How Lovely Shines the Morning Star!

"All is not gold that glitters," she said; "and besides-"

"What a mistake that is!" cried Innocent Smith, leaping up in great excitement. "All is gold that glitters,- especially now we are in a Sovereign State. What's the good of a Sovereign State if it can't define a sovereign? We can make anything a precious metal, as men could in the morning of the world. They didn't choose gold because it was rare - your scientists can tell you twenty sorts of slime much rarer. They chose gold because it was bright - because it was a thing hard to find - but pretty when you found it. You can't fight with golden swords or eat golden biscuits; you can only look at it..."What would be the good of gold," he was saying, "if it did not glitter? Why should we care for a black sovereign any more than a black sun at noon? A black button would do just as well. Don't you see that everything in this yard looks like a jewel? Any will you kindly tell me what the deuce is the good of a jewel except that it looks like a jewel? Leave off buying and selling, and start looking! Open your eyes; and you'll wake up in the New Jerusalem."

~~ from 'Manalive' by G.K. Chesterton