Commerce has set the mark of selfishness,
The signet of its all-enslaving power
Upon a shining ore, read more

Commerce has set the mark of selfishness,
The signet of its all-enslaving power
Upon a shining ore, and called it gold;
Before whose image bow the vulgar great,
The vainly rich, the miserable proud,
The mob of peasants, nobles, priests, and kings,
And with blind feelings reverence the power
That grinds them to the dust of misery.
But in the temple of their hireling hearts
Gold is a living god, and rules in scorn
All earthly things but virtue.

Gold! Gold! Gold! Bright and yellow, hard and cold.

Gold! Gold! Gold! Bright and yellow, hard and cold.

A mask of gold hides all deformities.

A mask of gold hides all deformities.

The man who works for the gold in the job rather than for the money in the pay envelope, is read more

The man who works for the gold in the job rather than for the money in the pay envelope, is the fellow who gets on.

Stronger than thunder's winged force
All-powerful gold can speed its course;
Through watchful guards its passage make,
read more

Stronger than thunder's winged force
All-powerful gold can speed its course;
Through watchful guards its passage make,
And loves through solid walls to break.
[Lat., Aurum per medios ire satellites
Et perrumpere amat saxa potentius
Ictu fulmineo.]

Not Philip, but Phillip's gold, took the cities of Greece.

Not Philip, but Phillip's gold, took the cities of Greece.

Thou that so stoutly hast resisted me,
Give me thy gold, if thou hast any gold;
For read more

Thou that so stoutly hast resisted me,
Give me thy gold, if thou hast any gold;
For I have bought it with an hundred blows.

The lust of gold succeeds the rage of conquest;
The lust of gold, unfeeling and remorseless!
The read more

The lust of gold succeeds the rage of conquest;
The lust of gold, unfeeling and remorseless!
The last corruption of degenerate man.

Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is read more

Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.