“Nothing can happen more beautiful than death.”
Walt Whitman Starting from Paumanok
Starting from Paumanok. 12
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Quotes about beauty page 21
“… a man's plans are meant to be changed for a beautiful woman.”
Nora Roberts (1950) American romance writer
Source: Genuine Lies
“Beautiful I would never be. Striking, that I could manage.”
Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo
Source: Magic Bites
Julia Quinn book The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever
Source: The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever
“You are you. Unique. Marvelous. Beautiful. Quirky. And imperfect.”
Free to Be Me: Becoming the Young Woman God Created You to Be
“I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want.”
Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist
“I always find beauty in things that are odd & imperfect - they are much more interesting.”
Marc Jacobs (1963) American fashion designer
“Only in books has mankind known perfect truth, love and beauty.”
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright
Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer
Attributed to Monroe in self-help books and on social media, this quotation is of unknown origin and date.
Misattributed
Ellen DeGeneres (1958) American stand-up comedian, television host, and actress
Source: Seriously... I'm Kidding
“Were it not for shadows, there would be no beauty.”
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki book In Praise of Shadows
Source: In Praise of Shadows
“Her beauty belonged to all the world but her flaws belonged to him alone.”
Henry De Montherlant (1895–1972) French writer
“I can't help feeling that there is no beauty without hope, struggle, and conquest.”
Luis Buñuel (1900–1983) film director
Source: My Last Sigh
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Variant translations: The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. He who knows it not and can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle. It was the experience of mystery — even if mixed with fear — that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which are only accessible to our reason in their most elementary forms — it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man.
The finest emotion of which we are capable is the mystic emotion. Herein lies the germ of all art and all true science. Anyone to whom this feeling is alien, who is no longer capable of wonderment and lives in a state of fear is a dead man. To know that what is impenetrable for us really exists and manifests itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, whose gross forms alone are intelligible to our poor faculties — this knowledge, this feeling … that is the core of the true religious sentiment. In this sense, and in this sense alone, I rank myself among profoundly religious men.
As quoted in After Einstein : Proceedings of the Einstein Centennial Celebration (1981) by Peter Barker and Cecil G. Shugart, p. 179
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.
As quoted in Introduction to Philosophy (1935) by George Thomas White Patrick and Frank Miller Chapman, p. 44
The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle. To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly: this is religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I am a devoutly religious man."
He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.
1930s, Mein Weltbild (My World-view) (1931)
Context: The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery — even if mixed with fear — that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds: it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity. In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man.
Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) British American author and journalist
Christopher Hitchens vs. William Dembski, 18/11/2010 ( closing remarks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwgYYxfpPC0) <br class="br">2010s, 2010 <br class="br">Context: When Socrates was sentenced to death, for his philosophical investigations and his blasphemy for challenging the Gods of the city and he accepted his death. He did say "well, if we're lucky perhaps I'll be able to hold a conversation with other great thinkers and philosophers and doubters too", in other words that the discussion about what is good, what is beautiful, what is noble and what is pure and what is true can always go on. Why is that important, why would I like to do that? Because that is the only conversation worth having. And whether it goes on or not after I die, I don't know, but I do know that it is the conversation I want to have while I am still alive. Which means that for me, the offer of certainty, the offer of complete security, the offer of an impermeable faith that can't give way, is an offer of something not worth having. I want to live my life taking the risk all the time that I don't know anything like enough yet. That I haven't understood enough, that I can't know enough, that I'm always hungrily operating on the margins of a potentially great harvest of future knowledge and wisdom. I wouldn't have it any other way. And I urge you to look at those of you that tell you (at your age) that that you are dead until you believe as they do. (What a terrible thing to be telling to children.) And that you can only live by accepting an absolute authority. Don't think of that as a gift, think of it as a poison chalice. Push it aside no matter how tempting it is. Take the risk of thinking for yourself. Much more happiness, truth, beauty and wisdom will come to you that way.
Anne Brontë book The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Source: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), Ch. XVI : The Warning of Experience; Mrs. Maxwell to Helen
Context: Beauty is that quality which, next to money, is generally the most attractive to the worst kinds of men; and, therefore, it is likely to entail a great deal of trouble on the possessor.
“You must do something to make the world more beautiful - Ms. Rumphius”
Barbara Cooney (1917–2000) American writer and illustrator of children's books
“Whiskey, like a beautiful woman, demands appreciation. You gaze first, then it's time to drink.”
Haruki Murakami book Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
“Each thing in its way, when true to its own character, is equally beautiful.”
