“
I had the grace to say that he flattered me but let it lie when he answered that I was too modest—even though I’m not handsome now and wasn’t then and modesty has never been one of my vices. “But Noisy thought all the girls were beautiful, too—and in one case this may have been true and certainly several of them were pretty. “But he asked me what had become of Olga and added, ‘Golly, what a little beauty she was!’ “Kinfolk, Olga wasn’t even homely, she was ugly. Face like a mud pie, figure like a gunnysack—only on an outpost like Mars could she get by. What she did have was a warm and gentle voice and a sweet personality—which was enough, as a customer might pick her through Hobson’s choice on a busy night, but once he had done so, he picked her some later time on purpose. Mean to say, dears, beauty will lure a man into bed, but it won’t bring him back a second time, unless he’s awfully young or very stupid.
”
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Robert A. Heinlein (Time Enough for Love)