The first question I ask myself when something doesn’t seem to be beautiful is why do I think it’s not beautiful? And very shortly you discover that there is no reason. — John Cage
The easiest thing God does is make beautiful things. — Bill Purdin
It’s not that you have to be beautiful to be happy. It’s that you have to be happy to be beautiful. — Bill Purdin
Order is the shape upon which beauty depends. — Pearl Buck
Who are these historians of beauty who make us all drink up and from the same cup? — Bill Purdin
Never compare your inside with somebody else’s outside. — Hugh Macleod
Anything looked at closely becomes wonderful. — A. R. Ammons
You can only perceive real beauty in a person as they get older. — Anouk Aimee
Beauty is the purgation of superfluities. — Michelangelo Buonarroti
Beware so long as you live, of judging people by appearances. — La Fontaine
People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within. — Elizabeth Kübler-Ross
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
— Sir Francis Bacon
Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together. — Petrarch
Being the ugly duckling syndrome is a blessing in disguise. It sends you forth with a far, far greater awareness of fairness and a sensitivity to others than all the swans can ever dream of. I wish there were more ugly ducklings. — Bill Purdin
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, not touched . . . but are felt in the heart. — Helen Keller
It is the mind that makes the body. — Sojourner Truth
Beauty is the promise of happiness. — Stendahl (Henri Beyle)
The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express. — Francis Bacon
From The New York Times… click for a larger view.
Even in the midst of terrible human turmoil, there is beauty always quietly thriving around us. — Bill Purdin