Eyebrow

“ The lowered brow signifies retention, repulsion: It is the signification of a closed door. The elevated brow means the open door. The mind opens to let in the light or to allow it to escape. The eyebrow is nothing less than the door of intelligence. In falling, the voice repels. The efforts in repulsion and retention are equal.
The inflections are in accord with the eyebrows. When the brows are raised, the voice is raised. This is the normal movement of the voice in relation to the eyebrow.
Sometimes the eyebrow is in contradiction to the movement of the voice. Then there is always ellipse ”

“ Next he shaved off the outer third of each eyebrow, and, having applied some sort of varnish or adhesive, he proceeded to build up, with a number of short hairs, a continuation of the eyebrows at a higher level. The result seemed to please him amazingly, for he stepped back and viewed me with an exceedingly self-satisfied smirk.
"It is really surprising, sir," said he," how much expression there is in the corner of an eyebrow. ”

“ The eyebrows must be kept well brushed, and by persistent care can be pinched into graceful lines. A heavy eyebrow can be trained with really little effort. The brush should be small and rather stiff and firm. ”

“ The high square brow from which the hair has been brushed up and back in short silky waves, the strongly-marked eyebrows, the long straight [Pg 337] nose,—they all speak of good brains and an iron will; while there is a suspicion of daintiness in the close-cropped whiskers, trimly-pointed beard, and flowing moustache. The eyes are his finest feature, large and oval, with the eyelid drooping somewhat at the outer edge, which gives him a look of sadness. ”

“ The long sunken eye-slits, whose outer corners curve down, so as to follow the lines of the brow-arches, give them an air of sleepy cunning, the eyebrows often overhanging as to form a den for the suspicious roving eyes. The lips are thick, broad, and pouting. The whole face seems dazed, and it is almost beyond mortal patience to see the heavy, slow, owlish way in which their head turns on its axis if anything attracts their attention. ”

“ Thick eyebrows, somewhat arched, show artistic perception of beauty in colour. Delicately marked eyebrows, slightly arched, indicate tenderness.
Eyebrows lighter than the hair show weakness and indecision. Eyebrows much darker than the hair denote an ardent, passionate and constant temperament.
Angular, strong and sharply interrupted eyebrows close to the eyes always show fire and productive activity. No profound thinker has weakly marked eyebrows, or eyebrows placed very high on the forehead. Want of eyebrow almost always indicates a want of mental and bodily force. ”

“ This threefold darkness, unsuspicious of a gray hair, overshadows a sallow, wrinkled brow and cheeks, upon which a hare's foot imitates the ruddy glow of youth with a sort of Vauxhall-by-daylight-splendour. Under the genuine eyebrows, float two colourless eyes, between which a high and well-shaped nose rears its haughty form. ”

“ The eyebrows—far apart—are straight and level, but shaded off so delicately that they impart a look of benignity and softness to the aristocratic nose, while the curves of the well-cut lips indicate straightforwardness, sincerity of disposition, and power. ”

“ Thick, beautiful, and closely-curled masses of rich brown much-neglected hair fell about an ample brow, and almost to the wearer's shoulders; strong eyebrows marked with their dark shadows a pair of rather sunken eyes, in which a sort of fire, instinct with what may be called proud cynicism, burned with furtive energy. ”

“ Now with regard to the eyebrow, the eyebrow in a face reveals the character, and therefore it is necessary that a woman's eyebrows should not be knit but open and arched. For it is easier for a man to speak openly to such a woman, and she attracts people to her home. ”

“ In addition to her beautiful hair, the stranger’s other attractions can be enumerated as a long, well formed nose, well defined eyebrows and long lashes, and deep gray eyes that looked almost black in the shade of her broad brow. ”

“ But strangest of all is the manner in which they tint the eyebrows. They have undoubtedly been told that, to be beautiful, the eyebrow should form a well-defined arch, and hence they have concluded that the greater the arch the greater will be the beauty, without asking if the place of that arch were not irrevocably fixed by nature. Such being the case, they give up to their eyebrows the whole space between the temples, and paint the forehead with two wide arches, which, starting from the origin of the nose, extend, one on each side, as far as the temple. ”

