This collection of quotes are on aesthetics and appreciating the beauty in people, nature, things and life in general.
What Does ‘Aesthetics’ Mean?
Aesthetics is often defined as the qualities of a thing or person that give pleasure to the senses. It can also be a type of style, a concept or influence.
The concept of aesthetics has been around for centuries, and has been discussed by some of the most renowned philosophers in history. Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel are just a few of the thinkers who have written on the subject.
However, aesthetics is not just about art or the appearance of something – it’s also about the way it makes you feel. It’s about all the senses: sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. The connotations it invokes in you and the feelings that rise up when you see or experience it.
Aesthetic experiences can be found in many different forms – both in the natural world and in the man-made world. A beautiful sunset, a snow-capped mountain, a flower in bloom, a work of art, a piece of music, a cozy blanket – all of these things can give us aesthetic pleasure.
Short Aesthetic Quotes
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” Confucius
“Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.” Oscar Wilde
“For art to exist, for any sort of aesthetic activity to exist, a certain physiological precondition is indispensable: intoxication.” Friedrich Nietzsche
“For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.” Steve Jobs
“It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.” Voltaire
“I want big ideas to have aesthetic relevance. I want to tickle people’s intellectual sensibilities and instill a sense of wonder.” Jason Silva
“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” Maya Angelou
“All efforts to make politics aesthetic culminate in one thing, war.” Walter Benjamin
“Nothing’s perfect, the world’s not perfect. But it’s there for us, trying the best it can; that’s what makes it so damn beautiful.” Hiromu Arakawa
“An artist’s concern is to capture beauty wherever he finds it.” Kazuo Ishiguro
“I’ve always put a lot of stock in aesthetics and visuals. I truly believe a picture is worth a thousand words and that fashion and glamour have the power to transport and transform someone.” Violet Chachki
Aesthetic Quotes About Life
“Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.” E. O. Wilson
“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.” Ashley Smith
“Our culture’s obsession with vintage objects has rendered us unable to separate history from nostalgia. People want heart. They want a chaser of emotion with their aesthetics.” Sloane Crosley
“Art is an invention of aesthetics, which in turn is an invention of philosophers… What we call art is a game.” Octavio Paz
“The fact that the colors in the flower have evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting; that means insects can see the colors. That adds a question: does this aesthetic sense we have also exist in lower forms of life?” Richard P. Feynman
“If a work of art is rich and vital and complete, those who have artistic instincts will see its beauty, and those to whom ethics appeal more strongly than aesthetics will see its moral lesson. It will fill the cowardly with terror, and the unclean will see in it their own shame.” Oscar Wilde
“A concerted effort to preserve our heritage is a vital link to our cultural, educational, aesthetic, inspirational, and economic legacies – all of the things that quite literally make us who we are.” Steve Berry
“The more often we see the things around us – even the beautiful and wonderful things – the more they become invisible to us. That is why we often take for granted the beauty of this world: the flowers, the trees, the birds, the clouds – even those we love. Because we see things so often, we see them less and less.” Joseph B. Wirthlin
“I do not create a fashionable aesthetic… I create a style based on life.” Issey Miyake
“The distinction between a gallery and a museum is enormous. The gallery is about looking at a thing of beauty; the purpose of the activity is an aesthetic response. The museum is actually about the object that lets you get into somebody else’s life.” Neil MacGregor
Positive Aesthetic Quotes
“Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.” Sophia Loren
“Taking joy in living is a woman’s best cosmetic.” Rosalind Russell
“There is no definition of beauty, but when you can see someone’s spirit coming through, something unexplainable, that’s beautiful to me.” Liv Tyler
“Beauty is power; a smile is its sword.” John Ray
“The aesthetic came along the way, I think – just through experimenting, and going on tour, and trying stuff out on stage, having fun with it, and not taking it too seriously. If I had a ballgown at home, I’d wear it onstage. If I found something in a charity shop, I’d wear it. That’s where it grew from – just wanting to play dress-up.” Florence Welch
“I always loved fashion and clothes. Not because I think that’s a woman’s place, but because I care about aesthetics. I like art; I like going to art museums, and to me, these things are just manifestations of one’s aesthetic sense.” Leila Janah
“Fashion, for me, is anything that’s aesthetic and beautiful. Art, food, film. It’s something that I appreciate and really like.” St. Vincent
Aesthetic Quotes For Instagram
Instagram is a great place to post a short caption about aesthetics – of course alongside a beautiful, inspiring picture.
Here are some examples of aesthetic quotes that you can use on Instagram:
“If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads.” Anatole France
“Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.” Anne Frank
“All art is but imitation of nature.” Seneca
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” Edgar Degas
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” John Keats
“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” Pablo Picasso
“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” Jawaharlal Nehru
“The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.” Francis Bacon
“Let us live for the beauty of our own reality.” Charles Lamb
“Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.” David Hume
“There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness.” Maria Mitchell
“There’s nowhere that looks like Singapore; it’s absolutely beautiful on a purely aesthetic level.” Lisa Joy
“You don’t have a choice about fashion or aesthetics – you’re in it, whether you like it or not.” A. A. Gill
“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 Kubler-Ross
“I love the English aesthetic; in a way, I feel it is close to my own, a beautiful chaos; it is a powerful mix of the past and the present.” Alessandro Michele
“The more people explore the world, the more they realize in every country there’s a different aesthetic. Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.” Helena Christensen
“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Take some time to appreciate the beauty in your life, and you may find yourself feeling happier and more fulfilled as a result.
For more quotes on beauty and aesthetics, be sure to check out:
- 150+ Words To Describe Beauty
- 22 Inspiring Quotes About Creativity
