"They seemed to whisper: "How handsome she is! What wavy tresses! what sweet perfume! Under her mantle she hides her wings; Her flower of a bonnet is just in bloom.""

"L'admiration pour le beau se rapporte toujours à la Divinité."

"Beauty, my dear Sir, is not so much a quality of the object beheld, as an effect in him who beholds it. If our sight were longer or shorter, or if our constitution were different, what now appears beautiful to us would seem misshapen, and what we now think misshapen we should regard as beautiful. The most beautiful hand seen through the microscope will appear horrible. Some things are beautiful at a distance, but ugly near; thus things regarded in themselves, and in relation to God, are neither ugly nor beautiful. Therefore, he who says that God has created the world, so that it might be beautiful, is bound to adopt one of the two alternatives, either that God created the world for the sake of men's pleasure and eyesight, or else that He created men's pleasure and eyesight for the sake of the world. ...Perfection and imperfection are names which do not differ much from the names beauty and ugliness. ... This I know, that between finite and infinite there is no comparison; so that the difference between God and the greatest and most excellent created thing is no less than the difference between God and the least created thing."

"Her face so faire, as flesh it seemed not, But heavenly pourtraict of bright angels' hew, Cleare as the skye withouten blame or blot, Through goodly mixture of complexion's dew."

"For all that faire is, is by nature good; That is a signe to know the gentle blood."

"The saying that beauty is but skin deep, is but a skin-deep saying."

"To me the most beautiful thing is vulnerability."

"Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?"

"Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee."

"O beloved Pan, and all ye other gods of this place, grant me to become beautiful in the inner man."

"Beauty is a magnet: repels some, attracts many, leaves no one unmoved."

"She died in beauty—like a rose blown from its parent stem."

"A lovely lady, garmented in light From her own beauty."

"I've fought the good fight. And now it’s all over, there's an indescribable peace. ... I believe in Michelangelo, Velásquez and Rembrandt; in the might of design, the mystery of color, the redemption of all things by beauty everlasting and the message of Art that has made these hands blessed. Amen. Amen."

"There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple: If the ill spirit have so fair a house, Good things will strive to dwell with't."

"'Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on."

"Say that she frown; I'll say she looks as clear As morning roses newly wash'd with dew."

"O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!"

"Her beauty makes This vault a feasting presence full of light."

"O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night, Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear: Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!"

"Beauty itself doth of itself persuade The eyes of men without an orator."

"I'll not shed her blood; Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, And smooth as monumental alabaster."

"He hath a daily beauty in his life."

"Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good; A shining gloss, that fadeth suddenly; A flower that dies, when first it 'gins to bud; A brittle glass, that's broken presently: A doubtful good, a gloss, a glass, a flower, Lost, faded, broken, dead within an hour."

"Beauty is a witch, Against whose charms faith melteth into blood."

"Beauty doth varnish age."

"Beauty is brought by judgment of the eye, Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongues."

"Of Nature's gifts thou may'st with lilies boast And with the half-blown rose."

"Heaven bless thee! Thou hast the sweetest face I ever looked on; Sir, as I have a soul, she is an angel."

"Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold."

"For her own person, It beggar'd all description."

"Beauty comes, we know not how, as an emanation from sources deeper than itself."

"Why thus longing, thus forever sighing For the far-off, unattain'd, and dim, While the beautiful all round thee lying Offers up its low, perpetual hymn?"

"Spirit of Beauty, whose sweet impulses, Flung like the rose of dawn across the sea, Alone can flush the exalted consciousness With shafts of sensible divinity— Light of the world, essential loveliness."

"There was a soft and pensive grace, A cast of thought upon her face, That suited well the forehead high, The eyelash dark, and downcast eve."

"And ne'er did Grecian chisel trace A Nymph, a Naiad, or a Grace, Of finer form, or lovelier face!"

"Das ist das Loos des Schönen auf der Erde!"

"Die Wahrheit ist vorhanden für den Weisen. Die Schönheit für ein fühlend Herz."

"Damals war nichts heilig, als das Schöne."

"Das Unendliche endlich dargestellt ist Schönheit."

"All things of beauty are not theirs alone Who hold the fee; but unto him no less Who can enjoy, than unto them who own, Are sweetest uses given to possess."

"True beauty is in the mind; and the expression of the features depends more upon the moral nature than most people are aware of."

"Beauty endures only for as long as it can be seen; Goodness, beautiful today, will remain so tomorrow."

"Some say a host of cavalry, some say infantry. Some say a host of ships, is the loveliest thing Upon this dark earth; but I say It's whatever you love."

"The beauty that addresses itself to the eyes is only the spell of the moment; the eye of the body is not always that of the soul."

"I do not understand where the 'beauty' and 'harmony' of nature are supposed to be found. Throughout the animal kingdom, animals ruthlessly prey upon each other. Most of them are either cruelly killed by other animals or slowly die of hunger. For my part, I am unable to see any very great beauty or harmony in the tapeworm. Let it not be said that this creature is sent as a punishment for our sins, for it is more prevalent among animals than among humans. I suppose what is meant by this 'beauty' and 'harmony' are such things as the beauty of the starry heavens. But one should remember that the stars every now and again explode and reduce everything in their neighborhood to a vague mist. Beauty, in any case, is subjective and exists only in the eye of the beholder."

"Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty – a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture, without appeal to any part of our weaker nature, without the gorgeous trappings of painting or music, yet sublimely pure, and capable of a stern perfection such as only the greatest art can show. The true spirit of delight, the exaltation, the sense of being more than Man, which is the touchstone of highest excellence, is to be found in mathematics as surely as in poetry."

"Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies, for instance."

"Is she not more than painting can express, Or youthful poets fancy, when they love?"