Yikes! Just caught a glimpse of my reflection in the bathroom mirror. This would not be a good day to ask “Who’s the fairest of them all?” The mirror would roar with laughter … then I’d throw something at it and wind up with seven years’ bad luck.

Beauty has never been one of my preoccupations, but it sparked an interesting discussion a couple of nights ago when my mother and I drifted into conversation about my friend, Marvene. Several years ago, Marvene married a family friend I’d known since junior high—one of my brother’s college roommates. Time passed, we became close, and one day I realized: My goodness, that girl is beautiful! Now, if Marvene’s having a bad day and doesn’t want to ask the mirror who’s fairest of them all, she knows she can call me for positive reinforcement.

In our conversation the other evening, Mom happened to comment that my friend is also a lovely person. And as we continued talking, I realized I’d known Marvene casually for a couple of years before she seemed to blossom from quite pretty to My goodness, that girl is beautiful! She hadn’t changed her appearance in that time. The change was that I’d discovered her heart. Seeing her many unsung kindnesses and quiet dedication to faith and family had brightened her wattage, enhancing her external attractiveness.

Have you ever reflected on why certain people in your life seem unusually attractive? Maybe it has as much to do with what you see in their characters as what you see in their faces.

“The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.”

—Francis Bacon, philosopher and statesman

“You can take no credit for beauty at sixteen. But if you are beautiful at sixty, it will be your soul’s own doing.”

—Marie Carmichael Stopes, scientist

“The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them, but because he is a man of high and heroic temper.”

—Aristotle, philosopher

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”

—Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, psychiatrist

“There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness.”

—Marguerite Gardiner, writer

“The beauty seen, is partly in him who sees it.”

—Christian Nevell Bovee, author and lawyer

“Beauty, unaccompanied by virtue, is as a flower without perfume.”

—French proverb

“Beauty in not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.”

—Kahlil Gibran, novelist and poet