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• All that glitters is not gold
  All that glitters is not gold

  Things that appear on the surface to be of great value may be quite worthless.
• all that glitters is not gold
  all that glitters is not gold

  Something attractive is not always what it seems, as in This house is really beautiful, but a close look will show dry rot near the foundation—all that glitters is not gold. Aesop stated the same idea in two of his fables (c. 600 b.c.), and a version close to the current wording appeared in 1175.

All that glitters is not gold

Cultural  

1. Things that appear on the surface to be of great value may be quite worthless.

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all that glitters is not gold Idioms  

1. Something attractive is not always what it seems, as in This house is really beautiful, but a close look will show dry rot near the foundation—all that glitters is not gold. Aesop stated the same idea in two of his fables (c. 600 b.c.), and a version close to the current wording appeared in 1175.

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Example Sentences

While you may not always see them strike a deal, you’re always guaranteed a chuckle and a reminder that all that glitters is not gold.

From New York Times • Apr. 1, 2024

Maybe all that glitters is not gold after all?

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 7, 2023

In the Hollywood world of make-believe all that glitters is not gold.

From BBC • Apr. 22, 2023

"But all that glitters is not gold," our narrator Rosamund Pike warns, as our American television star embarks on an alliance with a family that "will do whatever it takes to survive."

From Salon • Feb. 16, 2020

We find to our cost that all that glitters is not gold, and your every-day bungling carvers and gilders will not do.

From Maria Edgeworth by Zimmern, Helen