Beauty, Defined
Beauty, Defined
- As fair as day —William Shakespeare
- Beauty as definite as that of a symphony by Beethoven or a picture by Titian —W. Somerset Maugham
- Beauty can pierce one like a pain —Thomas Mann
- 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
- Beauty is a fading flower —The Holy Bible/Isaiah
- Beauty is like an almanac; if it lasts a year, it is well —Thomas Adam
- 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.”
- Beauty ... is like the morning dew —Samuel Daniel
- Beauty is like the surf that never ceases —Struthers Burt
- Beauty is the virtue of the body, as virtue is the beauty of the soul —Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Beauty, like supreme dominion, is best supported by opinion —Jonathan Swift
- Beauty, like truth and justice, lives within us —George Bancroft
- Beauty, like wit, to judges should be shown —Lord Lyttleton
- The beauty of a lovely woman is like music —George Eliot
- Beauty passes like a breath —Alfred, Lord Tennyson
- Beauty’s a flower —William Shakespeare
- Beauty vanishes like vapor —Harriet Prescott Spofford
- Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait —Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Beauty without modesty is like a flower broken from its stem —Anon
- Beauty without virtue is a rose without fragrance —German and Danish proverbs
- Glorious beauty is a fading flower —The Holy Bible/Isaiah
- 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.”
Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.