ProverbHuman Nature
English origin1613
English origin1613Beauty is only skin deep
Meaning: Physical appearance is superficial; character matters more.
Who said it? Sir Thomas Overbury, the poem “A Wife”, 1613
Origin: From Sir Thomas Overbury's poem "A Wife," published after he was poisoned in the Tower of London in 1613. The poem says that all the bodily beauty of a wife is only skin deep, and urges a man to choose a wife for her character instead.
Equivalents in French, German, and Russian
French: La beauté ne se mange pas en salade (literally: Beauty can't be eaten in a salad)
German: Schönheit vergeht, Tugend besteht (literally: Beauty fades, virtue remains)
Russian: С лица не воду пить (S litsa ne vodu pit') (literally: You don't drink water from a face)
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- Komorebi The dappled light that filters through leaves and scatters across the ground.
- Schadenfreude The guilty little pleasure of taking satisfaction in someone else's misfortune.
- Wabi-sabi Finding beauty in imperfection, impermanence, and the worn or incomplete.
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