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Beauty
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“Beauty is vanishing from our world because we live as though it did not matter.”
Roger Scruton (1944–2020) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: , BBC documentary (2009)
“The first effect of modernism was to make high culture difficult: to surround beauty with a wall of erudition.”
Roger Scruton (1944–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was surprised to see that there was indeed religiously sanctioned violence in it, as well as some others things which I found disturbing. But it was all intriguing, because I was entranced by the shorter, poetic chapters. I thought it very striking that this beauty could co-exist with clear mandates for warfare and violence against unbelievers.”
Robert Spencer (born 1962) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jihad will destroy us if we don't act now - Catholic Herald (18 July 2007)
“Therefore the earth is dark to me, the sunlight blackness, Therefore I go in tears and alone, by night and day; Therefore I find no love in heaven, no light, no beauty, A heaven taken by storm, where none are left but the slain!”
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (1840–1922) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Desolate City, from Collected Poems (1914)
“For one moment seek a lesser beauty and a lesser grace, but you will find no peace in the end save in her presence.”
H.D. (1886–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now from the broken tower, what solemn bell still tolls, Mourning what piteous death? Answer, O saddened souls! Who mourn the death of beauty and the death of grace.”
Lionel Johnson (1867–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Vanquished in life, his death By beauty made amends: The passing of his breath Won his defeated ends.”
Lionel Johnson (1867–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Through thee, the gracious Muses turn, To Furies, O mine Enemy! And all the things of beauty burn With flames of evil ecstasy.Because of thee, the land of dreams Becomes a gathering place of fears: Until tormented slumber seems One vehemence of useless tears.”
Lionel Johnson (1867–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“it has been long and justly remarked, that folly has ever sought alliance with beauty.”
Frances Burney (1752–1840) said by 1840 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There he was. The infant Titus. His eyes were open but he was quite still. The puckered-up face of the newly-born child, old as the world, wise as the roots of trees. Sin was there and goodness, love, pity and horror, and even beauty for his eyes were pure violet. Earth’s passions, earth’s griefs, earth’s incongruous, ridiculous humours—dormant, yet visible in the wry pippin of a face.”
Mervyn Peake (1911–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is danger in deep water, and danger is more real than beauty in a boy’s mind.”
Mervyn Peake (1911–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He had learned that there were other ways of life from the ways of his great home. He had completed an experience. He had emptied the bright goblet of romance; at a single gulp he had emptied it. The glass of it lay scattered on the floor. But with the beauty and the ugliness, the ice and the fire of it on his tongue and in his blood he could begin again.”
Mervyn Peake (1911–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To us, with our broader outlook, our more complicated interests, our more elusive moods, their small bright world is apt to seem uninteresting and out of date, unless we spend some patient sympathy in the discovery of the real charm and the real beauty that it contains.”
Lytton Strachey (1880–1932) first seen 1912 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Landmarks in French Literature (1912), ch. 4.
“The beauty of America, neither cool jazz nor devoured Egyptian heroes, lies in lives in the darkness I inhabit in the midst of sterile millions.”
Frank O'Hara (1926–1966) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ode: Salute to the French Negro Poets (l. 34-36) (1960).
“Beauty can be mask for ugliness.”
Michael Harrington (1928–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Art should be free, like sunlight and beauty. The only compensation for the artist is the chance to feed hungry hearts. ("Brothers")”
Anzia Yezierska (1880–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I care not for these ladies, That must be wooed and prayed; Give me kind Amaryllis, The wanton country maid. Nature art disdaineth; Her beauty is her own.”
Thomas Campion (1567–1620) said by 1620 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Rose-cheeked Laura, come; Sing thou smoothly with thy beauty’s Silent music, either other Sweetly gracing.”
Thomas Campion (1567–1620) said by 1620 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lovely forms do flow From conceit divinely framed; Heaven is music, and thy beauty's Birth is heavenly.”
Thomas Campion (1567–1620) said by 1620 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Only beauty purely loving Knows no discord,But still moves delight, Like clear springs renewed by flowing, Ever perfect, ever in themselves eternal.”
Thomas Campion (1567–1620) said by 1620 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sleep, angry beauty, sleep, and fear not me. For who a sleeping lion dares provoke?”
Thomas Campion (1567–1620) said by 1620 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“..there is no longer any beauty except the struggle. Any work of art that lacks a sense of aggression can never be a masterpiece.”
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876–1944) first seen 1909 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In the 'First Futurist Manifesto,' Filippo Marinetti, 1909; as quoted in Critical Writings: Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, New Edition, quoted in the text on the Back Cover, Macmillan, 7 Apr 2007
“Beauty is everlasting and dust is for a time.”
Marianne Moore (1887–1972) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In Distrust of Merits" (1944)
“Sure Beauty's empires, like to greater states, Have certain periods set, and hidden fates.”
