Saturday, 3 October 2026

Advice on beauty and virtue citing Socrates in an old Russian book

Page of an old book in pre-reform Russian type with a passage on Socrates, the mirror and virtue.

I name no names, but all the same:.

...a woman of plain features, seated before the mirror, ought to say to herself: “How shall I look if I am ill-natured besides?” while a beautiful one should say: “What is beauty beside virtue?”

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