of beauty. It has transformed many a plain face. A bad temper, ill
nature, jealousy, will ruin the most beautiful face ever created.
After all, there is no beauty like that produced by a lovely character.
Neither cosmetics, massage, nor drugs can remove the lines of
prejudice, selfishness, envy, anxiety, mental vacillation that are the
results of wrong thought habits.
Beauty is from within. If every human being would cultivate a gracious
mentality, not only would what he expressed be artistically beautiful,
but also his body. There would indeed be grace and charm, a
superiority about him, which would be even greater than mere physical
beauty.
We have all seen even very plain women who, because of the charm of
their personality, impressed us as transcendently beautiful. The
exquisite soul qualities expressed through the body transformed it into
their likeness. A fine spirit speaking through the plainest body will
make it beautiful.
Some one, speaking of Fanny Kemble, said: "Although she was very stout
and short, and had a very red face, yet she impressed me as the supreme
embodiment of majestic attributes. I never saw so commanding a
personality in feminine form. Any type of mere physical beauty would
have paled to insignificance by her side."
Antoine Berryer says truly: "There are no ugly women. There are only
women who do not know how to look pretty."
The highest beauty--beauty that is far superior to mere regularity of
feature or form--is within reach of everybody. It is perfectly
possible for one, even with the homeliest face, to make herself
beautiful by the habit of perpetually holding in mind the beauty
thought, not the thought of mere superficial beauty, but that of heart
beauty, soul beauty, and by the cultivation of a spirit of kindness,
hopefulness, and unselfishness.
The basis of all real personal beauty is a kindly, helpful bearing and
a desire to scatter sunshine and good cheer everywhere, and this,
shining through the face, makes it beautiful. The longing and the
effort to be beautiful in character can not fail to make the life
beautiful, and since the outward is but an expression of the inward, a
mere outpicturing on the body of the habitual thought and dominating
motives, the face, the manners, and the bearing must follow the thought
and become sweet and attractive. If you hold the beauty thought, the
love thought, persistently in the mind, you will make such an
impression of h
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