Outward beauty is a true sign of inner goodness. This loveliness, indeed, is impressed upon the body in varying degrees as a token by which the soul can be recognized for what it is, just as with trees the beauty of the blossom testifies to the goodness of the fruit.

Baldassare Castiglione

Categorized in : Tree Soul Body

Beauty, I believe, comes from God; therefore, there can be no bea... by Baldassare Castiglione

Beauty, I believe, comes from God; therefore, there can be no beauty without goodness.

Baldassare Castiglione

i-believe beauty believe

I have discovered a universal rule which seems to apply more than any other in all human actions or words: namely, to steer away from affectation at all costs, as if it were a rough and dangerous reef, and (to use perhaps a novel word for it) to practise in all things a certain nonchalance [sprezzatura] which conceals all artistry and makes whatever one says or does seem uncontrived and effortless.

Baldassare Castiglione

nonchalance cost use

Obvious effort is the antithesis of grace. by Baldassare Castiglione

Obvious effort is the antithesis of grace.

Baldassare Castiglione

obvious effort grace

Practise in everything a certain nonchalance that shall conceal design and show that what is done and said is done without effort and almost without thought.

Baldassare Castiglione

effort design done

Employ in everything a certain casualness which conceals art and creates the impression that what is done and said is accomplished without effort and without its being thought about. It is from this, in my opinion, that grace largely derives.

Baldassare Castiglione

effort attitude art

Men demonstrate their courage far more often in little things tha... by Baldassare Castiglione

Men demonstrate their courage far more often in little things than in great.

Baldassare Castiglione

little-things littles men

Take care lest perchance you fall into the mistake of thinking to gain more by being merciful than by being just; for to pardon him too easily that has transgressed is to wrong him that transgresses not.

Baldassare Castiglione

mistake fall thinking

Then the soul, freed from vice, purged by studies of true philosophy, versed in spiritual life, and practised in matters of the intellect, devoted to the contemplation of her own substance, as if awakened from deepest sleep, opens those eyes which all possess but few use, and sees in herself a ray of that light which is the true image of the angelic beauty communicated to her, and of which she then communicates a faint shadow to the body.

Baldassare Castiglione

spiritual sleep philosophy