Quotes about appearance
page 6

“That what appears to be egoism so often isn't.”

Source: The Pale King

“Age appears best in four things: old wood to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust and old authors to read.”

Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author

No. 97
Apophthegms (1624)
Context: Alonso of Aragon was wont to say in commendation of age, that age appears to be best in four things — old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.

Age, Drink, Wine, Reading

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change. The sun might shine, or the clouds might lour: but nothing could appear to me as it had done the day before.”

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797–1851) English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer

Pain, Change, Sun

“Forgive me, that I manage badly,
Manage badly but live gloriously,
That I leave traces of myself in my songs,
That I appeared to you in waking dreams.”

Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) Russian modernist poet

Source: The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova

Dreams, Forgiveness

“I go by the gut. I might not appear to have any talent but I've got plenty of gut instinct.”

Haruki Murakami (1949) Japanese author, novelist

Source: 1Q84 BOOK 1

“There is nothing more important than appearing to be religious.”

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Italian politician, Writer and Author

“Woe, alas, to those who have loved only bodies, forms, appearances! Death will rob them of everything. Try to love souls, you will find them again.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Misérables

Love, Death, Soul

“Greatness is best measured by how well an individual responds to the happenings in life that appear to be totally unfair, unreasonable, and undeserved.”

Marvin J. Ashton (1915–1994) Apostle of the LDS Church

Life

“Faith is a torment, did you know that? It is like loving someone who is out there in the darkness but never appears, no matter how loudly you call.”

Ingmar Bergman (1918–2007) Swedish filmmaker

Source: The Seventh Seal

Love, Faith

“I am no theologian. I would not be surprised, however, if Heaven proved to be a cozy kitchen, where delicious treats appeared in the oven and in the refrigerator whenever you wanted them, and where the cupboards were full of good books.”

Dean Koontz (1945) American author

Books

“When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.”

Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and poet

Thoughts on Various Subjects from Miscellanies (1711-1726)
Source: Abolishing Christianity and Other Essays

World

“She was stronger alone; and her own good sense so well supported her, that her firmness was as unshaken, her appearance of cheerfulness as invariable, as, with regrets so poignant and so fresh, it was possible for them to be.”

Jane Austen book Sense and Sensibility

Source: Sense and Sensibility

Support, Sense

“Pride makes us long for a solution to things – a solution, a purpose, a final cause; but the better telescopes become, the more stars appear.”

Julian Barnes book Flaubert's Parrot

Source: Flaubert's Parrot

Star

“Each of us literally chooses, by his way of attending to things, what sort of universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit.”

William James (1842–1910) American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist

Way, Universe

“He wanted to appear suddenly to her in novel and heroic colors. He wanted to stir her from that casualness she showed toward everything except herself.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book The Beautiful and Damned

Source: The Beautiful and Damned

Color

“He was poor, yet always appeared to be giving something away; a stranger, yet everyone was his friend; no longer young, but as happy-hearted as a boy; plain and peculiar, yet his face looked beautiful to many.”

Louisa May Alcott book Little Women

Source: Little Women

Happiness, Beauty, Boy, Heart

“Max?” said the Gasman. “Are those, um, rats?”
Lovely. “Yes, those do appear to be either rats or mice on steroids,” I said briskly, trying not to shriek and climb the walls like a girly-girl.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: The Angel Experiment

Love, Girl

“There is so much more to this world then outward appearances. Our society basks in the illusion of normalcy every day, and hides from the truth every night.”

Amber Benson (1977) actress from the United States

Source: Accursed

Truth, World, Night

“Silena appeared out of the woods, her sword drawn. Her Aphrodite armour was pink and red, colour coordinated to match her clothes and makeup. She looked like Guerilla Warfare Barbie.”

Rick Riordan book The Demigod Files

Source: The Demigod Files

Clothes

“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.”

Niccolo Machiavelli book The Prince

Variant trans: Everybody sees what you seem, but few know what thou art.
Ch. 18
Variant: Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are
Source: The Prince (1513)
Context: Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many, who have the majesty of the state to defend them.

Relationship

“There we will, I pray, remain and learn and grow until the time when we will rise together to the ultimate heights, changing in appearance but never in devotion, sharing the transcendent glory of our love through all eternity.”

