E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Image of God.
Wear not the image of God in a ring. This is the twenty-fourth symbolic saying in the Protreptics of Iamblichus, and is tantamount to the commandment “Thou shalt not take the name of God in vain.” Pythagoras meant to teach his disciples by this restriction that God was far too holy a being to be used as a mere ornamental device, and engraved on a ring worn on a man’s finger, which might be used for any ordinary purpose.
