Beauty, Defined

Beauty, Defined 

1. As fair as day —William Shakespeare
2. Beauty as definite as that of a symphony by Beethoven or a picture by Titian —W. Somerset Maugham
3. Beauty can pierce one like a pain —Thomas Mann
4. Beauty in a modest woman is like a distant fire or a sharp-edged sword: the one does not burn, the other does not cut, those who do not come near it —Miguel de Cervantes
5. Beauty is a fading flower —The Holy Bible/Isaiah
6. Beauty is like an almanac; if it lasts a year, it is well —Thomas Adam
7. Beauty is like summer fruits which are easy to corrupt and cannot last —Francis Bacon

   Transposed for modern style from “Beauty is as summer fruits.”

8. Beauty ... is like the morning dew —Samuel Daniel
9. Beauty is like the surf that never ceases —Struthers Burt
10. Beauty is the virtue of the body, as virtue is the beauty of the soul —Ralph Waldo Emerson
11. Beauty, like supreme dominion, is best supported by opinion —Jonathan Swift
12. Beauty, like truth and justice, lives within us —George Bancroft
13. Beauty, like wit, to judges should be shown —Lord Lyttleton
14. The beauty of a lovely woman is like music —George Eliot
15. Beauty passes like a breath —Alfred, Lord Tennyson
16. Beauty’s a flower —William Shakespeare
17. Beauty vanishes like vapor —Harriet Prescott Spofford
18. Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait —Ralph Waldo Emerson
19. Beauty without modesty is like a flower broken from its stem —Anon
20. Beauty without virtue is a rose without fragrance —German and Danish proverbs
21. Glorious beauty is a fading flower —The Holy Bible/Isaiah
22. Women’s beauty, like men’s wit, is generally fatal to the owners —Lord Chesterfield

    Had Chesterfield lived to become attuned to nonsexist language he might have eliminated the gender references as follows:“Beauty, like wit, is generally fatal to the owners.”