To gild the lily is to attempt, foolishly, to try and improve on something which is already perfect. Shakespeare, who mentions the lily in his works on more than two dozen occasions, wrote: ‘To gild refined gold, to paint the lily. .. is wasteful and ridiculous excess.’ The white lily, which is the emblem of majesty and purity, is one of the oldest and most beautiful flowers in existence and, therefore, without need of any further addition of superfluous ornament.
Example in use:
You don’t need to wear so much makeup; it’s just gilding the lily.
Adding crystals and glitter to the hand-painted wedding invitations was really gilding the lily – they were already elegant on their own.
Their relationship was perfect as it was; trying to plan elaborate date nights felt like gilding the lily.
The garden was stunning in its simplicity – installing fancy fountains would just be gilding the lily.
The chef’s decision to add gold leaf to the perfectly cooked steak was merely gilding the lily.
Young children tend to cause a pother when they want or need attention from their parents
The bird itself seems to be falling, breaking asunder into bits of itself, when it hits the ground, it will be nothing but a tumble of spiky spars and a pother of wind-blown feathers.
If you can give no help, spare drowning me with your pother.
Don’t get yourself all into a pother, take your time and you’ll find your keys.
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