Fetters even of gold are heavy. [ Proverb ]

He tames grief that fetters it in rhyme. [ Donne ]

The fetters of the slave bind the hands only. [ Grillparzer ]

Eternal Spirit of the chainless mind!
Brightest in dungeons, Liberty! thou art.
For there thy habitation is the Heart -
The Heart which love of thee alone can bind;
And when thy sons to fetters are consigned -
To fetters and the damp vault's dayless gloom,
Their country conquers with their Martyrdom,
And Freedom's fame finds wings on every wind. [ Byron ]

How poor a thing is pride! when all, as
Differ but in their fetters, not their graves. [ Daniels ]

Gold! gold! in all ages the curse of mankind,
Thy fetters are forged for the soul and the mind.
The limbs may be free as the wings of a bird.
And the mind be the slave of a look and a word.
To gain thee men barter eternity's crown,
Yield honour, affection, and lasting renown. [ Park Benjamin ]

Let the smith himself wear the fetters he forged. [ Proverb ]

Haste trips up its own heels, fetters and stops itself. [ Seneca ]

Twine round thee threads of steel, like thread on thread,
That grow to fetters, or bind down thy arms
With chains concealed in chaplets. Oh, not yet
Mayst thou embrace thy corselet, nor lay by
Thy sword; not yet, O Freedom, close thy lids
In slumber; for thine enemy never sleeps.
And thou must watch and combat till the day
Of the new earth and heaven. [ Bryant ]

Fetters of gold are still fetters, and silken cords pinch. [ Proverb ]

It is in vain to kick, after you have once put on fetters. [ Proverb ]

The fetters of rhyme are no more than a bracelet to the true poet. [ Hans Sachs ]

It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free; their passions forge their fetters. [ Burke ]

He that is proud of the rustling of his silks, like a madman, laughs at the rattling of his fetters; for, indeed, clothes ought to be our remembrancers of our lost innocency. [ Thomas Fuller ]

But for the cravings of the belly not a bird would have fallen into the snare; nay, nay, the fowler would not have spread his net. The belly is chains to the hands and fetters to the feet. He who is a slave to his belly seldom worships God. [ Saadi ]

Hate is of all things the mightiest divider, nay, is division itself. To couple hatred, therefore, though wedlock try all her golden links, and borrow to her aid all the iron manacles and fetters of law, it does but seek to twist a rope of sand. [ Milton ]