more passages and quotations on beauty

Beauty as we feel it is something
indescribable; what it is or what
it means can never be said.

I have heard that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so today and every day
I make a conscious effort to behold the beauty in all people. Every person
of every nation is a child of God, here by divine appointment. All
people—my friends, relatives, even complete strangers—are works
of the divine Creator. They are all tributes to God’s grandeur and
reflect the beauty that is God. I am beautiful. When I look in
the mirror, I see a unique, magnificent, God-centered being looking back.

unattributed

All things are perceived in the light of charity, and hence
under the aspect of beauty: for beauty is simply
Reality seen with the eyes of love.

Evelyn Underhill

The beauty is forever there before us,
forever piping to us, and we
are forever failing to dance. We
could not help but dance if we
could see things as they really are.
Then we should kiss both hands
to Fate and fling our bodies, hearts,
minds, and souls into life with
a glorious abandonment, an extravagant, delighted loyalty, knowing that our wildest enthusiasm cannot more than brush
the hem of the real beauty and joy
and wonder that are always there.

Margaret Prescott Montague

To seek after beauty as an end, is a wild goose chase,
a will-o'-the-wisp, because it is to misunderstand the
very nature of beauty, which is the normal condition
of a thing as it should be.

Ade Bethune

I will hold beauty as a shield against despair.

Elsie Robinson

Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty if only we have eyes to see them.

John Ruskin

True beauty consists of purity of heart.

Mohandas Gandhi

In all ranks of life the human heart yearns
for the beautiful; and the beautiful things
that God makes are his gift to all alike.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

If you look for ugliness, you will find it
everywhere. When you look for beauty,
you will find that everywhere.

Narayana

We ourselves possess true Beauty when we are true to our
own being; ugliness is going to another order; knowing
ourselves, we are beautiful; in self-ignorance, we are ugly.

Plotinus

Beauty captivates the flesh in order to obtain permission
to pass right through to the soul. . . . When the feeling
for beauty happens to be associated with the sight of some
human being, the transference of love is made possible,
at any rate in an illusory manner. But it is all the beauty
of the world, it is universal beauty, for which we yearn.

Simone Weil

Even the common articles made for daily use
become endowed with beauty when they are loved.

Soetsu Yanagi

Each thing in the universe is a vessel
full to the brim with wisdom and beauty.

Rumi

One of the most important--and most neglected--elements in the
beginnings of the interior life is the ability to respond to reality,
to see the value and the beauty in ordinary things,
to come alive to the splendor that is all around us.

Thomas Merton

A spontaneous act of generosity, performed with unselfish grace
is an example of moral beauty, as are certain acts of courage;
genuine modesty is a possible example, as is selfless love.
Although moral beauty is a natural gift, it is nevertheless
more likely to emerge and flourish in societies
that appreciate and encourage it.

Yi-Fu Tuan

The human soul needs beauty even more than it needs bread.

D.H. Lawrence

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It may appear that the experience of true beauty is very difficult to achieve. This is definitely not true. In fact, the experience of beauty often arises naturally and unexpectedly. Several weeks ago, I went kiting with my children. It was a fine day. I have not flown a kite for a long time, and I am very glad that I did it again. For I discovered the beauty of kiting that day. To see the kite take off in the wind, to let it soar into the heights, to feel the tightness of the string in my hand and to run around laughing and screaming like a child--all these add up to an exhilarating experience. It was such a tremendous feeling of liberation. For a while, it looked as if the world was just one big kite, soaring into the blue sky. There was a lot of action in that sport, but I felt a genuine sense of stillness and harmony at the same time. I was one with the game.

Kenneth S. Leong

If I don't see something or someone as beautiful, I often
ask myself what it is in me that's keeping me from seeing
the beauty. What part of me is blocking my vision so that
I can't see the most precious aspects of that thing or person?
If I can find an answer to that question, then seeing the
beauty all around me becomes easier, and my soul becomes richer.

tom walsh

When a sudden ray of sun or a moonbeam falls on a dreary street,
it makes no difference what it illumines--a broken bottle
on the ground, a fading flower in a field, or the flaxen
blonde hair of a child's head. The object is transformed and
the viewer is transfixed. Celebrate that moment of beauty and
take it with you in your memory. It is God's gift to you.

Luci Swindoll

We all share beauty. It strikes us indiscriminately. There is no end
to the beauty for the person who is aware. Even the cracks between
the sidewalk contain geometric patterns of amazing beauty. If we
take pictures of them and blow up the photographs, we realize
we walk on beauty every day, even when things seem ugly around us.

Matthew Fox

There's incredible beauty in the world.
Open yourself to see it.

Stephen C. Paul

Anything that is beautiful is beautiful just as it is.
Praise forms no part of its beauty, since praise
makes things neither better nor worse. This applies
even more to what it commonly called beautiful: natural
objects, for example, or works of art. True beauty
has no need of anything beyond itself.

Marcus Aurelius

What matters is not your outward appearance. . . but your
inner disposition. Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle
gracious kind that God delights in.

The Apostle Peter

To analyze the charms of flowers is like dissecting music;
it is one of those things which it is far better to enjoy
than to attempt to understand.

Henry T. Tuckerman

Beauty remains even in misfortune. If you just look for it,
you discover more and more happiness and regain your balance.
A person who's happy will make others happy;
a person who has courage will never die in misery.

Anne Frank

Three things drain a person's health: worry, travel, and sin.
Three things restore a person's good spirits: beautiful
sounds, sights, and smells.

The Talmud

Never underestimate the healing effects of beauty.

Florence Nightingale

The fact that we can't see the beauty in something doesn't suggest
that it's not there. Rather, it suggests that we are not looking carefully
enough or with a broad enough perspective to see it.

Richard Carlson

Beauty abounds is the most surprising locales and within even the most soul-searing
experiences. We simply need to look for beauty and take the time to appreciate
and digest what we see. I agree with Margaret Wolfe Hungerford's quote "Beauty is
in the eye of the beholder and would add that beauty is also in the beholder's ability
to see. . . . In order to enjoy everyday beauty, you need a desire to see it and the
willingness to open your heart to it. It helps when you go about your day expecting
to be blessed by beauty everywhere you look and turn. Expecting and paying attention
to the beauty of the moment will draw to you loveliness beyond imagination.
Appreciating and reveling in beauty can soothe your soul, relax your body,
and immerse you in gratitude.

Sue Patton Thoele