Love Quote by H.G. Wells

Wells tweaks a familiar proverb and makes it sharper: not “in the eye,” but “in the heart.” That swap matters. The “eye” suggests taste as a private, almost consumer preference - a quick scan, a judgment made at a distance. The “heart” drags beauty into the messy territory of desire, memory, loyalty, and moral imagination. Wells isn’t just giving permission for differing opinions; he’s implying that what we call beautiful is bound up with what we’re capable of feeling, and what we’ve been trained to value.

Coming from a writer who spent his career stress-testing Victorian certainties with science-fiction logic, the line reads like a quiet act of sabotage against supposedly objective standards. Wells lived in a culture busy cataloging everything - races, classes, bodies, “types” - and calling the catalog nature. “In the heart” hints that these standards aren’t neutral; they’re emotional investments disguised as facts. Beauty becomes a psychological confession.

The subtext is also a warning. If beauty is anchored in the heart, it can be noble (compassion making the overlooked radiant) or suspect (prejudice making the familiar seem “naturally” superior). Wells’s era was steeped in both romantic sentimentality and hard-edged social hierarchy; this line sits between them, exposing how easily aesthetics can launder power.

It works because it sounds gentle while it rewires the argument: beauty isn’t out there waiting to be found. It’s something we project, and that projection reveals who we are.