"Beauty is nothing other than the promise of happiness."
— Stendhal, On Love
And we all want something beautiful
Man I wish I was beautiful
Man I wish I was beautiful
— Counting Crows, Mr. Jones
When you were here before
Couldn't look you in the eye
You're just like an angel
Your skin made me cry
You float like a feather
And a beautiful one
You're so fucking special
I wish I was special
Couldn't look you in the eye
You're just like an angel
Your skin made me cry
You float like a feather
And a beautiful one
You're so fucking special
I wish I was special
— Radiohead, Creep
"...I wish I was as beautiful as you"
— Bon Jovi's song "Ugly"
"I am sure even the freaky nuns of otaku-land want to be pretty too, deep down."
— Kuranosuke, Princess Jellyfish
For now, Ann-Marie was gone. Andromeda returned to her celestial enclosure of light, away from the mundane world, into the mists of mythology.
I understood then what she had surrendered to keep the Look.
The terrible truth is, I would still have changed places with her for a taste of that life, just for a chance to be someone, to look down upon dreary mortals from the height of godhood. I would have done anything – I would still do anything – to get a second chance. To have Kit Marlowe look at me and smile knowingly. To let his people experiment with my body until they were happy, no matter how much it hurt, and I would smile back at them through the stitches and the blood and the endless tearing pain. I would surrender everything.
Because nothing can ever take away the power of the Look. To be adored is to become divine. All your life is worth its finest moment. And when at last you fall from grace, you still have eternity to remind you of that time.
—The Look, by Christopher Fowler
