beauty is only skin deep


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beauty is only skin deep

Physical attractiveness does not equate to substance or character. Of course that gorgeous model didn't tip you—beauty is only skin deep, after all.
See also: beauty, deep, skin

Beauty is only skin-deep.

Prov. A person who looks beautiful may not have a pleasing personality; a person's good looks may not last. Fred: I hope Nancy will go out with me. She's so beautiful! Jane: I hate to disappoint you, but in Nancy's case, beauty is definitely only skin-deep. Don't be so proud of your pretty face. Beauty is only skin-deep.
See also: beauty

beauty is only skin deep

External attractiveness has no relation to goodness or essential quality. This maxim was first stated by Sir Thomas Overbury in his poem "A Wife" (1613): "All the carnall beauty of my wife is but skin-deep."
See also: beauty, deep, skin

beauty is only skin-ˈdeep

(saying) physical appearance is no guide to a person’s character: My mother always used to say that beauty is only skin-deep. What’s really important is the sort of person you are.
See also: beauty
References in periodicals archive ?
IF beauty is only skin deep, then that has probably made it harder for Suzanne Newberry to be taken seriously as a successful businesswoman.
business PROFILE - Beauty and brains; David Jones meets beautician Suzanne Newberry, who refused to listen to the doubters who said she was too young and in the wrong place to succeed
The word "face-lift" may conjure superficiality (an apt oxymoron), but its suggestion that beauty is only skin deep also suggests a belief in transcendence--the belief that we are not what we see in the mirror, that there is more to us.
The trouble with gravity
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