Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Book ·33 of 348
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. — Plato"
They never said that.
What people say
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. — Plato"
What was actually said
"Plato wrote no such phrase. The exact wording is Margaret Wolfe Hungerford's in *Molly Bawn* (1878)." Margaret Wolfe Hungerford — Hungerford, Molly Bawn (1878)
Why it stuck
Plato discussed beauty's subjectivity philosophically but never coined the phrase. Common attribution drift to a more famous name.
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.