But tell me:  how did gold get to be the highest value?  Because it is uncommon and useless and gleaming and gentle in its brilliance; it always gives itself.  Only as an image of the highest virtue did gold get to be the highest value.  The giver’s glance gleams like gold.  A golden brilliance concludes peace between the moon and the sun.  Uncommon is the highest virtue and useless, it is gleaming and gentle in its brilliance:  a gift-giving virtue is the highest virtue.  ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, On the Gift-Giving Virtue, 1883