A particular face shows determination merely by the turn of the moustache; but the moustache is robbed of all its expression unless it be worn by itself. Accompanied by the other parts of the beard, it loses its originality, it ceases to be a marked characteristic of will or temper. – 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

If you think that to grow a beard is to acquire wisdom, a goat with a fine beard is at once a complete Plato. – Lucian of Samosata, in The Greek Anthology, Volume IV, “Book XI: The Convivial a