I wonder if she knows how utterly beautiful she is.'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 Stopes
~~~~~
Je me demande si elle sait qu'elle est si belle.
'La beauté à seize ans est un don de la nature. Mais pour être belle à soixante, c'est par la volonté de ton âme.' - Marie Stopes
I wonder...
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's better not to know. She's got a precious innocence.
Jilly, the quote has me thinking!
Jolie photo et jolie demoiselle (qui est-ce?) mais il y a un truc dans la "pensée" de Mary Stopes qui me gêne un peu. :-)
ReplyDeleteI prefer the beauty of a woman than a child but it is a nice picture Jilly!
ReplyDeleteInteresting set of recent portraits... ah what spring brings forth.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great quote! Even if she knows how beautiful she is, she is at an age when she will feel insecure about something. You, my dear, are the model of how experience can transform a natural beauty into radiance.
ReplyDeleteIf she's as beautyful inside, she'll still be beautyful at 60!
ReplyDeletePS: the house on my blog today is in Nice, near the port.
I doubt she knows. And for those who think it's better...maybe...but a little knowledge of it is nice. I had no idea when I was young & thought I was less than everyone. I had no enjoyment of it & all the upset. And now, I won't link to my blog:)
ReplyDeleteThis is lovely, Jilly. And I always loved that quote...thanks for reminding us.
Jilly, I worked with a top model recently. I asked her how it felt to be so beautiful? She answered it was a curse because all she could see in the mirror were the little flaws, lines starting... As they say, beauty is only skin deep. I really believe beauty comes from within but also I remember when I lived in France, our new neighbor was probably in her 70's. She had a speach impediment because of a cleft palate. She had been single all her life and she adored children. She would have made such a wonderful wife and mother. She was so incredibly nice and loving, her "flaws" disappeared and you could only see grace and BEAUTY. To this day, I still think of Mademoiselle Pégon with love. I will take an ugly 16 year old over a gorgeous but bratty one. Of course, any teenager will find a made-up 60 year old woman pretty, but for a grown woman to say that at 60 you can only look good because you have to "work at it" is very shallow.
ReplyDeleteThere is a Yeat's poem, Jilly, 'A Prayer for my Daughter' which includes the stanza:
ReplyDeleteMay she be granted beauty and yet not
Beauty to make a stranger's eye distraught,
Or hers before a looking glass, for such
Being made beautiful overmuch,
Consider beauty a sufficient end,
Lose natural kindness and maybe
The heart-revealing intimacy
That choses right, and never find a friend.
I wonder. . .I wonder . . .
ReplyDeleteShe knows that she is pretty, but as someone else said, there is always something that even the most beautiful people feel insecure about. That is why what's in your heart is so much more important than what's on your face. - I love this candid shot! You must have a really great telephoto lens. I always marvel at your close-ups that are paired with your scenery shots.
ReplyDeleteYour choice of quotes for your marvelous images is always equally as good. This one, I think, is especially apt and true.
ReplyDelete