the eyes of the beholder

I've come across just too many dramatic statements by famous authors and intellects, that don't really define beauty.
They just come along, one after another and confuse the heck out of you and me, till we drop this excellent idea of wanting to pursue the real meaning of beauty.

Marie Stopes said : ''You can take no credit for beauty at sixteen. But if you are beautiful at sixty, it will be your soul's own doing''
Awestruck.
what truth !

but then Jean Kerr popped up and slipped another quote in : "I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What do you want - an adorable pancreas?"
Laughter. No arguments.
What truth, again.

And of course, like you, i too have come across a lot of scoop on how beauty is brain and vice-versa. That concept has never failed to impress me or make me think. Yet, i wonder why that connecting word 'is' is actually there between two words like beauty and brain which can be independently appreciated. It's an extraneous connection.
I personally have always been of the opinion that beauty is of little importance without intellect.
But bad genes, my dear, are bad genes. Intellect is no consolation for that.

Einstein wasn't the best looking man on the planet, but he was definitely one of the most intelligent. Point noted, Your Honour. We all want to be the smart ones.
Yet, in this world where people are criticizing external beauty so ruthlessly and so many of us seem to disregard it with apparent unimportance....
why does each one of us, no matter how minimally, still want to contribute to better physical appearance and grooming ? here's the truth : beauty may be skin deep, but it bothers us to the core.

Beauty is skin deep. YES. is there a problem ?
Alright, let it be skin deep. However deep it is, it's only the skin that shows it.
So wouldn't it be rather stupid to have that beauty all the way down to your flesh?

And then, for those of us who go around arguing about whether beauty is inner beauty or is it just limited to what we look like...
let's make things simpler for ourselves. there are different kinds of beauty.
physical beauty is what pleases our superficial senses, vision and touch.
inner beauty, as we call it, is what pleases our deep sense, feeling.

Sharon stone is beautiful. Mother Teresa is beautiful. Princess Diana is beautiful. Mahatma Gandhi is beautiful. George Clooney is beautiful. Abdul Kalam is beautiful.With due respects to each person, all of us have our own, special charm. It would be unfair to run either down, be it outer or inner beauty.

Let's not console ourselves for things that we do not have, and instead spend more time learning to love ourselves for the lovely things that we have. Loving oneself makes one beautiful more than anything ever can..