Appearance Quotes

• Appearances are a glimpse of the unseen.

  Anaxagoras

  Unseen, Glimpse

  102 Copy quote
• 

  We see things as we are, not as they are.

  Leo Rosten

  Leo Rosten (1978). “Passions & Prejudices: Or, Some of My Best Friends are People”

  59 Copy quote

  Show source
• 

  Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only.

  Samuel Butler

  Integrity, Grateful, Character

  Sir Francis Bacon, Samuel Butler, William Morris (2014). “The Utopia MEGAPACK ®: 20 Classic Utopian and Dystopian Works”, p.31, Wildside Press LLC

  64 Copy quote

  Show source
• 

  Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Wisdom, Eye, Reality

  125 Copy quote
• 

  Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.

  Epictetus

  Inspirational, Beauty, Fashion

  Epictetus (1758). “All the Works of Epictetus: Which are Now Extant; Consisting of His Discourses, Preserved by Arrian, in Four Books, the Enchiridion, and Fragments”, p.227

  55 Copy quote

  Show source

• Judgements prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances.

  Wayne Dyer

  Lying, Judging, Racism

  114 Copy quote

• Appearances are often deceiving.

  Aesop

  Hype, Literature, Deceiving

  10 Copy quote

• We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.

  Anais Nin

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  315 Copy quote

• So may the outward shows be least themselves; The world is still deceived with ornament.

  William Shakespeare

  Ornaments, Deceit, World

  'The Merchant of Venice' (1596-8) act 3, sc. 2, l. 73

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success.

  Christopher Lasch

  Inspirational, Success, Congratulations

  Christopher Lasch (1991). “The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations”, p.59, W. W. Norton & Company

  48 Copy quote

  Show source

• There are no greater wretches in the world than many of those whom people in general take to be happy.

  Seneca the Younger

  People, World, Greater

  13 Copy quote

• Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.

  Jane Austen

  Inspiring, Humility, Hype

  Jane Austen (2005). “Jane Austen: 8 Books in 1”, p.110, Shoes & Ships & Sealing Wax

  25 Copy quote

  Show source

• We no longer dare to believe in beauty and we make of it a mere appearance in order the more easily to dispose of it.

  Hans Urs von Balthasar

  Believe, Order, Dare

  Hans Urs von Balthasar (1982). “Glory of the Lord VOL 1: Seeing The Form”, p.18, A&C Black

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice.

  Arthur Schopenhauer

  Science, Power, Errors

  "Counsels and Maxims". Book by Arthur Schopenhauer, Vol. 2, Ch. 1, § 17, 2007.

  74 Copy quote

  Show source

• No girl who is well bred, 'kind, and modest, is ever offensively plain; all real deformity means want of manners, or of heart.

  John Ruskin

  Real, Heart, Mean

  "Fors Clavigera: Letters to the Workmen and Labourers of Great Britain".

  27 Copy quote

  Show source

• Do not judge men by mere appearances; for the light laughter that bubbles on the lip often mantles over the depths of sadness, and the serious look may be the sober veil that covers a divine peace and joy.

  Edwin Hubbel Chapin

  Sad, Laughter, Ex Boyfriend

  14 Copy quote

• It is only when mind and character slumber that the dress can be seen. If the intellect were always awake, and every noble sentiment, the man might go in huckaback or mats, and his dress would be admired and imitated.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Character, Mind, Dresses

  "The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson".

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Beauty is produced by the pleasing appearance and good taste of the whole, and by the dimensions of all the parts being duly proportioned to each other.

  Marcus Vitruvius Pollio

  Taste, Dimensions, Whole

  Marcus VITRUVIUS POLLIO, Joseph GWILT (1826). “The Architecture of M. Vitruvius Pollio in Ten Books, Translated from the Latin by J. Gwilt”, p.15

  44 Copy quote

  Show source

• All, as they say, that glitters is not gold.

  John Dryden

  Gold, Glitter

  John Dryden, Paul Hammond, David Hopkins (2007). “Dryden: Selected Poems”, p.438, Pearson Education

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under it.

  William Shakespeare

  Flower, Advice, Lady Macbeth

  'Macbeth' (1606) act 1, sc. 5, l. [63]

  66 Copy quote

  Show source

• When disposition wins us, the features please.

  Ovid

  Winning, Disposition, Please

  7 Copy quote

• It is only in appearance that time is a river. It is rather a vast landscape and it is the eye of the beholder that moves.

  Thornton Wilder

  Time, Moving, Eye

  "The Eighth Day". Book by Thornton Wilder, 1967.

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• The biggest fool in the world is he who merely does his work supremely well, without attending to appearance.

  Michael Korda

  Fool, Doe, World

  10 Copy quote

• On some level any appearance on Television can be seen as a product endorsement.

  Marc Maron

  Europe, Television, Levels

  8 Copy quote

• Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact. Every appearance in nature corresponds to some state of the mind, and that state of the mind can only be described by presenting that natural appearance as its picture.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Spiritual, Nature, Swag

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2001). “Nature, Addresses and Lectures”, p.32, The Minerva Group, Inc.

  15 Copy quote

  Show source