Beauty is a primeval phenomenon, which itself never makes its appearance, but the reflection of which is visible in a thousand different utterances of the creative mind, and is as various as nature herself.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Beauty for some provides escape, who gain a happiness in eyeing the gorgeous buttocks of the ape or Autumn sunsets exquisitely dying.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on earth, and if we can teach our children to honor nature’s gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever.
—Jimmy Carter (b.1924) American Head of State, Military Leader
Some beautiful things are more impressive when left imperfect than when too highly finished.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
It is very necessary to have markers of beauty left in a world seemingly bent on making the most evil ugliness.
—Vita Sackville-West (1892–1962) English Writer, Gardener
To give pain is the tyranny; to make happy, the true empire of beauty.
—Richard Steele (1672–1729) Irish Writer, Politician
You can take no credit for beauty at sixteen. But if you are beautiful at sixty, it will be your soul’s own doing.
—Marie Stopes (1880–1958) British Author, Social Activist
Love is trusting, accepting, and believing, without guarantee. Love is patient and waits, but it’s an active waiting, not a passive one. For it is continually offering itself in a mutual revealing, a mutual sharing. Love is spontaneous and craves expression through joy, through beauty, through truth, even through tears.
—Leo Buscaglia (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker
May the sun bring you new energies by day, may the moon softly restore you by night, may the rain wash away any worries you may have. May gentle breezes refresh your soul and all the days of your life, may you walk gently through the world and know its beauty.
—Indian Proverb
One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Where does beauty begin and where does it end? It ends where the artist begins.
—John Cage (1912–92) American Composer
Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks, shall win my love.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger. There is really nothing to be said about it. It is like the perfume of a rose: you can smell it and that is all.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
I’m tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That’s deep enough. What do you want—an adorable pancreas?
—Jean Kerr (1922–2003) Irish-American Author, Playwright
No; we have been as usual asking the wrong question. It does not matter a hoot what the mockingbird on the chimney is singing. The real and proper question is: Why is it beautiful?
—Annie Dillard (b.1945) Essayist, Novelist, Poet, Naturalist, Mystic
The lover knows much more about absolute good and universal beauty than any logician or theologian, unless the latter, too, be lovers in disguise.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
I hope you have lost your good looks, for while they last any fool can adore you, and the adoration of fools is bad for the soul. No, give me a ruined complexion and a lost figure and sixteen chins on a farmyard of Crow’s feet and an obvious wig. Then you shall see me coming out strong.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
If you get simple beauty and naught else, you get about the best God invents.
—Robert Browning (1812–89) English Poet
Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll; charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
We fly to beauty as an asylum from the terrors of finite nature.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Beauty is but the sensible image of the Infinite.—Like truth and justice it lives within us; like virtue and the moral law it is a companion of the soul.
—George Bancroft (1800–91) American Historian, Politician
Taught from infancy that beauty is woman’s scepter, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.
—Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97) English Writer, Feminist
Beauty?.. To me it is a word without sense because I do not know where its meaning comes from nor where it leads to.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
Beauty and folly are generally companions.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer
Ugliness creates bitterness. Ugliness is an eroding force on the people of our land. We are all here to try to change that.
—Lady Bird Johnson (1912–2007) First Lady of the United States, Conservationist
Love beauty; it is the shadow of God on the universe.
—Gabriela Mistral (1889–1957) Chilean Poet, Educator, Diplomat
The definition of a beautiful woman is one who loves me.
—Sloan Wilson (1920–2003) American Novelist, Writer
I have learnt to love you late, Beauty at once so ancient and so new!
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
Beauty is no quality in things themselves: it exists merely in the mind which contemplates them.
—David Hume (1711–76) Scottish Philosopher, Historian
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