The line “all that glitters is not gold” occurs in William Shakespeare’s well-known play The Merchant of Venice”. It comes as a shock to Prince of Morocco when he, led by the exterior glitter of gold, chooses the gold casket and loses the lottery of caskets. The line has since then become a proverb. It means, in simple words, that appearances are deceptive. The seemingly beautiful and valuable object may turn out to be something most ugly and worthless.

Therefore, like all proverbs, ‘all that glitters is not gold contains the time-tested truth. It enjoins upon us to be cautious in our approach while judging the worth of a person or object. We should not be led by external appearance. A seemingly good apple may be rotten at the centre. A person may smile and smile, and yet prove to be a villain. An extremely beautiful face of a woman may hide her ugly, vicious character. A charming Cleopatra often proves to be a siren.

It is, of course, human to be attracted by good and beautiful persons and things. When a young man falls in love or goes to select a life partner, he is first tempted or repulsed by the outward appearance of the girl. If he does not pause and judge the real character of the girl, he is destined to rue and suffer for his choice throughout his life. So, it is equally true in the case of a girl in the choice of her would- be husband.

There is a beautiful story in the Bible which warns us against falling in to the seemingly attractive exterior. Eve gets attracted to the beautiful and yet forbidden fruit of knowledge (an apple). She fails to resist the temptation of tasting it. The moment she and Adam eat the forbidden fruit, they are thrown out of the Paradise forever. They bring upon them and their progeny (the whole mankind) endless sufferings in many forms.

In our modern world of glitter and glamour, there are many temptations around us. Most of us get attracted to glittering cars and bikes, gadgets and products of several kinds. Youngsters force their parents to buy them, which land their parents in vicious debt circles. The young men and women realise quite late how some of these attractive gadgets tell upon their health and ruin their careers.

Advertisements on the screen and in newspapers often coax people to buy things which are neither worth their money nor as useful as claimed. Most of us are misled by the utility of some products as they are advertised by some beautiful actresses, popular actors or other celebrities.