Appearances can be deceiving; something that looks valuable or attractive may not actually be so.
This wisdom traces back to Aesop's fables and was popularized by Shakespeare in "The Merchant of Venice" (1596) as "All that glisters is not gold." The phrase evolved from earlier Latin versions and reflects humanity's ancient understanding that surface beauty can mask worthlessness, like fool's gold fooling prospectors.
Shakespeare's original used "glisters" rather than "glitters" - "glister" was the older English word that meant the same thing but has since fallen out of use except in this phrase's variants. The saying gained extra relevance during gold rushes when miners literally encountered pyrite (fool's gold) that looked precious but was worthless!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.