Archive

Quotes

To lose confidence in one’s body is to lose confidence in oneself.

—Simone de Beauvoir, 1949

O flesh, flesh, how art thou fishified!

—William Shakespeare, c. 1596

One’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 BC

If I see something sagging, dragging, or bagging, I’m going to go have the stuff tucked or plucked.

—Dolly Parton, 2003

Flesh was the reason why oil painting was invented.

—Willem de Kooning, 1949

I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king.

—Elizabeth I, 1588

To know intense joy without a strong bodily frame, one must have an enthusiastic soul.

—George Eliot, 1872

It hurts to watch the fluency of a body acclimated to its shackling.

—Leslie Jamison, 2014

Every tooth in a man’s head is more valuable than a diamond.

—Miguel de Cervantes, 1605

The body is an instrument which only gives off music when it is used as a body.

—Anaïs Nin, 1935

The human body is the best picture of the human soul.

—Ludwig Wittgenstein, c. 1947

Shame on the soul, to falter on the road of life while the body still perseveres.

—Marcus Aurelius, c. 170

The features of our face are hardly more than gestures which force of habit has made permanent.

—Marcel Proust, 1919