'Tis not the fairest form that holds
The mildest, purest soul within;
'Tis not the richest plant that holds
The sweetest fragrance in. [ Dawes ]
Within the oyster's shell uncouth
The purest pearl may hide,
Trust me you'll find a heart of truth
Within that rough outside. [ Mrs. Osgood ]
Appearances deceive
And this one maxim is a standing rule:
Men are not what they seem. [ Havard ]
Thy plain and open nature sees mankind
But in appearance, not what they are. [ Froude ]
Heaven made virtue; man, the appearance. [ Voltaire ]
He has, I know not what
Of greatness in his looks, and of high fate
That almost awes me. [ Dryden ]
A man may smile, and smile, and be a villain. [ William Shakespeare ]
Virtue is in the mind, not in the appearance. [ Saadi ]
We understood
Her by her sight; her pure and eloquent blood
Spoke in her cheeks, and so distinctly wrought.
That one might almost say her body thought. [ Donne ]
Thou hast a grim appearance, and thy face
Bears a command in it; though thy tackle's torn,
Thou showest a noble vessel. [ William Shakespeare ]
We take less pains to be happy than to appear so. [ Rochefoucauld ]
She looks as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. [ Swift ]
Even when the bird walks one feels that it has wings. [ Lemierre ]
A man of the world must seem to be what he wishes to be. [ La Bruyère ]
Behavior is a mirror, in which everyone shows his image. [ Goethe ]
Polished brass will pass upon more people than rough gold. [ Chesterfield ]
Wine colors the face, to prevent the appearance of modesty. [ A. de Musset ]
Tangible language, which often tells more falsehoods than truths. [ Abraham Lincoln ]
Truth scarce ever yet carried it by vote anywhere at its first appearance. [ Locke ]
To succeed in the world, we must be foolish in appearance, but really wise. [ Montesquieu ]
There is in us more of the appearance of sense and virtue than of the reality. [ Marguerite de Valois ]
Truth does not do so much good in the world as the appearance of it does evil. [ La Rochefoucauld ]
Men are like Geneva watches with crystal faces, which expose the whole movement. [ Emerson ]
An appearance of delicacy, and even of fragility, is almost essential to beauty. [ Burke ]
There is no vice so simple, but assumes some mark of virtue on its outward parts. [ William Shakespeare ]
The world more frequently recompenses the appearance of merit, than merit itself. [ Rochefoucauld ]
A miser grows rich by seeming poor; an extravagant man grows poor by seeming rich. [ Shenstone ]
How little do they see what is, who frame their hasty judgments upon that which seems! [ Southey ]
An emperor in his nightcap will not meet with half the respect of an emperor with a crown. [ Goldsmith ]
The highest problem of any art is to cause by appearance the illusion of a higher reality. [ Goethe ]
The head has the most beautiful appearance, as well as the highest station, in a human figure. [ Addison ]
Neglected, calumny soon expires; show that you are hurt, and you give it the appearance of truth. [ Tacitus ]
That gloomy outside, like a rusty chest, contains the shining treasures of a soul resolved and brave. [ Dryden ]
There are no greater wretches in the world than many of those whom people in general take to be happy. [ Seneca ]
Some men, like modern shops, hang everything in their show windows; when one goes inside, nothing is to be found. [ Auerbach ]
Want of courage upon some occasions assumes the appearance of ignorance, and betrays us when we most want to excel. [ Goldsmith ]
He had a head which statuaries loved to copy, and a foot the deformity of which the beggars in the streets mimicked. [ Macaulay ]
Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration. [ Macchiavelli ]
A man's appearance falls within the censure of every one that sees him; his parts and learning very few are judges of. [ Steele ]
How different is the ready hand, tearful eye, and soothing voice, from the ostentatious appearance which is called pity! [ Jane Porter ]
Weeds grow sometimes very much like flowers, and you can't tell the difference between true and false merely by the shape. [ Paxton Hood ]
To educate the wise man, the State exists; and with the appearance of the wise man, the State expires. The wise man is the State. [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]
O place! O form, how often dost thou with thy case, thy habit, wrench awe from fools, and tie the wiser souls to thy false seeming! [ William Shakespeare ]
Great attention to what is said and sweetness of speech, a great degree of kindness and the appearance of awe, are always tokens of a man's attachment. [ Hitopadesa ]
If fathers are sometimes sulky at the appearance of the destined son-in-law, is it not a fact that mothers become sentimental and, as it were, love their own loves over again. [ Thackeray ]
Advice, as it always gives a temporary appearance of superiority, can never be very grateful, even when it is most necessary or most judicious; but, for the same reason, every one is eager to instruct his neighbors. [ Johnson ]
Commerce is one of the daughters of Fortune, inconstant and deceitful as her mother. She chooses her residence where she is least expected, and shifts her abode when her continuance is, in appearance, most firmly settled. [ Johnson ]
Pride is as loud a beggar as want, and a great deal more saucy. When you have bought one fine thing, you must buy ten more, that your appearance may be all of a piece; but it is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it. [ Franklin ]
High original genius is always ridiculed on its first appearance; most of all by those who have won themselves the highest reputation in working on the established lines. Genius only commands recognition when it has created the taste which is to appreciate it. [ Froude ]
Of all studies, the most delightful and the most useful is biography. The seeds of great events lie near the surface; historians delve too deep for them. No history was ever true. Lives I have read which, if they were not, had the appearance, the interest, and the utility of truth. [ Landor ]
Gallantry to women (the sure road to their favor) is nothing but the appearance of extreme devotion to all their wants and wishes, a delight in their satisfaction, and a confidence in yourself as being able to contribute towards it. The slightest indifference with regard to them, or distrust of yourself is equally fatal. [ Hazlitt ]