“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”: meaning, origin and examples
What it means
The phrase means that the perception of beauty is subjective and varies from person to person.
Tone Subjective
Where it comes from
The idea is very old, but the modern wording is usually traced to Margaret Wolfe Hungerford’s novel Molly Bawn (1878).
Examples
- When discussing the abstract painting, Lisa reminded her friends that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
- He might not be conventionally attractive, but remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
- The garden’s design wasn’t to everyone’s taste, but the artist believed that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
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