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Beauty

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“With women there is neither caste nor rank, for beauty, grace and charm take the place of family and birth. Natural ingenuity, instinct for what is elegant, a supple mind are their sole hierarchy, and often make of women of the people the equals of the very greatest ladies. Mathilde suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born to enjoy all delicacies and all luxuries.”
Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893) said by 1893 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And, growing tired, we turn aside at last, Remember our secret selves, seek out our towers, Lay weary hands on the banisters, and climb; Climbing, each, to his little four-square dream Of love or lust or beauty or death or crime.”
Conrad Aiken (1889–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Time is a dream, he thinks, a destroying dream; It lays great cities in dust, it fills the seas; It covers the face of beauty, and tumbles walls. Where was the woman he loved? Where was his youth? Where was the dream that burned his brain like fire? Even a dream grows grey at last and falls.”
Conrad Aiken (1889–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What was this dream we had, a dream of music, Music that rose from the opening earth like magic And shook its beauty upon us and died away? The long cold streets extend once more before us. The red sun drops, the walls grow grey.”
Conrad Aiken (1889–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The young boy whistles, hurrying down the street, The young girl hums beneath her breath. One goes out to beauty, and does not know it. And one goes out to death.”
Conrad Aiken (1889–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To penetrate into the essence of all being and significance and to release the fragrance of that inner attainment for the guidance and benefit of others, by expressing, in the world of forms, truth, love, purity and beauty — this is the sole game which has intrinsic and absolute worth. All other happenings, incidents and attainments in themselves can have no lasting importance.”
Meher Baba (1894–1969) first seen 1967 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Discourses (1967), Volume II, § The Place of Occultism in Spiritual Life: III, p. 113
“This whole universe, with all its vastness, grandeur and beauty, is nothing but sheer imagination. In spite of so many discoveries, researches and scientific knowledge, the creation remains a great unsolved riddle.”
Meher Baba (1894–1969) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Message in Bombay (October 1922), p. 431.
“Japan lives with drastic segregation between the sublime, the ugly, and the utterly without qualities. Dominance of the last 2 categories makes mere presence of the first stunning: when beauty 'happens', it is absolutely surprising.”
Rem Koolhaas (born 1944) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From "Learning Japanese", published in S,M,L,XL, New York: The Monacelli Press, 1995
“All over the world people are dying of poverty but that is not the case here in Fiji because the beauty about Fiji is that people are always ready to help those in need.”
Asenaca Caucau wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An instant's visitor the godhead shone. On life's thin border awhile the Vision stood And bent over earth's pondering forehead curve. Interpreting a recondite beauty and bliss In colour's hieroglyphs of mystic sense, It wrote the lines of a significant myth Telling of a greatness of spiritual dawns, A brilliant code penned with the sky for page.”
Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...as with most redheaded women what beauty she possessed was protean and odd.”
Michael Chabon (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She says, "But in contentment I still feel The need of some imperishable bliss. "Death is the mother of Beauty; hence from her, Alone, shall come fulfilment to our dreams And our desires.”
Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Today’s fashion magazines may carry an article about the dangers of anorexia while bombarding its readers with images of emaciated young bodies representing the height of beauty and desirability.”
Bell hooks (1952–2021) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics (2014), p.34
“A dangerous form of psychological splitting had to have taken place, and it continues to take place, in the psyches of many African Americans who can on one hand oppose racism, and then on the other hand passively absorb ways of thinking about beauty that are rooted in white supremacist thought.”
Bell hooks (1952–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When television screens had only rare images of black folks, black people were more critically vigilant about these representations. Even when blackness was represented 'positiviely,' as it was in early black television shows like Julia, which focused on the life of a black nurse, the beauty standard was a reflection of white supremacist aesthetics.”
Bell hooks (1952–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The more Lil' Kim distorted her natural beauty to become a cartoonlike caricature of whiteness, the larger her success.”
Bell hooks (1952–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Teddy — I suppose Mummy and Daddy are real, aren't they?" Teddy said, "You ask such silly questions, David. Nobody knows what 'real' really means. Let's go indoors." "First I'm going to have another rose!" Plucking a bright pink flower, he carried it with him into the house. It could lie on the pillow as he went to sleep. Its beauty and softness reminded him of Mummy.”
Brian Aldiss (1925–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ah, Lalage! while life is ours, Hoard not thy beauty rose and white, But pluck the pretty, fleeting flowers That deck our little path of light: For all too soon we twain shall tread The bitter pastures of the dead: Estranged, sad spectres of the night.”
Ernest Dowson (1867–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Charisma is the radiance produced by the interaction of male and female elements in a gifted personality. The charismatic woman has a masculine force and severity. The charismatic man has an entrancing female beauty. Both are hot and cold, glowing with presexual self-love.”
Camille Paglia (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men, gay or straight, can get beauty and lewdness into one image. Women are forever softening, censoring, politicizing.”
Camille Paglia (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The clean delicate lines of her figure, the exquisite pure colouring of hair and skin, the charming young arrogance of the eyes — this was beauty, he reflected, a miracle, a revelation. Her virginal fineness and her dress, which was the tint of pale fire, gave her the air of a creature of ice and flame.”
John Buchan (1875–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We think of beauty as being most worthy of reverence. But what is most worthy of reverence lights up only where the magnificent strength to revere is alive. To revere is not a thing for the petty and lowly, the incapacitated and underdeveloped. It is a matter of tremendous passion; only what flows from such passion is in the grand style.”
Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The beauty of the brain is that you can still be as greedy as you like for knowledge and it doesn’t show.”
Stephen Fry (born 1957) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Radio Times interview (2013)
“… but love, like all art, as Oscar said, it's quite useless. It is the useless things that make life worth living and that make life dangerous too: wine, love, art, beauty. Without them life is safe but not worth bothering with.”
