“For when we are interested in the beauty of a thing, the oftener we can see it the better; but when we are interested only by the story of a thing, we get tired of hearing the same tale told over and over again, and stopping always at the same point — we want a new story presently, a newer and better one — and the picture of the day, and novel of the day, become as ephemeral as the coiffure or the bonnet of the day.
Now this spirit is wholly adverse to the existence of any lovely art. If you mean to throw it aside to-morrow, you can never have it to-day.”
-On the Condition of Modern Art, lecture (1867) by John Ruskin
Recently, I’ve been reading John Ruskin, a really terrific essayist from the late 19th century. It’s amazing the unforgiving light he shines on our own post-post-modern age. His writings on economics — which I’m only now investigating, mostly online — seem particularly illuminating. But hard to find! Even for a bookseller like me.
