“Perhaps only if one spins momentarily out of control, or grows feathers, or begins to write a sonnet can one be said to have seen the beauty of another person.”
More from Elaine Scarry
“It is as though beautiful things have been placed here and there throughout the world to…”
“The moment of perceiving something beautiful confers on the perceiver the gift of life.”
“Matisse never hoped to save lives. But he repeatedly said that he wanted to make paintings…”
“The beautiful person or thing incites in us the longing for truth because it provides by…”