What are men anyway but balloons on legs, a lot of blown-up bladders?
—Gaius Petronius Arbiter, c. 64Quotes
All God’s children are not beautiful. Most of God’s children are, in fact, barely presentable.
—Fran Lebowitz, 1978To know intense joy without a strong bodily frame, one must have an enthusiastic soul.
—George Eliot, 1872Every tooth in a man’s head is more valuable than a diamond.
—Miguel de Cervantes, 1605If I see something sagging, dragging, or bagging, I’m going to go have the stuff tucked or plucked.
—Dolly Parton, 2003Your body is the church where nature asks to be reverenced.
—Marquis de Sade, 1797Carnal embrace is the practice of throwing one’s arms around a side of beef.
—Tom Stoppard, 1993Celibacy goes deeper than the flesh.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1920The body is an instrument which only gives off music when it is used as a body.
—Anaïs Nin, 1935The world is made of the very stuff of the body.
—Maurice Merleau-Ponty, 1961One’s body, hair, and skin are a gift from one’s parents—do not dare to allow them to be harmed.
—Classic of Filial Piety, c. 200 BCIt hurts to watch the fluency of a body acclimated to its shackling.
—Leslie Jamison, 2014To lose confidence in one’s body is to lose confidence in oneself.
—Simone de Beauvoir, 1949