
“He saw her charming, but he saw not half
The charms her downcast modesty conceal'd.”
Source: The Seasons (1726-1730), Autumn (1730), l. 229.
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James Thomson (poet) 50
Scottish writer (1700-1748) 1700–1748Related quotes


“Yet no stiff and frowning face was hers, no undue austerity in her manners, but gay and simple loyalty, charm blended with modesty.”
Nec frons triste rigens nimiusque in moribus horror
sed simplex hilarisque fides et mixta pudori
gratia.
i, line 64
Silvae, Book V

“He saw her from the bottom of the stairs
Before she saw him.”
Home Burial (1915)
Context: He saw her from the bottom of the stairs
Before she saw him. She was starting down,
Looking back over her shoulder at some fear.
She took a doubtful step and then undid it
To raise herself and look again. He spoke
Advancing toward her: "What is it you see
From up there always?—for I want to know."

“Then Sir Launcelot saw her visage, but he wept not greatly, but sighed.”
Book XXI, ch. 11
Le Morte d'Arthur (c. 1469) (first known edition 1485)

“Modesty is the gentle art of enhancing your charm by pretending not to be aware of it.”
Ladies' Home Journal, Volume 72 (1955), p. 156.
Attributed

So it depends.
On her role in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (2013-2014), written and directed by Ned Benson
Vulture interview (2014)

Maxim 426; translation by Bailey Saunders
Maxims and Reflections (1833)

“The appearance of [Virtue] was far different: her hair, seeking no borrowed charm from ordered locks, grew freely above her forehead; her eyes were steady; in face and gait she was more like a man; she showed a cheerful modesty; and her tall stature was set off by the snow-white robe she wore.”
[Virtutis] dispar habitus: frons hirta nec umquam
composita mutata coma, stans vultus, et ore
incessuque viro propior laetique pudoris
celsa umeros niveae fulgebat stamine pallae.
Book XV, lines 28–31
Punica