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Beauty

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“The beauty of behaviour consists in the manner more than the matter of your discourse.”
James Burgh (1714–1775) said by 1775 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The essential difference between that knowledge which is, and that which is not conclusive evidence of Christian character, lies in this: the object of the one is the agreement of the several parts of a theological proposition; the object of the other is moral beauty, the intrinsic loveliness of God and Divine things. The sinner sees and hates; the saint sees and loves.”
Gardiner Spring (1785–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 365.
“Forests have always been used in stories down the centuries. The forest is life - there's beauty, there's danger, there's threats, and, at the same time, potential safety. So without wanting to sound too pompous, I suppose a forest is a metaphor.”
Edna O'Brien (1930–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The American Beauty Rose can be produced in the splendor and fragrance which bring cheer to its beholder only by sacrificing the early buds which grow up around it. This is not an evil tendency in business. It is merely the working-out of a law of nature and a law of God.”
John D. Rockefeller Jr. (1874–1960) first seen 1904 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address to the students of Brown University, quoted in Ida Tarbell (1904) The History of the Standard Oil Company
“The Taste of Beauty, and the Relish of what is decent, just, and amiable, perfects the Character of the Gentleman, and the Philosopher. And the Study of such a Taste or Relish will, as we suppose, be ever the great Employment and Concern of him, who covets as well to be wise and good, as agreeable and polite.”
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (1671–1713) said by 1713 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A Right Mind, and Generous Affection, [has] more Beauty and Charm, than all other Symmetrys in the World besides.”
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (1671–1713) said by 1713 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Don't aim at any impossible heroisms. Strive rather to be quiet in your own sphere. Don't live in the cloudland of some transcendental heaven; do your best to bring the glory of a real heaven down, and ray it out upon your fellows in this work-day world. Seek to make trade bright with a spotless integrity, and business lustrous with the beauty of holiness.”
William Morley Punshon (1824–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The beauty of mathematics often makes the subject matter much more attractive and easier to master.”
Richard Hamming (1915–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Science and mathematics... have added little to our understanding of such things as Truth, Beauty, and Justice. There may be definite limits to the applicability of the scientific method.”
Richard Hamming (1915–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There was beauty in that body that was neither ugly nor pretty, in that face in which a sweetness eager for greater sweetnesses was its sign of life. (from "A criada")”
Clarice Lispector (1920–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“beauty is like that, it is a fraction of a second, quickness of a flash and then immediately it escapes. (p37)”
Clarice Lispector (1920–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God has given us our talents, not to copy the talents of others, but rather to use our brains and imagination in order to obtain the revelation of true beauty.”
Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933) first seen 1916 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Art Work of Louis C. Tiffany [biography dictated to Charles de Kay] (Doubleday, Page & Co New York, 1916)
“I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night's light. but hey, that would be going into sexual details...”
Mark Sanford (born 1960) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From emails to Argentine mistress; reported in "Sanford-Maria e-mails shed light on governor's affair", The State (June 25, 2009).
“Of all heroes, Spinoza was Einstein's greatest. No one expressed more strongly than he a belief in the harmony, the beauty, and most of all the ultimate comprehensibility of nature.”
John Archibald Wheeler (1911–2008) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Albert Einstein" in Biographical Memoirs (1980) Vol. 51, National Academy of Sciences.
Also quoted by: Baruch Spinoza
“To be human is to seek beauty.”
Brandon Sanderson (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She let the world consume her. The familiar sound of pencil on paper, the focus of creation. Beauty was out there, all around. To create art was not to capture it, but to participate in it.”
Brandon Sanderson (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I watched you keep your word with perfection. This is a thing lost to most people—it is the only genuine beauty in the world.”
Brandon Sanderson (born 1975) first seen 1063 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chapter 88, “The Man Who Owned the Winds” (p. 1063)
“A good rugby player is a child, by the way. That's the beauty of it. And that's why I dictate - but only when I know I'm right!”
