<P> The expression, in various forms, originated in or before the 12th century and may date back to Æsop . The Latin is Non omne quod nitet aurum est . The French monk Alain de Lille wrote "Do not hold everything gold that shines like gold" in 1175 . </P> <P> Chaucer gave two early versions in English: "But al thyng which that shyneth as the gold / Nis nat gold, as that I have herd it told" in "The Canon's Yeoman's Tale", and "Hyt is not al golde that glareth" in "The House of Fame". </P> <P> The popular form of the expression is a derivative of a line in William Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice, which employs the word "glisters," a 17th - century synonym for "glitters ." The line comes from a secondary plot of the play, the puzzle of Portia's boxes (Act II - Scene VII - Prince of Morocco): </P> <P> All that glisters is not gold--Often have you heard that told . Many a man his life hath sold But my outside to behold . Gilded tombs do worms enfold . Had you been as wise as bold, Young in limbs, in judgment old, Your answer had not been inscrolled Fare you well . Your suit is cold--Cold, indeed, and labor lost . </P>

Who says all that glitters is not gold in the merchant of venice