Richard Matheson book What Dreams May Come

Source: What Dreams May Come

Love, Learning, Change, Time

“I dislike my fellow-mortals. Justice compels me to add that they appear for the most part to dislike me.”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish physician and author

Source: The Captain of the Pole-Star and Other Stories

Justice, Parting

“In our early youth we sit before the life that lies ahead of us like children sitting before the curtain in a theatre, in happy and tense anticipation of whatever is going to appear. Luckily we do not know what really will appear.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

Life, Happiness, Children, Youth

“No matter how smart she appeared, she was
fragile at her core.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Source: The Time Keeper

“No matter what a woman's appearance may be, it will be used to undermine what she is saying and taken to individualize - as her personal problem - observations she makes about the beauty myth in society.”

Naomi Wolf (1962) American writer

Beauty, Problem, Personality

“I pound on the glass, screaming my head off. Everyone ignores me except for some Capitol attendant who appears behind me and offers me a beverage.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

“Have patience awhile; slanders are not long-lived. Truth is the child of time; erelong she shall appear to vindicate thee.”

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) German philosopher

As quoted in Gems of Thought (1888) edited by Charles Northend

Truth, Time, Patience

“Things may look different to you than they did before. I've had that experience myself. But don't let appearances fool you. There's only one reality.”

Haruki Murakami (1949) Japanese author, novelist

Source: 1Q84 BOOK 1

Fools, Reality

“Persons appear to us according to the light we throw upon them from our own minds. -Laura Ingalls Wilder, author (1867-1957)”

Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867–1957) American children's writer, diarist, and journalist

Light, Personality

“It was as if hope had appeared out of nowhere to settle beside her and it wasn't going anywhere, it wasn't going to desert her now.”

Alice Hoffman (1952) Novelist, young-adult writer, children's writer

Hope

“Any actress who appears in public without being well-groomed is digging her own grave.”

Joan Crawford (1904–1977) American actress

Powerful

“It appears that ordinary men take wives because possession is not possible without marriage, and that ordinary women accept husbands because marriage is not possible without possession”

Thomas Hardy book Far from the Madding Crowd

Source: Far from the Madding Crowd

Women, Men, Marriage

“I don't know. Just because someone's pretty doesn't mean she's decent. Or vice versa. I'm not into appearances. I like flaws, I think they make things interesting.”

Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever

Source: The Truth About Forever

Thinking

“A melancholy-looking man, he had the appearance of one who has searched for the leak in life's gas-pipe with a lighted candle.”

P.G. Wodehouse (1881–1975) English author

Variant: He was a Frenchman, a melancholy-looking man. His aspect was that of one who has been looking for the leak in a gas pipe with a lighted candle.
Source: The Man Upstairs and Other Stories

Life, Search, Light, Depressing

“Leap and the net will appear”

John Burroughs (1837–1921) American naturalist and essayist

“I certainly have not the talent which some people possess," said Darcy, "of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

People

“The farm god rolled his eyes. He pointed at the corn plant, and BAM! Nico di Angelo appeared in an exposion of corn silk. Nico looked around in panic. "I-I had the weirdest nightmare about popcorn.”

Rick Riordan book The House of Hades

Source: The House of Hades

God

“If you appear weak, people take advantage of you.”

Sherry Argov (1977) American writer

Source: Why Men Love Bitches: From Doormat to Dreamgirl-A Woman's Guide to Holding Her Own in a Relationship

People

“It is easy to be religious when religion is in fashion; but it is an evidence of strong faith and resolution to swim against a stream to heaven, and to appear for God when no one else appears for Him.”

Matthew Henry (1662–1714) Theologician from Wales

Source: Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible

God, Faith, Religion, Fashion

“If he can only perform good or only perform evil, then he is a clockwork orange—meaning that he has the appearance of an organism lovely with colour and juice but is in fact only a clockwork toy to be wound up by God or the Devil.”

Anthony Burgess book A Clockwork Orange

Source: A Clockwork Orange

Love, God, Evil

“Hope for the best, be prepared for the worse. Life is shocking, but you must never appear to be shocked. For no matter how bad it is it could be worse and no matter how good it is it could be better.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

Life, Hope

“Henry," said Charlotte, who appeared to have recovered from her shock, "if you set yourself on fire deliberately, I will institute divorce proceedings. Now sit down and eat your supper. And say hello to our guest.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Variant: Henry," said Charlotte, who seemed to have recovered from her shock, "if you set yourself on fire deliberately, I will institute divorce proceedings. Now sit down and eat your supper. And say hello to our guest.
Source: Clockwork Angel

“When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty.”

