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{{trope}}
[[File:belle_paints_beast_8269.jpg|link=Beauty and Thethe Beast (Disney)|right]]
 
{{quote|''"That's just something ugly people say."''|'''Fletcher''', ''[[Liar Liar]]''}}
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== Film (Animated) ==
* This appears as [[An Aesop]] at the beginning of the Disney version of ''[[Beauty and The Beast (Disney)|Beauty and the Beast]]''. A beautiful enchantress changes her form to look like an old woman and is not allowed to stay the night at the castle by the prince. She punishes him for judging her by her appearance (and not providing hospitality) by turning him into the Beast. This trope is supposed to be the overall message of the film, as Belle falls in love with him despite his monstrous appearance (once he cuts out the actual monstrous ''behavior'').
** But it ends up as a bit of a [[Broken Aesop]] at the end when the Beast's reward for learning his lesson (and Belle's reward for loving him despite his appearance) is that he is returned to his former, handsome self.
* ''[[Shrek]]'' did slightly better in that Fiona decided to become an ogre at the end, keeping the trope intact. Of course, she was a rather cute ogre, and was voiced by the even cuter (at the time) Cameron Diaz, which tended to deflate that, especially since Shrek was an ogre and one assumes he finds ogres attractive. [[Mars Needs Women|Not that it's particularly easy to tell]].
** Taking both to their logical conclusion makes this a sort of reverse [[Beauty and The Beast]] as it would mean that Shrek first fell in love with Fiona ''despite'' her human appearance once he discovered he and she actually shared a lot of things in common. It just so happens that her human form was one most audiences would consider beautiful.
* Quasimodo of ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' fits this trope as well.
* Ludmilla, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Bartok the Magnificent]]'', ''thinks'' this is true about herself. Then she takes a potion designed to make its user "10 times what they are inside", expecting to be extremely beautiful as a result. [[One-Winged Angel|She was WAY off!]]
 
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== Folklore ==
* Appears in all the "[[Beauty and The Beast (Literature)|Beauty and The Beast]]" adaptations as it is the crucial linchpin of the story: Beauty must come to understand that just because beast is a hideous monster doesn't mean he's a bad person. Which is weird considering the fact that in many cases he's been made into a hideous monster specifically because he's a bad person.
 
 
== Literature ==
* ''Jennifer Murdley's Toad'' by [[Bruce Coville (Creator)|Bruce Coville]] (part of the ''[[Magic Shop (Literature)|Magic Shop]]'' series) is about an ugly girl with a nice personality. At the climax of the story she encounters a witch who {{spoiler|offers to turn her "inside out," metaphorically speaking, so that her inner beauty will be on the outside, but upon thinking about this, Jennifer realizes that this would make her ugly on the inside, which she realizes would be worse}}. So she stays outwardly ugly (but a good person).
* This trope was [[Deconstructed Trope|deconstructed]] in one of the ''[[Spellsinger]]'' books. One of the characters is despondent that a beautiful woman he loves won't even give him the time of day. When the protagonist gives the, "She should see you for what you are on the inside", the despondent character points out that in [[Real Life]], looks '''do''' count. They are part of who you are. It might not be the most important, but they still are something. Not to mention that one of the reasons he wants her in the first place is for her looks, so it would be a [[Double Standard]] if he wanted her to ignore his ugliness.
* Horrifically subverted in a children's book, in which a young monster who accidentally made a "pretty face" (which was considered horrifyingly ugly by the family) and got stuck with it took her mother's advice "true beauty is on the inside" to the literal extreme and flipped her face inside out.
* Parodied in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Jingo|Jingo]]'' -- Nobby Nobbs, who is so ugly that he has to carry around a paper from the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork stating he is human, complains that women won't date him. Angua points out to him that maybe he should lower his standards, as he shouldn't expect to be able to date the more sought-after women. Nobby eventually settles on a Verity "Hammerhead" Pushpram, an ill-tempered fish seller whose eyes don't face the same direction and who usually reacts to seeing Nobby by [[Slap Slap Kiss|telling him to bugger off and throwing fish at him]] (because hey, free seafood). When Nobby does land himself a gorgeous girlfriend in a later book, Angua is horrified for her, though fortunately by the end of the book Nobby is back with Verity (largely because she's [[Through His Stomach|a better cook]]), while Tawneee is cured of [[Attractiveness Isolation|"jerk syndrome"]].
** Also parodied in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Maskerade|Maskerade]]'', where the plump and plain Agnes Nitt is sick of condescending comments like this, and thinks to herself that boys don't normally fall for an attractive pair of kidneys.
*** For the most part, though, this is played straight, albeit silently. Most of the people who can be termed "heroes" in this world tend not to be the best lookers.
* [[Older Than Print]] with ''[[The Canterbury Tales (Literature)|The Canterbury Tales]]'': in the Wife of Bath's tale, the [[Designated Hero]] knight of the story finds himself wedded to a smart woman with a great personality -- who's also a terribly ugly crone. She catches on to his distress and delivers this Aesop to him (along with a few others regarding wealth and noble birth), and then offers him a choice: as an enchantress, she could make herself young and beautiful, but then he'd always have to risk her sleeping around with his friends -- or she could remain old and ugly, but be the best wife he could possibly ask for. His choice. He {{spoiler|[[Take a Third Option|humbly says that the choice is up to her]], and she, delighted that he's learned how to respect her, announces that she will be both beautiful ''and'' faithful. And they all life [[Happily Ever After]]}}.
* [[Discussed Trope|Discussed]] in [[Anne Bronte (Creator)|Anne Bronte]]'s ''[[Agnes Grey (Literature)|Agnes Grey]]''.
* In ''[[Harry Potter]]'', [[French Jerk|Fleur]] [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold|Delacour]] {{spoiler|says that Bill's scars just show how heroic he is. [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|She still wants to marry him, no matters how he looks]]}}.
* There's a short story by Dick King Smith about a male fairy who is mocked for being bald. He mentions there is one red-haired fairy who isn't beautiful but has a kind face. After he learns his Aesop about vanity the red-haired fairy sits down next to him and tells him [[Just the Way You Are|she finds him perfect the way he is]]. He is then said to see that she doesn't just have a kind face, she is beautiful, providing a suggestion that people often seem more beautiful when they are good-hearted.
* [[Shrinking Violet|Ruth Mallory]] of ''[[Someone Else's War (Literature)|Someone Elses War]]'' is very ugly and treated poorly by the army for it. [[Knight in Sour Armor|Matteo]] likes her so much that he literally can't see her ugliness.
 
 
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== Real Life ==
* You ([[Distracted Byby the Sexy|and not just on the inside]]).
 
{{reflist}}
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