"Inner beauty can fade too." 300 Arguments, Sara Manguso

I had this theory: What was best inside a man, if you had an eye for it, you could pour love on it and, like oxygen does a fire, that admiration for it would make that inner beauty grow.

I am not sure that is true. (If beauty is in the eye of the beholder.) But if it is true, to whatever extent it is, the withdrawal of that loving eye would make that inner beauty fade too, flutter and flame out.