A Quote by Wilhelm von Humboldt
If the mind loves solitude, it has thereby acquired a loftier character, and it becomes still more noble when the taste is indulged in.
Related Quotes
Money is an acquired taste. But, once acquired, it becomes an addiction.
Greatness of mind becomes an object of love only when the power at work in it itself has a noble character
The love of solitude, when cultivated in the morn of life, elevates the mind to a noble independence, but to acquire the advantages which solitude is capable of affording, the mind must not be impelled to it by melancholy and discontent, but by a real distaste to the idle pleasures of the world, a rational contempt for the deceitful joys of life, and just apprehensions of being corrupted and seduced by its insinuating and destructive gayeties.
When, after having read a work, loftier thoughts arise in your mind and noble and heartfelt feelings animate you, do not look for any other rule to judge it by; it is fine and written in a masterly manner.
No taste is so acquired as that for someone else's quality of mind.
The character truest to itself becomes eccentric rather than immovably centered, as Emerson defined the noble character of the hero. At the edge, the certainty of borders gives way. We are more subject to invasions, less able to mobilize defenses, less sure of who we really are, even as we may be perceived by others as a person of character. The dislocation of self from center to indefinite edge merges us more with the world, so that we can feel blest by everything.
Good taste is the modesty of the mind; that is why it cannot be either imitated or acquired.
Every man becomes the image of the God he adores. He whose worship is directed to a dead thing becomes dead. He who loves corruption rots. He who loves a shadow becomes, himself, a shadow. He who loves things that must perish lives in dread of their perishing.
For sure, I'm an acquired taste. People who've had that acquisition, who've acquired it, are quite surprised when they see me.
In art them is a point of perfection, as of goodness or maturity in nature; he who is able to perceive it, and who loves it, has perfect taste; he who does not feel it, or loves on this side or that, has an imperfect taste.
taste governs every free - as opposed to rote - human response. Nothing is more decisive. There is taste in people, visual taste, taste in emotion - and there is taste in acts, taste in morality. Intelligence, as well, is really a kind of taste: taste in ideas.
As brain functioning becomes more and more integrated, consciousness - the mind - becomes more and more invincible, and then any dictate of the mind is immediately followed by the body.
You cannot build up a character in a solitude; you need a formed character to stand a solitude.
The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by
the object of its love: he who loveth mean and sordid things
doth thereby become base and vile; but a noble
and well placed affection doth advance and improve the spirit
into a conformity with the perfections which it loves.
When a man loves a woman, he has to become worthy of her. The higher her virtue, the more noble her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness, the more a man has to aspire to be worthy of her. The history of civilization could actually be written in terms of the level of its women.
Taste is acquired. You may have to unlearn a taste for chocolate or ice cream.
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