Appearance

Even pearls are dark before the whiteness of his teeth.
~ William Rounseville (W.R.) Alger, Charity's Eye. Stanza 4

False eloquence is exaggeration; true eloquence is emphasis.
~ William Rounseville (W.R.) Alger

Just because your ad looks good is no insurance that it will get looked at. How many people do you know who are impeccably groomed ... but dull?
~ Bill Bernbach, Bill Bernbach said ... (1989).

Her hair was bleached, her eyebrows penciled, her lips painted, her cheeks rouged, her eyes belladonnaed, her nose powdered, and when she entered the car with him, even her mind was made up.
~ Captain Billy's Whiz Bang (July 1924), in Studies in American Humor. Volume III (January 1977); William Cole From Scatology to Social History: Captain Billy's Whiz Bang

He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.
~ William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93). Proverbs of Hell

I do not like the man's face. He looks as if he will live to be hanged.
~ William Blake (at age 14, refusing to apprentice with a socially prominent, well-established engraver).

The look of love alarms
Because 'tis fill'd with fire;
But the look of soft deceit
Shall win the lover's hire.
~ William Blake, from The Rossetti Manuscript (aka MS. Book; c. 1793-1811). Gnomic Verses. XVII. Several Questions Answered. Eternity 2

There is a smile of love,
And there is a smile of deceit,
And there is a smile of smiles
In which these two smiles meet.
~ William Blake, from The Pickering Manuscript (c. 1803). The Smile

O! why was I born with a different face? Why was I not born like the rest of my race?
~ William Blake, Letter to Mr. Butts (16 August 1803)

Suche appereth as aungelles, but in very dede they be ymps of serpentes.
~ William Bonde, The Pilgrimage of Perfection (1526).

Look! Don't be deceived by appearances -- men and things are not what they seem. All who are not on the rock are in the sea!
~ William Booth, A Vision Of The Lost

Content I toil from morn till eve,
And, scorning idleness,
To tribes of gaudy sloth I leave
The vanity of dress.
~ William Lisle Bowles, from The Little Villager's Verse Book (1826). The Butterfly And Bee

I think the ears are a strange look for me. Quite big. But I loved the hair down to my shoulders. It felt right. I'm thinking of letting my hair go.
~ Billy Boyd (on playing hobbit character, Pippin), USA TODAY (14 December 2001). Return with us now ... to the land of Tolkien

The matter does not appear to me now as it appears to have appeared to me then.
~ Sir George William Wilshire Bramwell, Andrews v. Styrap, 26 L. T. 706 (1872).

Thine eyes are springs in whose serene
And silent waters heaven is seen.
~ William Cullen Bryant, from Poems (1832 edition). O Fairest of the Rural Maids

He had the sort of face that makes you realize God does have a sense of humor.
~ Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe (1991). Chapter One: To the North

She just wore
Enough for modesty -- no more.
~ Robert Williams Buchanan, White Rose And Red: A Love Story (1873). Part I, V: The Red Tribe

But I do mean to say, I have heard her declare,
When at the same moment she had on a dress
Which cost five hundred dollars, and not a cent less,
And jewelry worth ten times more, I should guess,
That she had not a thing in the wide world to wear!
~ William Allen Butler, in Harper's Weekly (7 February 1857). Nothing to Wear

I should like above all things to go with you there;
But really and truly -- I've nothing to wear.
~ William Allen Butler, in Harper's Weekly (7 February 1857). Nothing to Wear

[A]glow, like a fruit when it colours.
~ William Canton, from A Lost Epic: And Other Poems (1887). Karma

Hats have never at all been one of the vexing problems of my life, but, indifferent as I am, these render me speechless. I should think a well-taught and tasteful American milliner would go mad in England, and eventually hang herself with bolts of green and scarlet ribbon -- the favorite colour combination in Liverpool.
~ Willa Sibert Cather (written on July 2, 1902), Willa Cather in Europe (1956).

