Beauty is not judged objectively, but according to the beholder's estimation. The idea is a very old one: [Theocritus Idyll vi. 18] γὰρ ἕρωṯί ρολλάκίς‥ṯὰ μή καλὰ καλὰ ρέϕανṯαί, for in the eyes of love that which is not beautiful often seems beautiful. Cf. [1742 Hume Essays Moral & Political II. 151] Beauty, properly speaking, lyes‥in the Sentiment or Taste of the Reader.
You should remember, my dear, that beauty is in the lover's eye.
[1769 F. Brooke Hist. Emily Montague IV. 205]
Beauty, gentlemen, is in the eye, I aver it to be in the eye of the beholder and not in the object itself.
[1788 R. Cumberland in Observer IV. cxviii.]
‘I have heard she is beautiful—is she?’ ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,’ quotes Marcia.
[1878 M. W. Hungerford Molly Bawn I. xii.]
This at once confirmed the conclusion that I had just reached after studying the photographs of the child Wladyslaw‥: beauty is not merely in the eye but also in the imagination of the beholder.
[2001 Spectator 8 Dec. 58]
Related to: beauty; love; taste
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
