Sublime

It is no valid accusation against a poet that the sentiment he expresses is commonplace. Poetry is always commonplace; it is vulgar in the noblest sense of that noble word. Unless a man can make the same kind of ringing appeal to absolute and admitted sentiments that is made by a popular orator, he has lost touch with emotional literature.

An obsession with utility is high time preference and selfishness incarnate. It is a maximization of flow and a rejection of stock. It is a worship of consumption yet a disregard for investment. Scruton captures the essential long-termism of a proper appreciation of beauty wonderfully: “Put usefulness first and you lose it. Put beauty first and wha

Modern things are ugly, because modern men are careless, not because they are careful.”

Works of art are of an infinite loneliness and nothing can reach them so little as criticism. Only love can grasp them and keep hold of them and be just to them. Always trust yourself and your own feelings as opposed to any such analysis, review or introduction; if you should be wrong, then the natural growth of your inner life will lead you slowly