We put our best foot forward, but it's the other one that needs the attention.
~ Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., from Credo (2003). Life in General

I always take blushing either for a sign of guilt or ill-breeding.
~ William Congreve, The Way of the World (1700). Act I, scene ix

I confess I do blaze to-day, I am too bright.
~ William Congreve, The Way of the World (1700). Act II, scene iv

No mask like open truth to cover lies,
As to go naked is the best disguise.
~ William Congreve, The Double Dealer (1694). Act V, scene iv

I've never understood people who wear wigs. In Glasgow they say "Why pay good money for a wig when you can get the same effect by putting glue on your head and sticking it in a barber's midden?"
~ Billy Connolly

Accomplishments have taken virtue's place,
And wisdom falls before exterior grace.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). The Progress of Error

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence,
He hides a shining face.
~ William Cowper, from Olney Hymns (1779). Book III: On the Rise, Progress, Changes, and Comforts of the Spiritual Life. Light Shining Out of Darkness

[T]hat what is base
No polish can make sterling.
~ William Cowper, The Task (1785). Book VI. The Winter Walk At Noon

While the world lasts, fashion will continue to lead it by the nose.
~ William Cowper, Letter to Mrs. Newton (August 1781)

You look maaaaaarvelous! He does! He does!
~ Billy Crystal, on Saturday Night Live as character "Fernando" (1984-85).

Prosperity gathers smiles, while adversity scatters them.
~ William Scott Downey, Proverbs, by Rev. William Scott Downey (1851 edition).

You know, Mulder's clothes are great for Mulder, but I don't wear a lot of suits in my personal life.
~ David William Duchovny, in Style Magazine (April 2000). Man of Style - Q&A

Those who cater to human vanity seldom starve.
~ William James "Will" Durant, The Story of Civilization, Volume IV (1950). The Age of Faith

That's how I got my big nose; not from imbibing too freely, as most people think, although I admit that my favorite food is a tall glass of practically anything. Every kid in Philadelphia must have taken a whack at my beezer at some time or other.
~ W.C. Fields, in Liberty magazine (23 February 1935). The Most Melancholy Funny Man on the Screen

Well, her face was so wrinkled it looked like seven miles of bad road. She had so many gold teeth ... she used to have to sleep with her head in a safe.
~ W.C. Fields, The Further Adventures of Larson E. Whipsnade and other Tarradiddles

If you can't make it good, at least make it look good.
~ Bill Gates

I see no objection to stoutness in moderation.
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, Iolanthe (1882 opera).

She may very well pass for forty-three,
In the dusk with a light behind her!
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, Trial by Jury (1875 opera). When I, Good Friends, Was Called to the Bar

Things are seldom what they seem, skim milk masquerades as cream.
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, Pirates of Penzance. Act II (1880 opera)

In heaven we shall appear, not in armour, but in robes of glory. But here these are to be worn night and day; we must walk, work, and sleep in them, or else we are not true soldiers of Christ.
~ William Gurnall, The Christian In Complete Armour (1665).

The salesgirl handed her a bright little wad of cloth that could be roomily stowed in a cigarette pack.
~ William Hamilton (on his 12-year-old daughter's purchase of a bikini), in The New York Times (1 September 1985).

Appearances deceive,
And this one maxim is a standing rule,
Men are not what they seem.
~ William Havard, Scanderbeg: A Tragedy (1733).

A man in himself is always the same, though he may not always appear to be so.
~ William Hazlitt, from The Eloquence of the British Senate (1807). The Honourable C.J. Fox

A man's look is the work of years; it is stamped on his countenance by the events of his whole life, nay, more by the hand of nature, and it is not to be got rid of easily.
~ William Hazlitt, Table-Talk, or Original Essays on Men and Manners, 2nd series (1824). On the Knowledge of Character

One shining quality lends a lustre to another, or hides some glaring defect.
~ William Hazlitt, Characteristics: in the Manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims (1823).

