Appearances are not held to be a clue to the truth. But we seem to have no other.
—Ivy Compton-Burnett (1884–1969) English Novelist
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.
—Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
I seated ugliness on my knee, and almost immediately grew tired of it.
—Salvador Dali (1904–89) Spanish Painter
Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
There is nothing in machinery, there is nothing in embankments and railways and iron bridges and engineering devices to oblige them to be ugly. Ugliness is the measure of imperfection.
—H. G. Wells (1866–1946) English Novelist, Historian, Social Thinker
What a poor appearance the tales of poets make when stripped of the colors which music puts upon them, and recited in simple prose.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
I have been very happy, very rich, very beautiful, much adulated, very famous, and very unhappy.
—Brigitte Bardot (b.1934) French Film Star
Bad weather always looks worse through a window.
—Tom Lehrer (1928–2025) American Musician, Satirist, Mathematician
Barring that natural expression of villainy which we all have, the man looked honest enough.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
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
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
Appearances are deceptive.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
Appearance rules the world.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
There’s one thing about baldness, it’s neat.
—Don Herold (1889–1966) American Humorist, Writer, Illustrator, Cartoonist
The cat is the mirror of his human’s mind…the dog mirrors his human’s physical appearance.
—Winifred Carriere
One man is more concerned with the impression he makes on the rest of mankind, another with the impression the rest of mankind makes on him.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
It is not once nor twice but times without number that the same ideas make their appearance in the world.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory.
—Arthur Ashe (1943–93) American Tennis Player
Appearances can be deceiving.
—English Proverb
A golden cage is still a cage.
—Mexican Proverb
With nice appearance people want to be deceived.
—German Proverb
There are no greater wretches in the world than many of those whom people in general take to be happy.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Appearances are often deceiving.
—Aesop (620–564 BCE) Greek Fabulist
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
Things are seldom what they seem.
—W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) English Dramatist, Librettist, Poet, Illustrator
Don’t judge men’s wealth or godliness by their Sunday appearance.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The Lord prefers common looking people. That is why he made so many of them.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
How little do they see what really is, who frame their hasty judgment upon that which seems.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
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
Against the beautiful and the clever and the successful, one can wage a pitiless war, but not against the unattractive: then the millstone weighs on the breast.
—Graham Greene (1904–1991) British Novelist, Short Story Writer, Playwright
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