A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

1769 F. BROOKE Hist. Emily Montague IV. 205 You should remember, my dear,

that beauty is in the lover’s eye. 1788 R. CUMBERLAND in Observer IV. cxviii. Beauty,

gentlemen, is in the eye, I aver it to be in the eye of the beholder and not in the object

itself. 1878 M. W. HUNGERFORD Molly Bawn I. xii. ‘I have heard she is beautiful—is

she?’ ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,’ quotes Marcia. 2001 Spectator 8 Dec. 58 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. beauty; love; taste

BEAUTY is only skin-deep

Physical beauty is no guarantee of good character, temperament, etc. Cf. a 1613 T.
OVERBURY Wife (1614) B8V All the carnall beautie of my wife, Is but skinne-deep.

1616 J. DAVIES Select Second Husband B3 Beauty’s but skin-deepe. 1829

COBBETT Advice to Young Men III. cxxix. The less favoured part of the sex say, that

‘beauty is but skin deep’.. but it is very agreeable though, for all that. 1882 E. M.

INGRAHAM Bond & Free xiii. Mother used to say that beauty was only skin deep, but I

never before realized that bones could be so fearfully repulsive. 1978 A. PRICE ‘44

Vintage xix. Beauty is only skin-deep, but it’s only the skin you see. beauty

bed see EARLY to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise; as you
MAKE your bed, so you must lie upon it; there goes more to MARRIAGE than four bare legs
in a bed.

bedfellow see ADVERSITY makes strange bedfellows; POLITICS makes strange
bedfellows.

beer see he that DRINKS beer, thinks beer; LIFE isn’t all beer and skittles; TURKEY,
heresy, hops, and beer came into England all in one year.

Where BEES are, there is honey

Cf. L. ubi mel, ibi apes, where there is honey, there are bees.

1616 T. DRAXE Adages 77 Where Bees are, there is honie. 1670 J. RAY English

Proverbs 60 Where Bees are, there is honey. Where there are industrious persons, there is

wealth, for the hand of the diligent maketh rich. 1748 M. FREEMAN Word in Season 6