Those who make their dress a principal part of themselves, will, in general, become of no more value than their dress.
~ William Hazlitt, from Political Essays, with Sketches of Public Characters (1819). On the Clerical Character

Her mouth is a honey-blossom,
No doubt, as the poet sings;
But within her lips, the petals,
Lurks a cruel bee that stings.
~ William Dean Howells, from Poems (1873). The Sarcastic Fair

Got no human grace your eyes without a face.
Such a human waste your eyes without a face
And now it's getting worse.
~ Billy Idol, in Rebel Yell (1989 album). Eyes Without A Face

We tolerate shapes in human beings that would horrify us if we saw them in a horse.
~ William Ralph (Dean) Inge

To give up pretensions is as blessed a relief as to get them gratified; and where disappointment is incessant and the struggle unending, this is what men will always do.
~ William James, The Principles of Psychology (1890). Vol. 1. Chapter X: The Consciousness of Self

She can kill with a smile,
She can wound with her eyes.
~ Billy Joel, in The Stranger (1977 album). She's Always a Woman

She's got a smile that heals me
I don't know why it is
But I have to laugh when she reveals me.
~ Billy Joel, in Songs In The Attic (1981 album). She's Got A Way

We all have a face that we hide away forever,
And we take them out and show ourselves when everyone has gone.
Some are satin, some are steel, some are silk and some are leather.
They're the faces of the stranger and we love to try them on.
~ Billy Joel, in The Stranger (1977 album). The Stranger

I wore the shoes just to be different in high school. But our coach was a real no-frills guy. He saw the shoes, called me over and asked me what was up. I told him the shoes made me run faster. So I got to keep them.
~ Billy "White Shoes" Johnson

The best holster design is worthless if worn on a belt that is too narrow for the holster loop or too soft to hold the holster in the position it was designed to assume. The belt should fit the holster loop tightly, be of good quality leather, firm, and worn snugly buckled straight across the body with no looseness or "cowboy slant." Such a slant gives a dashing, swashbuckling appearance which is only impressive to the inexperienced.
~ William H. Jordan, No Second Place Winner (1965).

We are not using that because it doesn't work. You are talking about people who convince a 17-year-old girl to wrap herself in explosives and walk into a venue -- her face won't be in the database. ... What's better is this girl walks into a San Diego venue with a trench coat on and it's 75 degrees (24 C) and a security officer sees her. That's accurate.
~ Bill Maheu (on the reliance of human eyes rather than face-recognition software for security), Reuters (22 January 2003). Foreigners Held in San Diego in Super Bowl Sweep

An Edwardian lady in full dress was a wonder to behold, and her preparations for viewing were awesome.
~ William Raymond Manchester, The Last Lion (1983).

The countenance may be rightly defined as the title-page which heralds the contents of the human volume, but, like other titlepages, it sometimes puzzles, often misleads, and often says nothing to the purpose.
~ William Mathews, from The Great Conversers, And Other Essays (1874). V. Faces

I proved once and for all you don't have to be pretty to be on television.
~ Will McDonough (on working as a reporter and commentator for CBS TV), quoted in The Boston Globe (11 January 2003). Globe's McDonough dies at 67

One may sometimes tell a lie, but the grimace with which one accompanies it tells the truth.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

What someone is, begins to be revealed when his talent abates, when he stops showing us what he can do.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Avoid flatterers, for they are thieves in disguise. Their praise is costly, designing to get by those they bespeak. They are the worst of creatures; they lie to flatter and flatter to cheat, and, which is worse, if you believe them, you cheat yourselves most dangerously.
~ William Penn, Letter To His Wife And Children (4 August 1682)

Be not deceived with the first appearance of things, but give thy self Time to be in the right.
~ William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude (1693). Part I. Respect

Humility and knowledge in poor clothes, excel pride and ignorance in costly attire.
~ William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude (1693). Part I. Personal Cautions

They that show more than they are, raise an expectation they cannot answer; and so lose their credit, as soon as they are found out.
~ William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude (1693). Part I. Popularity

[O]ur apparel must be made according to our office; that is, such as may be fit and convenient for us, in respect of our calling; that it may not hinder or disable us, in the performance of the duties thereof.
~ William Perkins, in Whole Treatise of the Cases of Conscience (1606).