Danie Craven (1910–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“all the light and beauty, all the grandeur and majesty of the universe are unraveled only in the tiny retinas of human beings.”
Varadaraja V. Raman (born 1932) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Beauty comes, we scarce know how, as an emanation from sources deeper than itself.”
John Campbell Shairp (1819–1885) first seen 1868 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Studies in Poetry and Philosophy (Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1868), "The Moral Dynamic", p. 434.
“It seems reasonable to expect that beauty will emerge from a fusion of the individual character and culture of the potter ,with the nature of his materials.”
Bernard Leach (1887–1979) first seen 1940 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Potters Book (1940) Faber & Faber,London 1978 (reprint of 1940)
“When I stand before the throne, Dressed in beauty not my own, When I see Thee as Thou art, Love Thee with unsinning heart, Then, Lord, shall I fully know — Not till then — how much I owe.”
Robert Murray M'Cheyne (1813–1843) said by 1843 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The rationalism of the creative minds was tempered by abundant fantasies, and the supreme beauty of the monuments was probably spoiled by the circumambient vanities and ugliness; in a few cases the Greeks came as close to perfection as it was possible to do, yet they were human and imperfect.”
George Sarton (1884–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thought, reasoning power, memory, free-will, the aesthetic perceptions of beauty and harmony, the ethical ideas of virtue, justice, duty, and self-sacrifice, and the spiritual aspirations of holiness and triumph over death, divide him from the simplest form of life.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A world of life and mystery, a world of splendor and striving and wistful beauty. Yes, it was good to live, and even if he was now to join the sun in an endless night, he was glad of what he had been given.”
Poul Anderson (1926–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At least we can put a little sense into life.” “I don’t know whether we do or whether we find what was always there,” he replied. “Nor do I care greatly. To me, the important thing is that the purpose—order, beauty, spirit, whatever you want to call it—does exist.”
Poul Anderson (1926–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whatever the fiasco, aplomb is unbroken. Mistakes, failures, stupidities and other causes of disaster mysteriously vanish. Disasters are recorded with care and pride and become transmuted into things of beauty. Official histories record every move in monumental and infinite detail but the details serve to obscure.”
Barbara Tuchman (1912–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Cannabis: The reason it's not in the Constitution is because letting states and individuals decide is in the Constitution. That thing of beauty is called the Tenth Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Ilana Mercer first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Whodunit? Who Meddled With Out Democracy?" February 8, 2018, The Unz Review.
“The pursuit of beauty is much more dangerous nonsense than the pursuit of truth or goodness, because it affords a stronger temptation to the ego.”
Northrop Frye (1912–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Maeterlinck says that compared with ordinary truths mystic truths have strange privileges—they can neither age nor die. Beauty is eternal and ugliness, thank God, is ephemeral. Can there be any question as to which should attract the poet?”
Florence Earle Coates (1850–1927) first seen 1916 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The New York Times (10 December 1916) From "Godlessness Mars Most Contemporary Poetry.
“Ugliness in poetry they may find clever and interesting. But it is only beauty that "snatches the breath and fills the eyes with tears.”
Florence Earle Coates (1850–1927) said by 1927 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth does not require your painting, brother; it is itself beauty. Unfold it, and men will be captivated. Take your brush to set off the rainbow, or give a new tinge of splendor to the setting sun, but keep it away from the "Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley.”
David Thomas (born 1813) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The beauty of physics lies in the extent to which seemingly complex and unrelated phenomena can be explained and correlated through a high level of abstraction by a set of laws which are amazing in their simplicity.”
Melvin Schwartz (1932–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ownership in the world I have none, but I have an infinite interest in it; for if not my own it is my God's; and so it is mine in a higher than a legal sense. Yes, this is the beauty, this is the whole sublimity, this is the tender delight of life — that it is of God's governing.”
William Mountford (1816–1885) said by 1885 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The beauty of a move lies not in its appearance but in the thought behind it.”