John Suckling (1609–1642) said by 1642 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If I a fancy take To black and blue, That fancy doth it beauty make.”
John Suckling (1609–1642) said by 1642 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O, she walked unaware of her own increasing beauty That was holding men's thoughts from market or plough,”
Patrick MacDonogh (1902–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God pity me now and all desolate sinners Demented with beauty!”
Patrick MacDonogh (1902–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Personality is more important than beauty, but imagination is more important than both of them.”
Laurette Taylor (1883–1946) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Quality You Need Most, from Green Book Magazine (April 1914)
“Beauty can be sad. You're proof of that. When the damage is done, you're damaged goods. That's not to say it's not okay. I wouldn't have it any other way.A heart, a heart that hurts, is a heart, a heart that works.”
Juliana Hatfield (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People come to see beauty, and I dance to give it to them.”
Judith Jamison (1943–2024) first seen 1975 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: WomenSports magazine, p. 14 (September 1975)
“Superstition saw Something it had never seen before: Brown eyes that loved without a trace of fear, Beauty so sudden for that time of year.”
Jean Toomer (1894–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In dealing with those who share his bed, the enlightened ruler may enjoy their beauty but should not listen to their special pleas...”
Han Fei (280–233 BC) said by 233 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: from "The Eight Villanies", Han Fei Tzu: Basic Writings, Columbia University Press, New York, 1996. Translated by Burton Watson.
“This is the funeral pyre and Troy is dead That sparkled so the day I saw it first, And darkened slowly after. I am she Who loves all beauty — yet I wither it.”
Sara Teasdale (1884–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh, beauty, are you not enough? Why am I crying after love?”
Sara Teasdale (1884–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If I am peaceful, I shall see Beauty's face continually; Feeding on her wine and bread I shall be wholly comforted, For she can make one day for me Rich as my lost eternity.”
Sara Teasdale (1884–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nothing kills the soul that commands to evil (Nafs al Ammarra) like seeing the beauty of the heart.”
Shams Tabrizi (1185–1248) said by 1248 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I saw a rainbow earlier today Lately those rainbows be comin' round like everyday Deep in the struggle I have found the beauty of me God is watchin' and the Devil finally let me be Here in this moment to myself”
“What shall we do, what shall we do with all this useless beauty?”
Elvis Costello (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Smiles are the foundation of beauty.”
Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The beauty, the spirit of Germany, its sun, moon, stars, rocks, seas and rivers can never be expressed this way..”
Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840) first seen 1798 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote of Friedrich, shortly after his return in 1798; as quoted in C. D. Friedrich by H.W. Grohn; Kindlers Malerei Lexicon, Zurich, 1965, II p. 46; as cited & transl. by Linda Siegel in Caspar David Friedrich and the Ag…
“The glory of the day was in her face, The beauty of the night was in her eyes.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Glory of the Day Was in Her Face, st. 1 (1917).
“O black and unknown bards of long ago, How came your lips to touch the sacred fire? How, in your darkness, did you come to know The power and beauty of the minstrels' lyre?”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The glory of the day was in her face, The beauty of the night was in her eyes. And over all her loveliness, the grace Of Morning blushing in the early skies.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No no, Jock…we're going to push him out of a window. Your bedroom window, I think. Yes, and we'll undress him first and say that he was making advances to you and jumped out of the window in a frenzy of thwarted love." "I say, Charlie, really, what a filthy rotten idea; I mean, think of my wife." "I never think of policemen's wives, their beauty maddens me like wine.”
Kyril Bonfiglioli (1928–1985) said by 1985 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The confidence placed in physical theory owes much to its possessing the same kind of excellence from which pure geometry and pure mathematics in general derive their interest, and for the sake of which they are cultivated. ... We cannot truly account for our acceptance of such theories without endorsing our acknowledgement of a beauty that exhilarates and a profundity that entrances us.”
Michael Polanyi (1891–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The beauty of “spacing” children many years apart lies in the fact that parents have time to learn the mistakes that were made with the older ones — which permits them to make exactly the opposite mistakes with the younger ones.”
Sydney J. Harris (1917–1986) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Leaving the Surface (1968)
“We who with songs beguile your pilgrimage: And swear that Beauty lives though lilies die, We Poets of the proud old lineage Who sing to find your hearts, we know not why.”
James Elroy Flecker (1884–1915) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913) Prologue
“Beauty is a fading flower, Truth is but a wizard's tower, Where a solemn death-bell tolls, And a forest round it rolls.”
Alfred Noyes (1880–1958) said by 1958 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Dawn, ever bearing some divine increase Of beauty, love, and wisdom round the world, Dawn, like a wild-rose in the fields of heaven Washed grey with dew, awoke, and found the barque At anchor in a little land-locked bay.”
Alfred Noyes (1880–1958) said by 1958 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Darvin listened to the hymn with a mixture of enjoyment of its beauty and disdain of its content.”
Ken MacLeod (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source