'I'm trying to look fly,' says Willie.
~ William Sydney Porter (O. Henry), from Options (1909). The Moment Of Victory

You know you haven't got a singing face.
~ William B. Rhodes, Bombastes Furioso (1810). Act I, scene i

All that glisters is not gold.
Often you have heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. Act II, scene vii

All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.
~ William Shakespeare, Macbeth. Act V, scene i

And some that smile have in their hearts, I fear,
Millions of mischiefs.
~ William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar. Act IV, scene i

And thus I clothe my naked villany
With odd old ends stol'n forth of holy writ,
And seem a saint when most I play the devil.
~ William Shakespeare, King Richard III. Act I, scene iii

Bid them wash their faces,
And keep their teeth clean.
~ William Shakespeare, Coriolanus. Act II, scene i

By heaven, he echoes me,
As if there were some monster in his thought
Too hideous to be shown.
~ William Shakespeare, Othello. Act III, scene iii

[B]y his face straight shall you know his heart.
~ William Shakespeare, King Richard III. Act III, scene iv

Costly thy habit [dress] as thy purse can buy;
But not expressed in fancy -- rich, not gaudy.
For the apparel oft proclaims the man.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act I, scene iii

Every true man's apparel fits your thief.
~ William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure. Act IV, scene ii

Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow,
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor.
~ William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew. Act V, scene ii

God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act III, scene i

[H]e was, for all the world,
like a forked radish, with a head fantastically carved
upon it with a knife.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part II. Act III, scene ii

He was indeed the glass
Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part II. Act II, scene iii

His eye, which scornfully glisters like fire,
Shows his hot courage and his high desire.
~ William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis (1593).

How like a fawning publican he looks!
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. Act I, scene iii

I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them ...
~ William Shakespeare, King Richard III. Act I, scene i

I will show myself highly fed and lowly taught.
~ William Shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well. Act II, scene ii

In thy face I see the map of honor, truth, and loyalty.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part II. Act III, scene i

It is my will; the which if thou respect,
Show a fair presence and put off these frowns.
~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet. Act I, scene v

Look like the innocent flower
But be the serpent under it.
~ William Shakespeare, Macbeth. Act I, scene v

[M]an delights not me; no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act II, scene ii

Men should be what they seem;
Or those that be not, would they might seem none!
~ William Shakespeare, Othello. Act III, scene iii

O! she doth teach the torches to burn bright. It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear! So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows,
As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows. The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand,
And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.
~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet. Act I, scene v

O, what a world of vile ill-favoured faults
Looks handsome in three hundred pounds a year!
~ William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor. Act III, scene iv

O, what man may within him hide,
Though angel on the outward side!
~ William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure. Act III, scene ii

[O]ne may smile, and smile, and be a villain.
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act I, scene v

Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.
~ William Shakespeare, Othello. Act II, scene iii

Stars, stars!
And all eyes else dead coals.
~ William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale. Act V, scene i

[T]he fashion wears out more apparel than the man.
~ William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing. Act III, scene iii

The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good; the goodness that is cheap in beauty makes beauty brief in goodness; but grace, being the soul of your complexion, shall keep the body of it ever fair.
~ William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure. Act III, scene i

The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes.
~ William Shakespeare, Coriolanus. Act V, scene iv

There's daggers in men's smiles.
~ William Shakespeare, Macbeth. Act II, scene iii

Thou has a grim appearance, and thy face
Bears a command in't; though thy tackle's torn,
Thou show'st a noble vessel. What's thy name?
~ William Shakespeare, Coriolanus. Act IV, scene v

Thou hast no speculation in those eyes
Which thou dost glare with!
~ William Shakespeare, Macbeth. Act III, scene iv

Thus ornament is but the guiled shore to a most dangerous sea.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. Act III, scene ii

With foreheads villanous low.
~ William Shakespeare, The Tempest. Act IV, scene i

Your face ... is as a book where men
May read strange matters.
~ William Shakespeare, Macbeth. Act I, scene v

[Your] horrid image doth unfix my hair.
~ William Shakespeare, Macbeth. Act I, scene iii

I think, till thirty, or with some a little longer, people should dress in a way that is most likely to procure the love of the opposite sex.
~ William Shenstone, in Works in Verse and Prose, Vol. II (1764). Essays on Men, Manners, and Things. On Dress

It is a point out of doubt with me, that the ladies are most properly the judge's of the men's dress, and the men of that of the ladies.
~ William Shenstone, in Works in Verse and Prose, Vol. II (1764). Essays on Men, Manners, and Things. On Dress

