We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
He looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food.
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) American Novelist
A golden cage is still a cage.
—Mexican Proverb
The time will come when it will disgust you to look in the mirror.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
I have yet to meet a man as fond of high moral conduct as he is of outward appearances.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Every person is responsible for his own looks after 40.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.
—Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Florentine Political Philosopher
I have been very happy, very rich, very beautiful, much adulated, very famous, and very unhappy.
—Brigitte Bardot (b.1934) French Film Star
What had seemed easy in imagination was rather hard in reality.
—Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942) Canadian Novelist
With nice appearance people want to be deceived.
—German Proverb
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Appearances can be deceiving.
—English Proverb
Looking the part helps get the chance to fill it. But if you fill the part, it matters not if you look it.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearance, as though they were realities and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.
—Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Florentine Political Philosopher
Things are seldom what they seem.
—W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) English Dramatist, Librettist, Poet, Illustrator
First impressions are often the truest, as we find (not infrequently) to our cost, when we have been wheedled out of them by plausible professions or studied actions. A man’s look is the work of years; it is stamped on his countenance by the events of his whole life, nay, more, by the hand of nature, and it is not to be got rid of easily.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
To establish yourself in the world a person must do all they can to appear already established.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Think not I am what I appear.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
A narcissist is someone better looking than you are.
—Gore Vidal (1925–48) American Novelist, Essayist, Journalist, Playwright
How little do they see what really is, who frame their hasty judgment upon that which seems.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
I have told you of the Spaniard who always put on his spectacles when about to eat cherries, that they might look bigger and more tempting. In like manner I make the most of my enjoyments; and though I do not cast my cares away, I pack them in as little compass as I can, and carry them as conveniently as I can for myself, and never let them annoy others.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
A large nose is the mark of a witty, courteous, affable, generous and liberal man.
—Cyrano de Bergerac (1619–55) French Soldier, Duelist, Writer
No person who is well bred, kind and modest is ever offensively plain; all real deformity means want for manners or of heart.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
Woman cannot be content with health and agility: she must make exorbitant efforts to appear something that never could exist without a diligent perversion of nature. Is it too much to ask that women be spared the daily struggle for superhuman beauty in order to offer it to the caresses of a subhumanly ugly mate?
—Germaine Greer (b.1939) Australia Academic, Journalist, Scholar, Writer
The Lord prefers common looking people. That is why he made so many of them.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
It’s nothing to be born ugly. Sensibly, the ugly woman comes to terms with her ugliness and exploits it as a grace of nature. To become ugly means the beginning of a calamity, self-willed most of the time.
—Colette (1873–1954) French Novelist, Performer
The secret of ugliness consists not in irregularity, but in being uninteresting.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
A hair in the head is worth two in the brush.
—Oliver Herford (1860–1935) Canadian-American Writer, Illustrator
Neglect of appearance becomes men.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
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