quotations about beauty
In the contemplation of beauty we are raised above ourselves, the passions are silenced and we are happy in the recognition of a good that we do not seek to possess.
GEORGE SANTAYANA
The Sense of Beauty
It is foolish to wish for beauty. Sensible people never either desire it for themselves or care about it in others. If the mind be but well cultivated, and the heart well disposed, no one ever cares for the exterior.
ANNE BRONTE
Agnes Grey
The fairest cheek hath oftentimes a soul
Leprous as sin itself.
THOMAS DEKKER
Old Fortunatus
Beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror
which we are barely able to endure and are awed
because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.
Each single angel is terrifying.
RAINER MARIA RILKE
Duino Elegies
Beauty's voice speaks gently: it creeps only into the most awakened souls.
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
And the true order of going, or being led by another, to the things of love, is to begin from the beauties of earth and mount upwards for the sake of that other beauty, using these steps only, and from one going on to two, and from two to all fair forms to fair practices, and from fair practices to fair notions, until from fair notions he arrives at the notion of absolute beauty, and at last knows what the essence of beauty is.
PLATO
The Symposium
Beauty in a woman is a moving thing,
Yet sometimes just the patient lack of it
Will pierce the heart to deeper poignancies,
And, melting, draw a note of tenderness
That not the fairest woman could evoke!
DONALD EVANS
"Shrines of Unloveliness"
You cannot pluck roses without fear of thorns
Nor enjoy a fair wife without danger of horns.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Poor Richard's Almanack, 1734
To speak of beauty is to enter another and more exalted realm--a realm sufficiently apart from our everyday concerns as to be mentioned only with a certain hesitation. People who are always in praise and pursuit of the beautiful are an embarrassment, like people who make a constant display of their religious faith. Somehow, we feel such things should be kept for our exalted moments, and not paraded in company, or allowed to spill out over dinner.
ROGER SCRUTON
Beauty
The idea of beauty is the fundamental idea of everything. In the world we see only distortions of the fundamental idea, but art, by imagination, may lift itself to the height of this idea. Art is therefore akin to creation.
LEO TOLSTOY
What Is Art?
[Beauty is] a delicate bait with a deadly hook; a sweet panther with a devouring paunch, a sour poison in a silver pot.
JOHN LYLY
Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit
Choosing beauty over content (or choosing beauty as content) is always an act of sedition. If we accept the cant of official culture, we must believe that the beauty we steal from any man-made thing is stolen from its more virtuous and metaphysical backstory, wherein "real" beauty is said to reside.
DAVE HICKEY
The Invisible Dragon
Beauty is when your outside intrigues people and your inside makes them stay.
ANONYMOUS
The angel Beauty walks her radiant way:
O, follow her! She never leads astray.
ALBERT LAIGHTON
"Beauty"
Beauty is something we can affirm and intend to have more of. What happens then is our perceptual ability, no matter where we are, expands in that direction.
JAMES REDFIELD
Beliefnet interview, "The Evolution Revolution"
The beauty of a lovely woman is like music ... the rounded neck, the dimpled arm, move us by something more than their prettiness--by their close kinship with all we have known of tenderness and peace.
GEORGE ELIOT
Adam Bede
Beauty is a symbol of goodness; the admiration we feel for it is a symbol of the reverence inspired by the moral law.
ERMANNO BENCIVENGA
Exercises in Constructive Imagination
Most people tend to think the best of those who are blessed with beauty; we have difficulty imagining that physical perfection can conceal twisted emotions or a damaged mind.
DEAN KOONTZ
Odd Thomas
If you get simple beauty and nought else,
You get about the best thing God invents.
ROBERT BROWNING
Fra Lippo Lippi
Beauty when most unclothed is clothed best.
PHINEAS FLETCHER
Sicelides