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Beauty

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“Do not go to the garden of flowers! O Friend! go not there; In your body is the garden of flowers. Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus, and there gaze on the Infinite Beauty.”
Kabir (1398–1518) said by 1518 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Of surpassing beauty and in the bloom of youth.”
Terence (185–159 BC) said by 159 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Cherish the Minnesota State Fair. Wherever you find beauty and simplicity and truth, know that there is a committee somewhere planning to improve it --- don't let them do it.”
Garrison Keillor (born 1942) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: University of Minnesota Alumni Association (UMAA) Annual Meeting Keynote Speech (29 April 1992) UMAA 199204 to 199306 Meeting Minutes
“People say, I am afraid of changes. But who is asking you to change? Knowledge is not a change. When you see yourself in the mirror, the first thing you will realize is that beauty that you have always looked for is right there. That's the first thing you will realize. That, to me, is the magic of this Knowledge.”
Prem Rawat (born 1957) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Escobar, Argentina, January 23, 1991
“When I was born good fairies clustered round my cradle, showering me with wit, beauty, grace, freedom from dandruff, natural piety and other great gifts, but the Wicked Fairy Carabosse (who had not been invited to the party) crept to my side and screamed "Let him be cursed with Inability To Do Little Jobs Around The House", and so it has always been.”
Robertson Davies (1913–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There was a beauty here, refined from country pastures, a game of solitariness, of waiting, waiting for the pitcher to complete his gaze toward first base and throw his lightning, a game whose very taste, of spit and dust and grass and sweat and leather and sun, was America.”
John Updike (1932–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every person is worthy of an infinite wealth of love — the beauty of his soul knows no limit.”
Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O Woman, you are not merely the handiwork of God, but also of men; these are ever endowing you with beauty from their own hearts … You are one-half woman and one-half dream.”
Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Life's errors cry for the merciful beauty that can modulate their isolation into a harmony with the whole.”
Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nobody wants a girl whose beauty is imperceptible to all but him...”
Germaine Greer (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The most powerful entities on earth are not governments but the multi-national corporations that see women as their territory, indoctrinating them with their versions of beauty, health and hygiene, medicating them and cultivating their dependency in order to medicate them some more.”
Germaine Greer (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The beauty of nature lies in detail; the message, in generality.”
Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002) said by 2002 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The true beauty of nature is her amplitude; she exists neither for nor because of us, and possesses a staying power that all our nuclear arsenals cannot threaten (much as we can easily destroy our puny selves).”
Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002) said by 2002 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Darwinian evolution may be the most truthful and powerful idea ever generated by Western Science, but if we continue to illustrate our conviction with an indefensible, unsupported, entirely speculative, and basically rather silly story, then we are clothing a thing of beauty in rags - and we should be ashamed, "for the apparel oft proclaims the man.”
Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002) said by 2002 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only through Beauty's morning gate, dost thou enter the land of Knowledge.”
Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) said by 1805 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is through beauty that we arrive at freedom.”
Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) said by 1805 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The intelligible forms of ancient poets, The fair humanities of old religion, The power, the beauty, and the majesty That had their haunts in dale or piny mountain, Or forest by slow stream, or pebbly spring, Or chasms and watery depths, — all these have vanished; They live no longer in the faith of reason.”
Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) said by 1805 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Beauty is a magnet: repels some, attracts many, leaves no one unmoved.”
Robert Silverberg (born 1935) first seen 1972 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In The Far Side of Time: Thirteen Original Stories, edited by Roger Elwood; reprinted in The Collected Stories Volume 4: Trips 1972-73, , p. 161
“Ah, ah, thy beauty! like a beast it bites, Stings like an adder, like an arrow smites.”
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) said by 1909 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Though one were fair as roses His beauty clouds and closes.”
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) said by 1909 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Beauty was the promise of happiness, not happiness itself; and the anticipated world was often more rich than anything real.”
Kim Stanley Robinson (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Beauty is power and elegance, right action, form fitting function, intelligence, and reasonability. And very often,” he grinned and pushed at her belly, “expressed in curves.”
Kim Stanley Robinson (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in the library?”
Jane Wagner (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Lily Tomlin
“Did the great Creator first draw her in a masterpiece, And then touch life into his art? Or did he make her in his mind alone, Drawing on beauty’s every part? No—considering her singular perfection And her maker’s true omnipotence, I suppose her some quite unique creation In femininity’s treasure house.”
Kalidasa (active around 400) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Act 2 (tr. W. J. Johnson, 2001)
“A blossom yet unsmelt, A tender shoot unpinched, A gem uncut, Untasted, fresh-fermented honey-wine, The fruit of proper actions Still intact— A beauty without fault or flaw.”
