If you are gold, you will glitter sooner or later. (2025)

Hi,

There is a Chinese saying meaning exactly the same as "If you are gold, you will glitter sooner or later", and I know there is an proverb "All that glitters is not gold". So I am wondering if this makes sense to you? I asked my language adviser who is an American, she told me it didn't make sense at all and she can't think of any similar expressions in English. The meaning if the expression is "If you're really talented, be patient and keep working hard, your ability will be appreciated sooner or later".

Thanks a lot

Hello, Silver.

The English version of that Chinese proverb makes some sense to me, but I had to think about it. I didn't find its meaning immediately obvious. I suspect that many listeners would find it odd or even meaningless, as your language adviser did.

A similar English expression is:

The cream always rises to the top. or Cream will rise to the top

The Chinese expression certainly could not be regarded as the equivalent of the English one. The Chinese one is emphasizing that gold will ultimately shine through. The English one is saying that what shines superficially is not necessarily gold. Even though you could find some 'logical' meeting point between the two, what would be the point, since their meanings go in opposite directions? PS: on the English expression, see Shakespeare "All that glist

s is not gold" in The Merchant of Venice.

Talent will always out.

Parla said:

Biffo's (post #3) has cited an applicable saying, but the expression is a bit outdated, since milk is now generally homogenized. Most younger people are unfamiliar with a container of milk with a layer of cream at the top and would not understand this metaphor.

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Cream also rises to the top of a cup of coffee Parla.

Here's a song by The Roots (released in 2011)

They hollering cash rules everything
Let's call it cream
Cause when it rises to the top you get the finer things
Ocean fronts, rolling blunts with model chick
"Make My" [feat. Big K.R.I.T.]:
http://www.urbanlyrics.com/lyrics/roots/makemy.html

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EDIT A quick Google search for cream rise top 2013 reveals many current uses of the phrase, especially in journalism and sports terminology.
A search for cream rise top lyrics shows quite a number of recent songs that include the saying.

Biffo said:

A similar English expression is:

The cream always rises to the top. or Cream will rise to the top

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Thanks a lot. I think this expression almost means the same as the mine, but I wonder its popularity. How many people understand it? Since I haven't found it in some English dictionaries.

Silverobama said:

Thanks a lot. I think this expression almost means the same as the mine, but I wonder its popularity. How many people understand it? Since I haven't found it in some English dictionaries.

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I believe that most English-speakers know it, more than know a lot of our phrases. Try searching Google for cream rise top, you'll find plenty of examples.

Biffo said:

Cream also rises to the top of a cup of coffee

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That's only true of Irish coffee.

Cream also rises to the top of a cup of coffee Parla.

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Not that I've observed.

And the original expression specifically referred to the pre-hemogenization days when milk was sold in glass bottles and the cream was clearly seen to be at the top.

ewie said:

Talent will always out.

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Out here is a verb, isn't it?

peter199083 said:

Out here is a verb, isn't it?

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I recognize Cream will always rise to the top.
It means specifically "One day people will recognize that you're superior to the rest of the group", i.e. you are the cream.

Parla said:

Not that I've observed.
And the original expression specifically referred to the pre-hemogenization days when milk was sold in glass bottles and the cream was clearly seen to be at the top.

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You've missed out then! Maybe I'll send you a recipe!

I'm a little concerned about getting off-topic here but the expression dates way back before that. Before bottles, milk was poured into customers' jugs but anyone who has worked on a dairy farm will tell you that cream rises to the top of the churn. I'm sure the separation of milk and cream was known about from the very first domestication of cattle, some 8,000-10,000 years ago, if not before.

The important point for this thread is not the origin of the saying or how well people understand it. The point is that it is still in use. As I have shown, it appears in rap music - it's used as a metaphor for having money. But, in any case, how up-to-date would you like to be? Here's an article published online today. Surely that proves the saying is alive and well?

E-Books: The Cream is Rising to the Top
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
http://www.readmedeadly.com/2013/08/e-books-cream-is-rising-to-top.html