Careful Words

complexion (n.)

complexion (v.)

Mislike me not for my complexion,

The shadow'd livery of the burnish'd sun.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Merchant of Venice. Act ii. Sc. 1.

  Once he saw a youth blushing, and addressed him, "Courage, my boy! that is the complexion of virtue."

Diogenes Laertius (Circa 200 a d): Diogenes. vi.

Here lies James Quinn. Deign, reader, to be taught,

Whate'er thy strength of body, force of thought,

In Nature's happiest mould however cast,

To this complexion thou must come at last.

David Garrick (1716-1779): Epitaph on Quinn. Murphy's Life of Garrick, Vol. ii. p. 38.