Kalidasa (active around 400) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Act 2 (tr. W. J. Johnson, 2001)
“A graceful arch of brows above great eyes; Lips bathed in darting, smiling light that flies Reflected from white teeth; a mouth as red As red karkandhu-fruit; love’s brightness shed O’er all her face in bursts of liquid charm— The picture speaks, with living beauty warm.”
Kalidasa (active around 400) first seen 1912 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Act 6 (tr. Arthur W. Ryder, 1912)
“Underneath this stone doth lie As much beauty as could die; Which in life did harbor give To more virtue than doth live.”
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For me, a page of good prose is where one hears the rain [and] the noise of battle. [It] has the power to give grief or universality that lends it a youthful beauty.”
John Cheever (1912–1982) first seen 1982 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Accepting National Medal for Literature (April 27, 1982).
“Among the virtues and vices that make up the British character, we have one vice, at least, that Americans ought to view with sympathy. For they appear to be the only people who share it with us. I mean our worship of the antique. I do not refer to beauty or even historical association. I refer to age, to a quantity of years.”
William Golding (1911–1993) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: An Affection for Cathedrals". From Holiday magazine, December 1965
“But the speed was power, and the speed was joy, and the speed was pure beauty.”
Richard Bach (born 1936) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And what is there else but pleasure, and to what else does beauty move on?”
Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) said by 1953 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I recognised that I was (and I confessed) in that attitude of the mind wherein men admit mortality; something had already passed from me—I mean that fresh and vigorous morning of the eyes wherein the beauty of this land had been reflected as in a tiny mirror of burnished silver. Youth was gone out apart; it was loved and regretted, and therefore no longer possessed.”
Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) said by 1953 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Of three in One and One in three My narrow mind would doubting be Till Beauty, Grace and Kindness met And all at once were Juliet.”
Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) said by 1953 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926–2004) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Leader's Digest : Timeless Principles for Team and Organization (2003) by Jim Clemmer, p. 84
“What distressed me most — more even than my own folly — was the perplexing question, How can beauty and ugliness dwell so near?”
George MacDonald (1824–1905) said by 1905 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You may like it, you may not, but you’ll have to endure it, my beauty.”
Vladimir Putin (born 1952) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoting either Russian folklore or necrophiliac punk rock lyrics, in reference to Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presumed attitude to the Minsk agreements, during a press conference with President of France Macron on February 8,…
“Beauty cannot be defined by abscissas and ordinates; neither are circles and ellipses created by their geometrical formulas.”
Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831) said by 1831 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My thoughts hold mortal strife; I do detest my life, And with lamenting cries Peace to my soul to bring Oft call that prince which here doth monarchise: — But he, grim-grinning King, Who caitiffs scorns, and doth the blest surprise, Late having deck'd with beauty's rose his tomb, Disdains to crop a weed, and will not come.”
William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585–1649) said by 1649 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So I walk like I'm on a mission cuz that's the way I groove. I got more and more to do, I got less and less to prove. It took me too long to realize that I don't take good pictures Cuz I have the kind of beauty that moves.”
Ani DiFranco (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sometimes the beauty is easy. Sometimes you don't have to try at all. Sometimes you can hear the wind blow in a handshake. Sometimes there's poetry written right on the bathroom wall.”
Ani DiFranco (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And if one is to express the great inevitable defeat that awaits us all, it must be done within the strict confines of dignity and beauty.”
Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "2011's Prince of Asturias Prize for Letters
“I'm guided by a signal in the heavens I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.”
Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And clenching your fist for the ones like us who are oppressed by the figures of beauty, you fixed yourself, you said, "Well never mind, we are ugly but we have the music.”
Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.”
Sophia Loren (born 1934) first seen 1982 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Morrow's International Dictionary of Contemporary Quotations (1982) by Jonathon Green, p. 340.
“Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked.”
Augustine of Hippo (354–430) said by 430 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The light will not shame you, if it shows you your own ugliness, and that ugliness so offends you that you perceive the beauty of the light.”
Augustine of Hippo (354–430) said by 430 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: First Homily, as translated by John Burnaby (1955), p. 262
“Truth and beauty. That’s what I hope to deliver.”
Joni Mitchell (born 1943) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview (2021)
“You go down to the pick up station Craving warmth and beauty You settle for less than fascination A few drinks later you're not so choosy When the closing lights strip off the shadows On this strange new flesh you've found Clutching the night to you like a fig leaf You hurry To the blackness And the blankets To lay down an impression And your loneliness.”
Joni Mitchell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A person who is shallow aspires to depth; one who is ugly aspires to beauty; one who is narrow aspires to breadth; one who is poor aspires to wealth; one who is humble aspires to esteem. Whatever one lacks in oneself he must seek outside.”
Xunzi (philosopher) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sources of Chinese Tradition (1999), vol. 1, p. 181
“To the sane and free it will hardly seem necessary to cross the continent in search of wild beauty, however easy the way, for they find it in abundance wherever they chance to be.”
John Muir (1838–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source