"Those who are accustomed to enlightened views on this subject, will know also that there are different kinds of personal beauty, amongst which, that of form and colouring holds a very inferior rank. There is a beauty of expression, for instance, of sweetness, of nobility, of intellectual refinement, of feeling, of animation, of meekness, of resignation, and many other kinds of beauty, which may all be allied to the plainest features, and yet may remain, to give pleasure long after the blooming cheek has faded, and silver gray has mingled with the hair. And how far more powerful in their influence upon others, are some of these kinds of beauty! for, after all, beauty depends more upon the movements of the face, than upon the form of the features when at rest; and thus, a countenance habitually under the influence of amiable feelings acquires a beauty of the highest order, from the frequency with which such feelings are the originating cause of the movements or expressions which stamp their character upon it."
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Original Language: English
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The Daughters of England (London and Paris: Fisher, Son, & Co., [1842]), pp. 173–74
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sarah_Stickney_Ellis
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Sarah Stickney Ellis
Sarah Stickney Ellis (née Stickney; 1799 – 16 June 1872) was an English author. She was a Quaker turned Congregationalist. Her numerous books are mostly about women's roles in society. She argued that women had a religious duty as daughters, wives and mothers to provide an influence for good that would improve society.
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