“ The violence of this passion alters all the parts of the face; the eyebrows rise in the middle; its muscles are marked, swelled, pressed one against the other, and sunk towards the nose, which draws up as well as the nostrils; the eyes are very open; the upper eyelid is hid under the eyebrow; the white of the eye is encompassed with red; the eyeball fixes towards the lower part of the eye; the lower part of the eyelid swells, and becomes livid; the muscles of the nose and cheeks swell, and these last terminate in a point towards the sides of the nostrils ”

“ More numerous within, they sometimes unite together the two eyebrows upon the nasal prominence, and thus shade the root of the nose. Fewer without, they there cause the eyebrow to terminate in a point. ”

“ The eyebrows are thick and shaggy, with strong, white hair, very highly arched and standing a long way above the eyes, which are of a light blue with a tinge of gray, small, rather deeply set, calm, clear, penetrating, and revealing unfathomable depths of tenderness, kindness, and sympathy. ”

“ That broad and bulging brow (whereas his own was narrow and high) , those level and thick eyebrows, for the most part raised a trifle to express contempt of others and self-confidence, that piercing glance (whereas his own pale-blue eyes blinked behind the spectacles of the short-sighted) , that big nose, haughtily arched, those lips surmounted by a brown, curving moustache, that strong, square chin; in a word, all that virile antithesis to his own grotesque, flabby-cheeked face, was the perpetual object of his silent admiration. ”

“ He has red hair, very red, close-curling, and a pale face, long in shape, with straight, good features and little, rather queer whiskers that are as red as his hair. His eyebrows are, somehow, darker; they look particularly arched and as if they might move a good deal. ”

“ You have no idea how much expression you can get out of your eyebrows, for instance, until you study the question and learn by experiment that a complete emotional scale can be symbolized outwardly in the movements of the eyelids and eyebrows.
A very drooping eyebrow is expressive of fatigue, either physical or mental. This lowered eyelid is the aspect we see about us most of the time, particularly on people past their first youth. As it shows a lack of interest, it is not a favorite expression of actors and is only employed where the rôle makes it necessary. ”

“ A high German doctor and astrologer informed the public that he was blessed with a wife “who could make red hair as white as a lily, shape the eyebrows to a miracle, make low foreheads as high as you please, and had a rich water which would make the hair curl.” The practice of shaping the eyebrows, though now in disuse, was at one time considered a very delicate and important operation. [107] Every one has remarked the extreme fineness of the eyebrows in the pictures of the great Italian masters. ”

“ The muscular fibres passing from the top of the forehead to the middle of the eyebrow, causing [16] an elevation of the brow, and the horizontal wrinkles on each side, indicate an enthusiastic person, and one full of hope ”

“ We look at the far eye, and this curves slightly away from us on the curve of the cheek. The eyeball nears the blunt end, and exposes a large space of white.
Lid, pupil, iris, eyelash, eyebrow, all follow in their turn; add such shadows as you wish, and you must certainly not forget the shadow of the nose and the forehead. The eye lies in a socket. In old people this is very noticeable. The shadow of the brow falls on the socket and gives a very sharp and bold outline for drawing. ”

“ The eyebrows sink down towards the middle of the forehead; the eyes [Pg 130] are almost closed, wet and drawn down towards the cheeks; the nostrils swelled; the muscles and veins of the forehead appear; the mouth is shut, and the sides of it are drawn down, making wrinkles in the cheeks; the under lip, pushed out, presses the upper one; the face is wrinkled and contracted; its colour is red, especially about the eyebrows, the eyes, the nose, and the cheeks. ”

“ For the pupil and iris of the eye, the eyebrow, the nostril, and the lip are all set in dark on pale ground. You can't draw a white eyebrow, a white pupil of the eye, a white nostril, and a white mouth, on a dark ground. ”

“ It elongates the ends of the eyebrows laterally, and flexes them horizontally in proportion as it is developed, yet when deficient the eyebrow is left short externally, does not project beyond the eye, and terminates running downwards. ”

“ Under the forehead are two eyebrows; if they are straight, it is a mark of a gentle disposition; the eyebrows bent down to the nose are an evidence of an austere temper; if they incline towards the temples, of a mocker and scoffer; if they are drawn down, it is a sign of an envious person. Beneath these are the eyes, which by nature are two in number: the parts of each eye are, first, the upper and under eyelid, the edges of which are furnished with hair. ”

