Gilded tombs do worms infold. [ Shakespeare ]

The purest treasure mortal times afford
Is spotless reputation; that away,
Men are but gilded loam or painted clay. [ Rich. II ]

Ornament is but the gilded shore
To a most dangerous sea; the beauteous scarf
Veiling an Indian; beauty, in a word.
The seeming truth which cunning times put on
To entrap the wisest. [ William Shakespeare ]

A gilded bit does not make the horse better. [ Proverb ]

For wheresoever I turn my ravished eyes,
Gay gilded scenes and shining prospects rise,
Poetic fields encompass me around.
And still I seem to tread on classic ground. [ Addison ]

Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows,
While proudly rising over the azure realm,
In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes,
Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm. [ Gray ]

The slippery tops of human state, the gilded pinnacles of fate. [ Cowley ]