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"Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts", if you believe this, then you will agree with Madame Merle's standpoint in Portrait of a Lady written by Henry James. Madame Merle argues that you should judge a book by its cover and contents, establishing that the outer "shell" is as equally important as the inner shell. While speaking metaphorically and literally, Madame Merle's view has the greater validity for a cluster of reasons involving factual evidence and the bare reason of age and wisdom. As Aesop once said "Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth", but it's a start. Although the outside isn't always accurate, it's an opening to a person's likes, social class, or even mood. Have you ever taken the time to wonder why people don't walk around in the nude? For starters, how would one be distinguished from another? How would those over glances made in first impressions actually impress anyone? Clothes make the man; naked people have little or no influence on society. There is no way one can "express" their self without physical material. Don't get me wrong, I believe Isabels's point of argument that your feelings, thoughts and ideals are the more relevant