“ Buffon makes the remark, that after the eyes, the eyebrows contribute more strongly than any other part of the face towards giving character to the physiognomy, being, inasmuch as they differ in their nature from the other features, more apparent by contrast, and hence strike us more than any other portion of the countenance. They are, in fact, a shadow in the picture, bringing its colour and drawing into strong relief. The eyelashes also contribute their effect; when they are long and thick, they overshadow the eye, making its glance appear softer and more beautiful. ”

“ Consider how the eyes not only please us with agreeable sensations but are protected in every way. The eyebrows stand like a thicket to keep the perspiration from them, the lids are a curtain to shut out too great light, the lashes screen them from dust,—everything [111] is planned for some wise and reasonable end. ”

“ The gray upon your cheeks is whitening and the razor must be used more vigilantly to further deception. Those creases in your face can no longer be dismissed as character lines; the shagginess of your eyebrows has the flying years to account for it. Plainly, John, you and humbug must part company. You are not of this generation and it is not for you.
I turned down the gas, threw open the window and let the moonlight filter in through the elms and over the tops of the little pines. ”

“ The eyes have [Pg 87] the lustrous brightness and moisture which is seen in life, and around them are those pale, red, and slightly livid circles, also proper to nature, with the lashes, which can only be copied as these are with the greatest difficulty; the eyebrows also are represented with the closest exactitude, where fuller and where more thinly set, with the separate hairs delineated as they issue from the skin, every turn being followed and all the pores exhibited in a manner that could not be more natural than it is ”

“ The long, almond-shaped eye with thick eyelids covering nearly half of the pupil, when taken in connection with the full brow, is indicative of genius, and is often found in artists, literary and scientific men. It is the eye of talent, or impressibility. The large, open, transparent eye, of whatever color, is indicative of elegance, of [142] taste, of refinement, of wit, of intelligence. Weakly marked eyebrows indicate a feeble constitution and a tendency to melancholia. Deep-sunken eyes are selfish, while eyes in which the whole iris shows indicate erraticism, if not lunacy. ”

“ A forehead should project more over the eyes than at the top, and there should be a small cavity in the centre, separating the brow into four divisions: but this should be so slightly accentuated as only to be seen when the forehead is in a strong light coming from above it.
When the eyebrows are far from each other at their starting-point between the eyes, they denote warmth, frankness and impulse—a generous and unsuspicious nature. A woman or man having such eyebrows would never be causelessly jealous. ”

“ The lady had a smooth, white, delicate brow, strongly marked eyebrows, long lashes, eyes that seemed to change colour, and a good-sized, delicious mouth, with teeth as white as milk. A man could not see her nose for her eyes and mouth ”

“ Sometimes raised eyebrows, a little nod toward a person's back, very tightly pursed lips, somebody abruptly twirling her two thumbs, will set off a whole roomful into peals of laughter, while I simply sit dazed and blank. ”

“ A Persian treatise on the figurative terms relating to beauty shows that the hair should be black, abundant, and wavy, the eyebrows dark and arched. The eyelashes also must be dark, and like arrows from the bow of the eyebrows. There is, however, no insistence on the blackness of the eyes. ”

“ She only wishes to dye thine eyebrows and pluck out thy moustaches.” Quoth he, “As for the dyeing of my eyebrows, that will come off with washing, but the plucking out of my moustaches will be irksome.” “Beware of crossing her,” said the old woman; “for her heart is set on thee.” So my brother suffered them to dye his eyebrows and pluck out his moustaches, after which the damsel returned to her mistress and told her. Quoth she, “There is one thing more to be done; thou must shave his chin, that he may be beardless.” ”

“ The eyebrows,—you see there is a bend between them, they sink here, which gives a suggestion of nervous sensibility, of vibrating thoughts; but this will become no longer noticeable when she opens her eyes, nothing will be{254} noticeable then but their depth of weariness, their infinity of freezing chill.
“Imagine the color of the whole harder, more vivid; weigh down all that is heavy, make sharp all that is light and delicate, harden all that is strong, banish joy with a cuff and blushes with a sneer, and there you have her, that is what will become of her. ”