Stephen Fry (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For the man sound in body and serene of mind there is no such thing as bad weather; every sky has its beauty, and storms which whip the blood do but make it pulse more vigorously.”
George Gissing (1857–1903) said by 1903 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are people, also, who cannot believe that beauty and gaiety are a part of goodness. When we think of cruelty, we must try to remember the stupidity, the envy, the frustration from which it has arisen.”
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I believe Beauty is the condition of the perfect life, just as important as Virtue and Truth.”
Stuart Merrill (1863–1915) said by 1915 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'Tis hard with respect to Beauty, that its possessor should not have even a life-enjoyment of it, but be compelled to resign it after, at the most, some forty years' lease.”
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) said by 1863 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Beauty, which is what is meant by art, using the word in its widest sense, is, I contend, no mere accident to human life, which people can take or leave as they choose, but a positive necessity of life.”
William Morris (1834–1896) first seen 1880 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Beauty of Life (1880)
“With the arrogance of youth, I determined to do no less than to transform the world with Beauty. If I have succeeded in some small way, if only in one small corner of the world, amongst the men and women I love, then I shall count myself blessed, and blessed, and blessed, and the work goes on.”
William Morris (1834–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Jan Marsh, William Morris & Red House (2005), p. 65
“On the occasion of my 65th birthday, I wish to hand over to the State my properties that contribute to the attractiveness and beauty of the places where they are located.”
Leopold II of Belgium (1835–1909) first seen 1900 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Immo Royal, In Belgium you can find more than 7,500 hectares of royal real estate. Journalists conducted an in-depth investigation into the patrimony of the Royal Donation for the first time in 90 years. King Leopold II…
“It's the way that you kiss, the way that you give back, The way you love me like this -- look at the beauty of that. These are the tangled words of our love, that we both do untie -- Same old ways, same old spice, same old paradise.”
Amber (singer) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Same Old Paradise", My Kind of World (2004).
“But we all do sort of the same thing and that is rearrange what you thought was real, and, uh, they remind you of the beauty of very simple things. You forget, because you're so busy going from A to Z, that there's, uh, 24 letters in between.”
Grace Slick (born 1939) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview on the History Channel documentary Getting High - The History of LSD, 2001; sampled on Drop Out by Infected Mushroom
“Don't run back inside Darling you know just what I'm here for. So you're scared and you're thinking That maybe we ain't that young anymore. Show a little faith, there's magic in the night; You ain't a beauty but hey you're all right. Oh and that's all right with me.”
Bruce Springsteen (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lady writer on the TV She had all the brains and the beauty. The picture does not fit You talked to me when you felt like it. Just the way that her hair fell down around her face Then I recall my fall from grace Another time, another place.”
Mark Knopfler (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I see the lost Love in beauty Go gliding over the main: I feel the ancient sweetness, The worm and the wormwood again.”
Francis Turner Palgrave (1824–1897) said by 1897 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“True silence is the speech of lovers. For only love knows its beauty, completeness and utter joy.”
Catherine Doherty (1896–1985) said by 1985 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She was more like a beauty queen from a movie scene, I said, 'Don't mind, but what do you mean I am the one, Who will dance, on the floor, in the round?'”
Michael Jackson (1958–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Warriors of the light are not perfect. Their beauty lies in accepting this fact and still desiring to grow and to learn.”
Paulo Coelho (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When we meet someone and fall in love, we have a sense that the whole universe is on our side. And yet if something goes wrong, there is nothing left! How is it possible for the beauty that was there only minutes before to vanish so quickly? Life moves very fast. It rushes from heaven to hell in a matter of seconds.”
Paulo Coelho (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you chance to live in a town where the authorities cannot rest until they have destroyed every precious tree within their blighting reach, you will be especially charmed by the beauty of the streets of Portsmouth. In some parts of the town, when the chestnuts are in blossom, you would fancy yourself in a garden in fairyland.”
Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836–1907) said by 1907 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The cinema...may have a specific beauty of its own, but it does not permit that constant re-reading, that meditative brooding, those turning-back to passages heavily charged with meaning, which form the special pleasure of the novel-reader.”
André Maurois (1885–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“(…) Is not meanness also a form of madness? And is not madness the misuse of the mind? Humanity’s problem lies in this misuse of the mind only. All the treasures of nature and spirit are open to man who will use his mind rightly. (…) Fear and greed cause the misuse of the mind. The right use of mind is in the service of love, of life, of truth, of beauty.”
Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If we cover and obliterate man’s faults and consider the beauty and dignity of God’s image in him, then we shall be induced to love and embrace him (Heb 12:16; Gal 6:10; Isa 58:7; Matt 5:44; Luke 17:3-4)”
John Calvin (1509–1564) said by 1564 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words. They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of the character, though few can decypher even fragments of their meaning.”
Lydia Maria Child (1802–1880) said by 1880 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Beauty is a simple passion, but, oh my friends, in the end you will dance the fire dance in iron shoes.”
Anne Sexton (1928–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Beauty often fades, but seldom so swiftly as the joy it gives us.”
Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To find beauty in ugliness is the province of the poet.”
Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) first seen 1840 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement (5 August 1888), as quoted in The Life of Thomas Hardy 1840-1928 (1962) by Florence Emily Hardy
“Mathemagical mathematics combines the beauty of mathematical structure with the entertainment value of a trick.”
Martin Gardner (1914–2010) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mathematics, Magic, and Mystery (1956), p. ix
“The reality is that we're all in the wilderness, and we have to survive on our own, and things constantly change and if we don't accept that, then we're just trying to fool ourselves. But the beauty of wilderness is that sometimes you can wake up in the morning and feel so sweet and whole.”
Sophie B. Hawkins (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source