The care that we bestow on our person is a species of politeness towards others; thus it is that many persons shave some part of their beard, in order to unite freedom of toilette with an appearance of cleanliness and trimness. – Charles Blanc, Art in Ornament and Dress, 1875
Thus we have now for many centuries triumphed over nature to the extent of making certain secondary characteristics of the male (such as the beard) disagreeable to nearly all the females—and there is more in that than you might suppose. – C.S. Lewis (Screwtape letter)
The little white goatee that stuck out from the side of his chin was as crooked as his temper. – Margaret Sutton Briscoe, “The Price of Peace,” Jimty, and Others, 1897