald M. Loeb
55) “The threat of gold redeemability imposes a constant check and limit on inflationary issues of government paper…” — Murray Rothbard
56) “When goods are exchanged between countries, they must be paid for by commodities or gold…” — Carroll Quigley
57) “When people talk about people who are optimistic about gold, they call them ‘gold bugs’ … There is already a negative connotation with the expression of ‘gold bug.’” — Marc Faber
58) “The gold standard did not collapse. Governments abolished it in order to pave the way for inflation…” — Ludwig von Mises
59) “Gold is the money of kings; silver is the money of gentlemen; barter is the money of peasants; but debt is the money of slaves.” — Norm Franz
60) “With the exception only of the period of the gold standard, practically all governments of history have used their exclusive power to issue money to defraud and plunder the people.” — Friedrich August von Hayek
61) “Monetary policy today is guided by little more than government fiat … under a more sound monetary system — i.e., a gold standard — such increases would be seen as wildly inflationary.” — Raymond J. Keating
62) “Although gold and silver are not by nature money, money is by nature gold and silver.” — Karl Marx
63) “Governments lie; bankers lie; even auditors sometimes lie. Gold tells the truth.” — Lord Rees Mogg
64) “If an automatic commodity standard were feasible, it would provide an excellent solution … an honest-to-goodness gold standard would provide an effective guarantee against governmental tinkering.” — Milton Friedman
65) “Until government administrators can so identify the interests of government with those of the people … the wiser ones will prefer to keep as much of their wealth in the most stable forms possible — forms which only the precious metals provide.” — Elgin Groseclose
66) “If you don’t trust gold, do you trust the logic of taking a beautiful pine tree … turning it into pulp and then paper … and calling it one billion dollars?” — Kenneth J. Gerbino
67) “The great merit of gold is precisely that it is scarce; that its quantity is limited by nature … and that it cannot be created by political fiat or caprice.” — Henry Hazlitt
68) “Gold will be around, gold will be money when the dollar and the euro and the yuan and the ringgit are mere memories.” — Richard Russell
69) “Those entrapped by the herd instinct are drowned in the deluges of history. But there are always the few who observe, reason, and take precautions, and thus escape the flood. For these few gold has been the asset of last resort.” — Antony C. Sutton
70) “The modern mind dislikes gold because it blurts out unpleasant truths.” — Joseph Schumpeter
Even Entertainers, Actors, and Athletes Have an Opinion
71) “I have always felt that if a man gives you a solid gold key to his door he is entitled to the courtesy of a visit.” — Hedy Lamarr
72) “A man that hoards up riches and enjoys them not is like an ass that carries gold and eats thistles.” — Richard Burton
73) “There is no such thing in the world as luck … He may do so once in his life; but so far as mere luck is concerned, he is as liable to lose it as to find it.” — P. T. Barnum
74) “The Seven Cities of Gold always fascinated me … The whole spur of the Spanish exploration … was the search for these mythical Seven Cities of Gold.” — Neil Peart
75) “They don’t give you gold medals for beating somebody. They give you gold medals for beating everybody.” — Michael Johnson
Modern Thought Turns to Gold
76) “[Gold] gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it … Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.” — Warren Buffett
77) “Bitcoin is not an actual physical coin, and if computers are shut down, you can’t buy or sell them. That’s why nothing will ever replace gold and silver coins themselves…” — Mark Skousen
78) “My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek out gold and sit on it.” — John Gardner
79) “Because gold is honest money, it is disliked by dishonest men.” — Ron Paul
80) “Commodities such as gold and silver have a world market that transcends national borders, politics, religions and race. A person may not like someone else’s religion, but he’ll accept his gold.” — Robert Kiyosaki
81) “The Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules.” — Attributed to a 1967 Wizard of Id comic strip
82) “The finest compliment you can pay a man is that his word was as good as gold.” — Evel Knievel
83) “Gold is valuable everywhere in the world and is not dependent on political systems, any specific government policy or set of policies.” — Roy Sebag
84) “My mother might find a thin gold chain … Gold chains linked you to the great fairy tales and myths, to Arabia and India; to the great weight of the world, but lighter than a feather.” — Anne Lamott
85) “Gold has an almost atavistic lure. People feel it has a panacea effect.” — Howard Blum
86) “Gold has intrinsic value. The problem with the dollar is it has no intrinsic value … Gold will store its value, and you’ll always be able to buy more food with your gold.” — Peter Schiff
87) “If the world does well, gold will be fine. If the world doesn’t do well, gold will also do fine…but a lot of other things could collapse.” — Thomas Kaplan
88) “If you want an alternative currency, check out gold. It has stood the test of thousands of years as a store of value and medium of exchange.” — Paul Singer
89) “The world’s central banks and the International Monetary Fund still have vaults full of bullion, even though currencies are no longer backed by gold. Governments hold on to it as a kind of magic symbol.” — James Surowiecki
90) “If you trade in paper, the notion of many who trade gold… if the financial world comes to an end, they’re going to have the gold. If you’re playing in ETFs, you’re going to have a piece of paper.” — Rick Santelli
91) “Gold is still the ultimate store of wealth. It’s the world’s only true money. And there isn’t much of it to go around…” — Mark Nestmann
92) “If ever there was an area in which to do the exact opposite of that which government and the media urge you to do, that area is the purchasing of gold.” — Robert Ringer
93) “Regardless of the dollar price involved, one ounce of gold would purchase a good-quality man’s suit at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt and today.” — Peter A. Burshre
94) “I like gold because it is a stabilizer; it is an insurance policy.” — Kevin O’Leary
Don’t Lose Your Sense of Humor
95) “I’m very proud of my gold pocket watch. My grandfather, on his deathbed, sold me this watch.” — Woody Allen
96) “Gold was a gift to Jesus. If it’s good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me!” — Mr. T
97) “A U.S. dollar is an I.O.U. from the Federal Reserve Bank. It’s not backed by gold or silver. It’s a promissory note that doesn’t actually promise anything.” — P.J. O’Rourke
98) “If there was an Oppression Olympics, I would win the gold medal. I’m Palestinian, Muslim, I’m female, I’m disabled and I live in New Jersey.” — Maysoon Zayid
99) “The trouble with gold is that it turns its back on world improvers, empire builders and do-gooders.” — Bill Bonner
100) “Gold: this ‘barbarous relic’ is about the only thing you can leave on the seat of your car in Baltimore without worrying about the windows being smashed.” — The Daily Reckoning
And Finally…
This list could never be complete without one of the most famous gold quotes of all time:
101) “We will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: ‘You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold’!” — William Jennings Bryan, Cross of Gold Speech, 1896