Canto V, line 33.
Variant: Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll;
Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.
Source: The Rape of the Lock (1712, revised 1714 and 1717)
“Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll;
Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.”
Canto V, line 33
The Rape of the Lock (1712, revised 1714 and 1717)
Case of the Excise Officers http://www.thomaspaine.org/essays/other/case-of-the-excise-officers.html, (1772)
1770s
“Charming people are only good at seducing innocent souls.”
Source: What is Political Philosophy (1959), p. 40
Context: Men are constantly attracted and deluded by two opposite charms: the charm of competence which is engendered by mathematics and everything akin to mathematics, and the charm of humble awe, which is engendered by meditation on the human soul and its experiences. Philosophy is characterized by the gentle, if firm, refusal to succumb to either charm. It is the highest form of the mating of courage and moderation. In spite of its highness or nobility, it could appear as Sisyphean or ugly, when one contrasts its achievement with its goal. Yet it is necessarily accompanied, sustained and elevated by eros. It is graced by nature's grace.
