The Origin of "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder" - A Historical Perspective

The saying "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is generally attributed to Margaret Wolfe Hungerford, an Irish novelist who wrote under the pseudonym "The Duchess."

She used a similar phrase in her 1878 novel, *Molly Bawn*: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

While the idea itself is older and can be found in earlier writings, Hungerford's wording is the one that became the popular saying.