This paper examines Paul Valery's quote above and attempts to answer the question of what makes beauty so difficult to define.
It discusses how beauty is unique for each individual and what is beautiful to one may be ordinary to another. He therefore concludes that beauty is more of a
concept than a reality and so is different for each who views it. The paper evaluates how beauty can be shocking, sublime, novel, intense and sometimes even strange and as a concept, it connotes
perfection.