John Muir (1838–1914) Scottish-born American naturalist and author

Travels in Alaska http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/travels_in_alaska/ (1915), chapter 1: Puget Sound and British Columbia <br class="br">1910s

Beauty, Star, Universe, Singing

“For moral reasons… the world appears to me to be put together in such a painful way that I prefer to believe that it was not created… intentionally.”

Stanisław Lem (1921–2006) Polish science fiction author

From Peter Engel, "An Interview With Stanislaw Lem": The Missouri Review, Volume VII, Number 2 (1984) http://www.missourireview.org/index.php?genre=Interviews&title=An+Interview+with+Stanislaw+Lem <br class="br">Context: For moral reasons I am an atheist — for moral reasons. I am of the opinion that you would recognize a creator by his creation, and the world appears to me to be put together in such a painful way that I prefer to believe that it was not created by anyone than to think that somebody created this intentionally.

Pain, World, Way

“People who live in society have learned how to see themselves in mirrors as they appear to their friends. I have no friends. Is that why my flesh is so naked?”

Jean Paul Sartre book Nausea

Diary entry of Friday (2 February)
Source: Nausea (1938)

People, Learning

“He wanders, like a day-appearing dream,
Through the dim wildernesses of the mind; Through desert woods and tracts, which seem Like ocean, homeless, boundless, unconfined.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Romantic poet

Dreams

“You had a choice: you could either strain and look at things that appeared in front of you in the fog, painful as it might be, or you could relax and lose yourself”

Ken Kesey book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Source: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Pain

“Appear as you may wish to be”

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Italian politician, Writer and Author

“Your date appears to be hysterical," Rene told me.
"You think I should slap some man into him?”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Strikes

Thinking

“There certainly was some great mismanagement in the education of those two young men. One has got all the goodness, and the other all the appearance of it.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

Men, Education

“They dispute not in order to find or even to seek Truth, but for victory, and to appear the more learned and strenuous upholders of a contrary opinion. Such persons should be avoided by all who have not a good breastplate of patience.”

Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) Italian philosopher, mathematician and astronomer

"Introductory Epistle : Argument of the Third Dialogue"
On the Infinite Universe and Worlds (1584)
Context: After it hath been seen how the obstinate and the ignorant of evil disposition are accustomed to dispute, it will further be shewn how disputes are wont to conclude; although others are so wary that without losing their composure, but with a sneer, a smile, a certain discreet malice, that which they have not succeeded in proving by argument — nor indeed can it be understood by themselves — nevertheless by these tricks of courteous disdain they pretend to have proven, endeavouring not only to conceal their own patently obvious ignorance but to cast it on to the back of their adversary. For they dispute not in order to find or even to seek Truth, but for victory, and to appear the more learned and strenuous upholders of a contrary opinion. Such persons should be avoided by all who have not a good breastplate of patience.

Truth, Learning, Victory, Personality

“If politics is like show business, then the idea is not to pursue excellence, clarity or honesty but to appear as if you are, which is another matter altogether.”

Neil Postman (1931–2003) American writer and academic

Source: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

Idea, Business

“He spent six hours examining things, trying to find a difference from their appearance on the previous day in the hope of discovering in them some change that would reveal the passage of time.”

Gabriel García Márquez book One Hundred Years of Solitude

Source: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Hope, Change, Time

“The Warrior of the Light is a believer.

Because he believes in miracles, miracles begin to happen. Because he is sure that his thoughts can change his life, his life begins to change. Because he is certain that he will find love, love appears.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: Warrior of the Light

Love, Life, Light, Change

“When your desires are strong enough, you will appear to possess superhuman powers to achieve.”

Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author

Strong

“Only after a person has their heart broken does the world appear as it truly is.”

Michael Gilbert (1912–2006) Author

Source: Perfected Sinfulness

World, Heart, Personality

“Advertising is the modern substitute for argument; its function is to make the worse appear the better.”

