There is in them a softer fire than the ruby, there is the brilliant purple of the amethyst, and the sea green of the emerald – all shining together in incredible union. Some by their splendor rival the colors of the painters, others the flame of burning sulphur or of fire quickened by oil. – Pliny, about the opal

I would rather be adorned by beauty of character than jewels. Jewels are the gift of fortune, while character comes from within. – Titus Maccius Plautus

These words dropped into my childish mind as if you should accidentally drop a ring into a deep well. I did not think of them much at the time, but there came a day in my life when the ring was fished up out of the well, good as new. – Harriet Beecher Stowe, Old Town Folks, 1869

How much art and science, and what attention, what care is necessary to render the sun-beams which are imprisoned in a tiny polyhedron of pure carbon, brilliant and sparkling! – Charles Blanc, Art in Ornament and Dress, 1875, translated from French