In Brazil there are more Avon ladies than members of the army. In the United States more money is spent on beauty than on education or social services.

Beauty is equal parts flesh and imagination: we imbue it with our dreams, saturate it with our longings.

throughout human history people have scarred, painted, pierced, padded, stiffened, plucked, and buffed their bodies in the name of beauty.

Beauty ensnares hearts, captures minds, and stirs up emotional wildfires. From Plato to pinups, images of human beauty have catered to a limitless desire to see and imagine an ideal human form.

The idea that beauty is unimportant is the real beauty myth.

When abused children under court protection were studied in California and Massachusetts, it turned out that a disproportionate number of them were unattractive...abused kids had head and face proportions that made them look less infantile and cute.

Physical beauty is like athletic skill: it peaks young.