Edward Abbey book Desert Solitaire
"Cliffrose and Bayonets", p. 37
Source: Desert Solitaire (1968)
Amy Bloom (1953) Fiction writer, screenwriter, social worker, psychotherapist
“Each book can make a life or a fragment of it more beautiful.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) American writer
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”
John Keats (1795–1821) English Romantic poet
Source: The Complete Poems
Rachel Carson (1907–1964) American marine biologist and conservationist
The Sense of Wonder (1965)
Context: Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. Whatever the vexations or concerns of their personal lives, their thoughts can find paths that lead to inner contentment and to renewed excitement in living. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American art collector and experimental writer of novels, poetry and plays
“When you can see the beauty of a tree, then you will know what love is.”
Miranda July (1974) American performance artist, musician and writer
Source: No One Belongs Here More Than You
Marc Bekoff (1945) American biologist
Source: Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect
“It was like I saw your soul in the notes of the music. And it was beautiful.”
Cassandra Clare (1973) American author
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Princess
Laura Hillenbrand book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
Source: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
“When he died, all things soft and beautiful and bright would be buried with him.”
Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles
Source: The Song of Achilles
“Graffiti is beautiful; like a brick in the face of a cop.”
Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American journalist and author
“I think I deserve something beautiful.”
Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love
Source: Eat, Pray, Love
“We wake, if we ever wake at all, to mystery, rumors of death, beauty, violence…”
Annie Dillard book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Source: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
“Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
“Nobody said it was a beautiful world with no scars.”
Catherine Ryan Hyde (1955) American writer
Source: Becoming Chloe
“As we grow old… the beauty steals inward.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
“I don't take good pictures 'cause I have the kind of beauty that moves.”
Ani DiFranco (1970) musician and activist
“We see the beauty within and cannot say no.”
Dave Eggers book A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Source: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
“An artist's concern is to capture beauty wherever he finds it.”
Kazuo Ishiguro book An Artist of the Floating World
Source: An Artist of the Floating World
Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) French sculptor
Source: Auguste Rodin: The Man, His Ideas, His Works, 1905, p. 2-3
Dagobert von Gerhardt (1831–1910) German writer
To the ancients the hearth was sacred; beside the hearth they erected their lares and household-gods. Let us also hold the hearth sacred, where the conscientious German housewife slowly sacrifices her life, to keep the home comfortable, the table well supplied, and the family healthy."
"von Gerhardt, using the pen-name Gerhard von Amyntor in", A Commentary to the Book of Life. Quote taken from August Bebel, Woman and Socialism, Chapter X. Marriage as a Means of Support.
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (1671–1713) English politician and Earl
Vol. 1, p. 77; "Sensus Communis".
Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711)
“A woman's exterior beauty is a reflection of her internal peace and happiness.”
Gloria Estefan (1957) Cuban-American singer-songwriter, actress and divorciada
www.beautyblabber.com (July 31, 2007)
2007, 2008
Martin Gardner (1914–2010) recreational mathematician and philosopher
"Mathematical Games", in Scientific American (October 1973); also quoted in Roger B. Nelson, Proofs Without Words: Exercises in Visual Thinking (1993), "Introduction", p. v
Hendrik Werkman (1882–1945) Dutch artist
version in original Dutch (origineel citaat van Hendrik Werkman, in het Nederlands): Zondag maakten we een fietstocht van 80 km. Door het Noorden langs de rand van de provincie [Groningen].. .Op zoo’n dag doe ik weer heel wat indrukken op die te gelegener tijd omgewerkt weer tevoorschijn komen. Mooie landschappen, aardige weggetjes, prachtige boerderijen, weiden met paarden en vee, vogels, water en zonneschijn volop. Molens en torens en boomen breken de lijnen van het vlakke land..
In a letter to Henkels, 12 July 1944; as cited in H. N. Werkman - Leven & Werk - 1882-1945, ed. A. de Vries, J. van der Spek, D. Sijens, M. Jansen; WBooks, Groninger Museum / Stichting Werkman, 2015 (transl: Fons Heijnsbroek), p. 18
1940's
T S Satyan (1923–2009) Indian photojournalist
As written at on his blog http://wearethebest.wordpress.com/ts-satyan/.
William Empson (1906–1984) English literary critic and poet
John Wain "Ambiguous Gifts", in The Penguin New Writing no. 40 (1950); cited from John Lehmann and Roy Fuller (eds.) The Penguin New Writing 1940-1950: An Anthology (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985) p. 492.
Criticism
“Art quickens nature; care will make a face; Neglected beauty perisheth apace.”
Robert Herrick book Hesperides
"Neglect".
Hesperides (1648)