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

The saying contrasts external, luck-dependent adornment (“jewels,” gifts of fortune) with inner moral worth (“beauty of character,” arising from oneself). Its force lies in a classical ethical hierarchy: what is truly admirable is not what can be bestowed, bought, or inherited, but what is cultivated through choice and conduct. Read this way, the line functions as a critique of status display and a defense of virtue as a more stable and meaningful “ornament” than wealth. Even if often attributed to Plautus, the sentiment is broadly consonant with Greco-Roman moral commonplaces that oppose fortuna (chance) to virtus (character).