Nothing is more deceitful, than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.
Well, I am pretty. There’s no denying that. Almost all spiders are rather nice-looking. I’m not as flashy as some, but I’ll do.
It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous, that you realize just how much you love them!
He soon acquired the forlorn look that one sees in vegetarians.[Pronto adquirió el aspecto de desamparo propio de los vegetarianos.]
And the moral of that is – ‘Be what you would seem to be’ – or, if you’d like it put more simpty – ‘Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.’
Yes, Yes, I know. Those who see me rarely trust my word; I must look far too intelligent to keep it.[Eh oui, je sais : ceux qui me voient se fient rarement à ma parole : je dois avoir l’air trop intelligent pour la tenir.]
Very few of us are what we seem to be.
There’s no better credit-card in the world than driving up at a bank door in a Cadillac limousine.
The inventor of the mirror did few of us any favours: we must have been happier before we knew what we looked like.
The fear of appearances is the first symptom of impotence.[Боязнь эстетики есть первый признак бессилия!]
Of the terrible doubt of appearances, of the uncertainty after all, that we may be deluded.
No one is as they seem, and most of life, apart from honest betrayal, is lies and deceit. And the day we discover we are no different is the day we no longer want to live.