Aron Nimzowitsch (1886–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Aron Nimzowitsch, as quoted in Nimzovich : The Hypermodern (1948) by Fred Reinfeld
Also quoted by: Siegbert Tarrasch (misattributed)
“Before 1914 it was beauty that counted in cricket - elegance of strokes, stylishness of bowling action, quixotry in captaincy. The gallant gesture was just as important as the mammoth score, the picturesque as the efficient.”
Bill Edrich (1916–1986) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cricket Heritage (1948)
“Francis Bacon once said there is no beauty that hath not some strangeness to its proportion. Cameron Diaz proves that- she's got a mouth like a slice of watermelon. But the Flying Scotsman proves it to be wrong. There is no strangeness at all. He is exquisite to behold, partly because he is so nicely balanced and partly because he seems to shout "I AM VERY POWERFUL'.”
Jeremy Clarkson (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The bodily strength, the fierceness and beauty of young women.”
Martin Firrell (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’ve never seen the moon look so lovely as the night I saw it with you. It let me know I’d never seen the moon before. (Never seen the moon before) So many speak of the moon as though it had no flaws. But to compare it to a beauty like yours would give one pause.”
Prince (musician) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If there is no freedom of expression, then the beauty of life is lost. Participation in a society is not an artistic choice, it’s a human need.”
Ai Weiwei (born 1957) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Solway, Diane. “Enforced Disappearance.” W Magazine, November 2011.
“Sleep sweetly in your humble graves, Sleep, martyrs of a fallen cause; Though yet no marble column craves The pilgrim here to pause. Stoop, angels, hither from the skies! There is no holier spot of ground Than where defeated valor lies, By mourning beauty crowned!”
Henry Timrod (1828–1867) first seen 1867 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ode: Sung on the Occasion of Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead at Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, S.C., 1867", st. 1 & 5
“The museums of science are replete with fossils of species that could not last the course. The leading-coinciding-lagging indicators might be buried forever in old footnotes. But occasionally Sleeping Beauty is brought back to life by the kiss of a new Prince Charming.”
Paul Samuelson (1915–2009) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Paradise Lost & Refound: The Harvard ABC Barometers", The Journal of Portfolio Management, 13(3), 4-9, 1987
“I have always felt that one of the secrets of real beauty is simplicity.”
Rita Hayworth (1918–1987) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Article written as guest columnist for Arlene Dahl, headlined "Rita Hayworth Sees Simplicity As Part Of Beauty" in The Toledo Blade (March 11, 1964)
“An artist cannot be partially sincere any more than art can be an approximation of beauty.”
Andrei Tarkovsky (1932–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My function is to make whoever sees my films aware of his need to love and to give his love, and aware the beauty is summoning him.”
Andrei Tarkovsky (1932–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“From the point of view of photography, I'll smite the picture with sun rays. I'll take old stock shots and scratch them; I'll claw at them so that unknown beauty sees the light of day. I shall sculpt flowers upon the film stock.”
Isidore Isou (1925–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Women think of all colors except the absence of color. I have said that black has it all. White too. Their beauty is absolute. It is the perfect harmony.”
Coco Chanel (1883–1971) said by 1971 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Chanel (1987) by Jean Leymarie
“Poor shepherdless sheep! it was His delight, as the Good Shepherd, to lead them to rich pastures; and as they sat and stood around Him, they forgot their bodily wants in the beauty and power of His words.”
John Cunningham Geikie (1824–1906) said by 1906 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The first human corpse I saw had housed my grandmother’s soul. I expected a serene mien. I expected to find her sleeping. I expected a transforming beauty, something painted by Millais. Instead, the old whore petticoats of skin.”
Antonella Gambotto-Burke (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The poster first of all justified its existence on the grounds of utility, and should it further aspire to beauty of line and colour, may not our hoardings claim kinship with the galleries, and the designers of affiches pose proudly in the public eye as the masters of Holland Road or Bond Street Barbizon (and, recollect, no gate money, no catalogue)?”
Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source