To Gild the LilyHow we misquote Shakespeare’s lesson on perfection.

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The popular idiom “gild the lily” is actually a misquotation of Shakespeare. The original line from his play “King John” is part of a longer, more powerful critique of excessive and needless improvement. Discover the original context: a condemnation of a king's vain second coronation. We explore how a complex metaphor about wasteful excess was simplified over time, losing its original force but retaining its core message about not overdoing things.