And therefore they prove accomplished5, but not of great spirit; and study rather behavior, than virtue. But this holds not always: for Augustus Caesar, Titus Vespasianus, Philip le Belle6 of France, Edward the Fourth of England, Alcibiades of Athens, Ismael the Sophy of Persia, were all high and great spirits; and yet the most beautiful men of their times.
In beauty, that of favor, is more than that of color; and that of decent and gracious motion, more than that of favor. That is the best part of beauty, which a picture cannot express; no, nor the first sight of the life.
There is no excellent beauty, that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
A man cannot tell whether Apelles, or Albert Durer, were the more trifler; whereof the one, would make a personage by geometrical proportions; the other, by taking the best parts out of pers7 faces, to make one excellent. Such personages, I think, would please nobody, but the painter that made them. Not but I think a painter may make a better face than ever was; but he must do it by a kind of felicity , and not by rule.
A man shall see faces, that if you examine them part by part, you shall find never a good; and yet altogether do well. If it be true that the principal part of beauty is in decent motion, certainly it is no marvel8, though persons in years seem many times more amiable9; pulchrorum autumnus pulcher; for no youth can be comely but by pardon, and considering the youth, as to make up the comeliness10.
Beauty is as summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt11, and cannot last; and for the most part it makes a dissolute youth, and an age a little out of countenance12; but yet certainly again, if it light well, it maketh virtue shine,and vices13 blush.
美德好比宝石，在朴素背景的衬托下反而更华丽。同样，一个打扮并不华贵，却端庄严肃而有美德的人是让人肃然起敬的。
美貌的人并不都有其他方面的才能。很多相貌俊秀的人却一无所有，他们过于追求外形的美而舍弃了内在的美。
仔细剖析起来，形体之美要胜于颜色之美，而高雅行为之美又胜于形体之美。最高的美是画家所没办法表现的。由于它是很难直观的。这是一种奇妙的美，过去有两位画家――阿皮雷斯和丢勒滑稽地觉得，可以根据几何比率，或者通过摄取不同人身上最好看的的特征，加以合成的办法，画出最完美的人像。
其实像如此画出来的美人，恐怕只有画家才喜欢。
有的老人看上去很讨人喜欢，由于他们的作风高雅而美。美人的迟暮也是美的。而尽管有些青年具备美貌，却因为缺少优美的修养而不配得到赞美。
美犹如盛夏的水果，而容易腐烂而难维持的,世上有很多美人,他们有过放浪青春，却迎受着愧悔的晚年。
因此，把美的形貌与美的德行结合起来吧。只有如此，美会放射出真的的光辉