George Santayana (1863–1952) 20th-century Spanish-American philosopher associated with Pragmatism

“We should all be obliged to appear before a board every five years and justify our existence… on pain of liquidation”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Pain

“When you are young, there are many things which appear dull and lifeless. But as you get older, you will find these are the very things that are most important to you.”

Kazuo Ishiguro book An Artist of the Floating World

Source: An Artist of the Floating World

“Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.”

W.C. Fields (1880–1946) actor

Money, People, Education, Past

“Prolong not the past
Invite not the future
Do not alter your innate wakefulness
Fear not appearances
There in nothing more than this”

Ram Dass (1931–2019) American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the 1971 book Be Here Now

Fear, Past, Future

“sex finds us. sex sees through us. that's why it's so shattering. it strips us of appearances."_Eric Packer”

Don DeLillo book Cosmopolis

Source: Cosmopolis

Sex

“The closer you live to God, the smaller everything else appears.”

Rick Warren (1954) Christian religious leader

Source: The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?

God

“Don't wait for a light to appear at the end of the tunnel, stride down there and light the bloody thing yourself.”

Sara Henderson (1936–2005) Australian writer

Light, Waiting

“The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar.”

Niccolo Machiavelli book The Prince

Source: The Prince

World

“The whole series of my life appeared to me as a dream; I sometimes doubted if indeed it were all true, for it never presented itself to my mind with the force of reality.”

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus

Source: Frankenstein

Life, Dreams, Reality

“Ranger appeared in the bathroom doorway and I was too relieved to be embarrassed. "I appreciate you coming out in the middle of the night," I said.

Ranger smiled. "I didn't want to miss seeing you chained up naked.”

Janet Evanovich book One for the Money

Source: One for the Money

Smile, Night

“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite.”

William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist

A Memorable Fancy
1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793)

“All masters want to appear more brilliant than other people.”

Robert Greene book The 48 Laws of Power

Source: The 48 Laws of Power

People

“This much is certain, that we have no theological right to set any sort of limits to the loving-kindness of God which has appeared in Jesus Christ. Our theological duty is to see and understand it as being still greater than we had seen before.”

Karl Barth (1886–1968) Swiss Protestant theologian

Source: The Humanity of God

Love, God, Understanding, Christ

“She seemed glad to see me when I appeared in the kitchen, and by watching her I began to think there was some skill involved in being a girl.”

Harper Lee book To Kill a Mockingbird

Pt. 2, ch. 12
Jean Louise (Scout) Finch
Source: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Girl, Thinking

“Don't let appearances fool you. There's always only one reality!”

Haruki Murakami book 1Q84

Source: 1Q84

Fools, Reality

“One dark night the skeletons that they had carefully hidden in an obscure closet appeared, grabbed them around the throat, and strangled them.”

Ben Carson (1951) 17th and current United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; American neurosurgeon

Source: Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence

Night

“We've been wed more than a month. Since it appears you mean to stay, I might as well give you leave to call me by my christian name. It is preferable, at any rate, to 'clodpole.”

Loretta Chase book Lord of Scoundrels

Source: Lord of Scoundrels

Wedding

“it is only courage on the path itself that makes the path appear”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Courage

“storming, enjoying, planning, loving, cautioning,
Backing and filling, appearing and disappearing,
I tread day and night such roads.”

Walt Whitman book Fulles d'herba

Source: Leaves of Grass

Love, Night

“I walk away from him. It's enormously pleasing to me, this walking away. It's like being able to make people appear and vanish, at will.”

Margaret Atwood book Cat's Eye

Source: Cat's Eye

People

“A woman can't do anything about her appearance. Either she's pretty or she isn't. But her character is quite another matter.”

Julie Garwood (1946) American writer

Source: The Prize

“Poetry should… should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance".”

John Keats (1795–1821) English Romantic poet

Letter to John Taylor (February 27, 1818)
Letters (1817–1820)
Context: In Poetry I have a few axioms, and you will see how far I am from their centre. I think Poetry should surprise by a fine excess and not by singularity — it should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance — Its touches of Beauty should never be halfway thereby making the reader breathless instead of content: the rise, the progress, the setting of imagery should like the Sun come natural to him — shine over him and set soberly although in magnificence leaving him in the luxury of twilight — but it is easier to think what Poetry should be than to write it — and this leads me on to another axiom. That if Poetry comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree it had better not come at all.