Oscar Wilde

“No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly.”

- Oscar Wilde, poet, novelist, dramatist and critic

Francis Bacon

"There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion."

- Francis Bacon, philosopher, statesman, scientist, author, lawyer

Sara Teasdale

“Beauty, more than bitterness, makes the heart break.”

- Sara Teasdale, poet

Anne Herbert

"Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty"

- Anne Herbert, writer and editor

Katherine Anne Porter

"The real sin against life is to abuse and destroy beauty, even one's own — even more, one's own, for that has been put in our care and we are responsible for its well-being."

- 'Ship of Fools' by Katherine Anne Porter

Albert Einstein

"The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. The trite subjects of human efforts, possessions, outward success, luxury have always seemed to me contemptible."

- Albert Einstein, physicist

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Do not waste yourself in rejection; do not bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist, philosopher, poet

John Cage

"The first question I ask myself when something doesn't seem to be beautiful is why do I think it's not beautiful. And very shortly you discover that there is no reason."

- John Cage, composer, philosopher, poet, artist

eastmountainsouth

"All the stars that fill the sky, they burn out before our eyes."

- eastmountainsouth, 'All The Stars'

Vincent Van Gogh

"Be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all" 

– Vincent Van Gogh, artist

Henry Miller

"Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself."

- Henry Miller, author and painter

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we will not find it.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist, philosopher, poet

Ambrose Bierce

"Optimism, n. The doctrine or belief that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly."

- "The Devil's Dictionary" by Ambrose Bierce, journalist, author and satirist

Jennifer Johnston

"To be a beautiful woman must be a terrible thing. To always expect people to die for you. To always have in front of you the prospect of decay."

- 'How Many Miles To Babylon?' by Jennifer Johnston

Havelock Ellis

"The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw."

- Havelock Ellis, psychologist

Anne Frank

"Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy."

- Anne Frank, 'Diary of a Young Girl'

Willa Cather

"Oh this is the joy of the rose:
That it blows
And goes."

- Willa Cather, author

Adrienne Rich

"The moment of change is the only poem."

- Adrienne Rich, poet

Margaret Cho

"Ugly. Is irrelevant. It is an immeasurable insult to a woman, and then supposedly the worst crime you can commit as a woman. But ugly, as beautiful, is an illusion."

- Margaret Cho, comedian, actress, author

Margaret Cho

"Just because you are blind, and unable to see my beauty doesn't mean it does not exist."

- Margaret Cho, comedian, actress, author