Meaning: Beauty (or ugliness) is subjective (definition).

Example: She says he’s handsome, I say he’s average; such is our notion of beauty, which is in the eye of the beholder.

Origins: In various forms, 3rd century BC Greek, 16th century AD Shakespeare and Lyly, but not in its current form until the 19th century AD. (Source.) 


Rewrites: in beauty, the beholder sets the gauge beauty is subject to the jaundiced eye glamour is an astigmatism true to the beholder fairness favors the beholder loveliness is the gift of the onlooker charm is an artifact of the beguiled grace is a spectator event elegance is a biased view
Discussion: This rewrite took me a while. The trick here is to decide what to call “beauty” and then how to acknowledge its reception.