--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Not being a poet, I prize truth above…" description: "\"Not being a poet, I prize truth above beauty.\" — Judith Rich Harris" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb6/judith-rich-harris-64668_beauty_not-being-a-poet-i-prize-truth-above-bea_2552477.jpg" --- # Not being a poet, I prize truth above beauty. ![“Not being a poet, I prize truth above beauty.” quote by Judith Rich Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb6/judith-rich-harris-64668_beauty_not-being-a-poet-i-prize-truth-above-bea_2552477.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb6/judith-rich-harris-64668_beauty_not-being-a-poet-i-prize-truth-above-bea_2552477.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb6/judith-rich-harris-64668_beauty_not-being-a-poet-i-prize-truth-above-bea_2552477.jpg) > “Not being a poet, I prize truth above beauty.” [Judith Rich Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-rich-harris/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Truth is valued over aesthetic appeal; facts guide understanding. **In simple terms:** Truth matters more than beauty. Key Takeaway Prioritize evidence over appearance. Themes truth beauty valuation Mood analytical neutral Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - scientific research - journalism - legal arguments - education Key Concepts epistemology critical thinking Questions to Reflect On - When should beauty be considered? - Can truth be beautiful? A Different Perspective Beauty can sometimes convey truth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Prize](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prize/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [He who never ventures beyond actuality will never win the prize of truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-schiller/he-who-never-ventures-beyond-actuality-will-never-win-the-prize-of/) [Friedrich Schiller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-schiller/) > [How could anybody confuse truth with beauty, I thought as I looked at him. Truth came with sunken eyes, bony or scarred, decayed. Its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/how-could-anybody-confuse-truth-with-beauty-i-thought-as-i-looked-at/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“...their heathen fingers understand truth and beauty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/their-heathen-fingers-understand-truth-and-beauty/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in a library.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-tomlin/if-truth-is-beauty-how-come-no-one-has-their-hair-done-in-a-library/) [Lily Tomlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-tomlin/) > [A fine lady; by which term I wish to express the result of that perfect education in taste and manner, down to every gesture,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-kingsley/a-fine-lady-by-which-term-i-wish-to-express-the-result-of-that/) [Charles Kingsley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-kingsley/) > [“First Snow The snow began here this morning and all day continued, its white rhetoric everywhere calling us back to why, how, whence such beauty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/first-snow-the-snow-began-here-this-morning-and-all-day-continued-its/) [mary oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“If you're a poet, you do something beautiful. I mean you're supposed to leave something beautiful after you get off the page and everything.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-d-salinger/if-you-re-a-poet-you-do-something-beautiful-i-mean-you-re-supposed-to/) [J.D. Salinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-d-salinger/) > [When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keats/when-old-age-shall-this-generation-waste-thou-shalt-remain-in-midst/) [John Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keats/) > [“It's not a collection! You know nothing of inspiration. Of beauty. From the hands and heart flow eternal truth and beauty. 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It is this innate human and divine longing, found in the company of goodness and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roberta-bondi/god-who-is-goodness-and-truth-is-also-beauty-it-is-this-innate-human/) [Roberta Bondi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roberta-bondi/) > [The most natural beauty in the world is honest and moral truth.for all beauty is truth. true features make the beauty of the face;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-most-natural-beauty-in-the-world-is-honest-and-moral-truth-for/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The truth is, When I am not, then is the beauty.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashutosh-g-hetkar/the-truth-is-when-i-am-not-then-is-the-beauty/) Ashutosh G. Hetkar > [You can always recognize truth by its beauty and simplicity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-p-feynman/you-can-always-recognize-truth-by-its-beauty-and-simplicity/) [Richard P. Feynman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-p-feynman/) ## More by Judith Rich Harris > [Birth order effects are like those things that you think you see out of the corner of your eye but that disappear when you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-rich-harris/birth-order-effects-are-like-those-things-that-you-think-you-see-out/) [Judith Rich Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-rich-harris/) > [“Someone who thinks up a new theory is the last person who should be trusted with the job of testing it. A new theory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-rich-harris/someone-who-thinks-up-a-new-theory-is-the-last-person-who-should-be/) [Judith Rich Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-rich-harris/) > [“Fortunately, the metamorphosis came too late to permit me to go back to graduate school. And thus I escaped indoctrination. Whatever I learned about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-rich-harris/fortunately-the-metamorphosis-came-too-late-to-permit-me-to-go-back/) [Judith Rich Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-rich-harris/) > [The names that do the serious damage are the ones we call ourselves. The stereotypes we give ourselves are the ones that matter in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-rich-harris/the-names-that-do-the-serious-damage-are-the-ones-we-call-ourselves/) [Judith Rich Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-rich-harris/) [Explore all 5 Judith Rich Harris quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-rich-harris/) ## More Beauty quotes > [We do not want nowadays temples of worship and outward rites and ceremonies. What we really want is an Asram. We want a place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/we-do-not-want-nowadays-temples-of-worship-and-outward-rites-and/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [How could anybody confuse truth with beauty, I thought as I looked at him. Truth came with sunken eyes, bony or scarred, decayed. 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When…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie/to-me-the-beauty-of-a-quilt-or-a-dress-lies-within-the-stitches-and/) [Natalie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie/) > [“do not misunderstand person by beauty You really do not know its real or Mask on dirty thoughts”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammed-zaki-ansari/do-not-misunderstand-person-by-beauty-you-really-do-not-know-its-real/) [Mohammed Zaki Ansari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammed-zaki-ansari/) > [“I already love in you your beauty, but I am only beginning to love in you that which is eternal and ever precious –…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/i-already-love-in-you-your-beauty-but-i-am-only-beginning-to-love-in/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [The more perfect the sight is the more delightful the beautiful object. The more perfect the appetite, the sweeter the food. The more musical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-baxter/the-more-perfect-the-sight-is-the-more-delightful-the-beautiful/) [Richard Baxter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-baxter/) > [Call her beautiful a million times and she won't believe you. Call her ugly once, and she will never forget it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tumblr/call-her-beautiful-a-million-times-and-she-won-t-believe-you-call-her/) Tumblr > [Time can but make her beauty over again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/time-can-but-make-her-beauty-over-again/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [ The social \[media channel\] isn't about beauty contests and popularity contests. They're a distortion, a caricature of the real thing. 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I needed to find out all the information I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-avery-ellison/what-about-you-what-do-you-do-i-needed-to-ask-questions-draw-him-out/) [Kate Avery Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-avery-ellison/) [Browse all 24,662 Beauty quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Not being a poet, I prize truth above beauty.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Judith Rich Harris" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-rich-harris/not-being-a-poet-i-prize-truth-above-beauty/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Beauty" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-rich-harris/not-being-a-poet-i-prize-truth-above-beauty/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb6/judith-rich-harris-64668_beauty_not-being-a-poet-i-prize-truth-above-bea_2552477.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb6/judith-rich-harris-64668_beauty_not-being-a-poet-i-prize-truth-above-bea_2552477.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb6/judith-rich-harris-64668_beauty_not-being-a-poet-i-prize-truth-above-bea_2552477.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Not being a poet, I prize truth above beauty.” — Judith Rich Harris", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Judith Rich Harris", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-rich-harris/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Not being a poet, I prize...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-rich-harris/not-being-a-poet-i-prize-truth-above-beauty/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-rich-harris/not-being-a-poet-i-prize-truth-above-beauty/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```