Those who are incapable of shining but by dress, would do well to consider that the contrast betwixt them and their clothes turns out much to their disadvantage.
~ William Shenstone, in Works in Verse and Prose, Vol. II (1764). Essays on Men, Manners, and Things. On External Figure

Once, behind your eyes I thought
Worlds of love and life to see;
Now I see behind them nought
But a soulless vacancy.
~ William Wetmore Story, from Graffiti d'Italia (1868). Black Eyes

You don't have to look like a hedgehog to be pious.
~ William A. "Billy" Sunday, from The Real Billy Sunday: The Life and Work of Rev. William Ashley Sunday, D.D., The Baseball Evangelist (1914). XV: Some of Sunday's Sayings

On occasion we all have to smile, you know, whether we like it or not.
~ William Tevor, Excursions In The Real World (1993). The Warden's Wife

Nature has written a letter of credit upon some men's faces, which is honoured almost wherever presented.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The Virginians: A Tale of the Last Century (1857-59). Chapter XXI. Samaritans

The play is done; the curtain drops,
Slow falling to the prompter's bell
A moment yet the actor stops
And looks around to say farewell.
It is an irksome word and task:
And when he's laughed and said his say,
He shows, as he removes the mask,
A face that's anything but gay.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, Doctor Birch and His Young Friends (1849). Epilogue

The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly kind companion.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero (1848). Chapter II. In Which Miss Sharp and Miss Sedley Prepare to Open the Campaign

Television is an instrument which can paralyze this country.
~ William C. Westmoreland, in Time magazine (5 April 1982). Newswatch: Reagan's TV Troubles

All dressed up and nowhere to go.
~ William Allen White (describing the Progressive Party in 1916)

There is new strength, repose of mind, and inspiration in fresh apparel.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, The Heart Of The New Thought (1902). Old Clothes

Clothed full comely, fit for any far-famed king's son,
In good clothes of gold trick'd out fully richly,
With jewels and fur, etc.
~ William, the poet, Romance of William and the Werwolf; or, William of Palerne (c. 1350).

I just look in the mirror and I say "God, it's really fantastic, the Lord really gave me something." So why on earth should I cover any of it up.
~ Edy Williams

I don't think I'm that good-looking and I think that's why I've got this far -- everyone took pity on me.
~ Robbie Williams

I've actually gone to the zoo and had monkeys shout to me from their cages, "I'm in here when you're walking around like that?"
~ Robin Williams (on his body hair).

Comb your hair! You look so pretty when your hair is combed!
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams, The Glass Menagerie (1944). Scene Five

Turn that off! I won't be looked at in this merciless glare!
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire (1947).

There was a cartoon emblazoned on this placard, depicting the futile efforts of two teams of stout horses, each attached to a leg of the garment, to wrench it in twain. I mean to say, one might be reduced to overalls, but this blatant emblem was not a thing any gentleman need have retained.
~ Henry Leon Wilson, Ruggles of Red Gap (1915). Chapter Eleven

A smile is a facelift that's in everyone's price range!
~ Tom Wilson, Ziggy

Her eyes as stars of twilight fair;
Like twilight's, too, her dusky hair ...
~ William Wordsworth, from Poems in Two Volumes, Volume I (1807). She Was a Phantom of Delight

She was a phantom of delight
When first she gleamed upon my sight.
~ William Wordsworth, from Poems in Two Volumes, Volume I (1807). She Was a Phantom of Delight

If I make the lashes dark
And the eyes more bright
And the lips more scarlet,
Or ask if all be right
From mirror after mirror,
No vanity's displayed:
I'm looking for the face I had
Before the world was made.
~ William Butler Yeats, from The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933). A Woman Young And Old

Only God, my dear,
Could love you for yourself alone
And not your yellow hair.
~ William Butler Yeats, Anne Gregory (1932).

I was sitting in the back room by myself when someone came in and said, "Mr. Zimmer, I have to take you down to the make up room." I told them that if anyone can help this face they deserve a bonus.
~ Donald William Zimmer (on preparing to appear on "Late Night with David Letterman").

The mug is a tool. My ace in the hole. To have looks is the bonus on top of what motivates me to be an actor. Not to realize they're an asset would be counterproductive to the cause; they serve the common good.
~ Billy Zane