Taste is, so to speak, the microscope of the judgment.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
Taste cannot be controlled by law.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Taste and elegance, though they are reckoned only among the smaller and secondary morals, yet are of no mean importance in the regulation of life. A moral taste is not of force to turn vice into virtue: but it recommends virtue, with something like the blandishments of pleasure.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Taste has no system and no proofs.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
Talent, taste, wit, good sense are very different things but by no means incompatible. Between good sense and good taste there exists the same difference as between cause and effect, and between wit and talent there is the same proportion as between a whole and its parts.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
Every orientation presupposes a disorientation.
—Hans Magnus Enzensberger (1929–2022) German Author, Poet, Translator
Delicacy of taste is favorable to love and friendship, by confining our choice to few people, and making us indifferent to the company and conversation of the greater part of men.
—David Hume (1711–76) Scottish Philosopher, Historian
My tastes are aristocratic, my actions democratic.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
A man is known by the books he reads, by the company he keeps, by the praise he gives, by his dress, by his tastes, by his distastes, by the stories he tells, by his gait, by the motion of his eye, by the look of his house, of his chamber; for nothing on earth is solitary, but everything hath affinities infinite.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
I love everything that’s old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines; and, I believe, Dorothy, you’ll own I have been pretty fond of an old wife.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
Lovers of painting and lovers of music are people who openly display their preference like a delectable ailment that isolates them and makes them proud.
—Maurice Blanchot (1907–2003) French Novelist, Critic
Taste is the fundamental quality which sums up all the other qualities. It is the nec plus ultra of the intelligence. Through this alone is genius the supreme health and balance of all the faculties.
—Comte de Lautreamont (1846–1870) French Symbolist Poet
Taste may change, but inclination never.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Absolute catholicity of taste is not without its dangers. It is only an auctioneer who should admire all schools of art.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Without taste genius is only a sublime kind of folly. That sure touch which the lyre gives back the right note and nothing more, is even a rarer gift than the creative faculty itself.
—Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand (1768–1848) French Writer, Academician, Statesman
Delicacy of taste has the same effect as delicacy of passion; it enlarges the sphere both of our happiness and misery, and makes us sensible to pain as well as pleasures, which escape the rest of mankind.
—David Hume (1711–76) Scottish Philosopher, Historian
The hard truth is that what may be acceptable in elite culture may not be acceptable in mass culture, that tastes which pose only innocent ethical issues as the property of a minority become corrupting when they become more established. Taste is context, and the context has changed.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
Bad taste is a species of bad morals.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
I cannot cure myself of that most woeful of youth’s follies—thinking that those who care about us will care for the things that mean much to us.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Critic
The discovery of the good taste of bad taste can be very liberating. The man who insists on high and serious pleasures is depriving himself of pleasure; he continually restricts what he can enjoy; in the constant exercise of his good taste he will eventually price himself out of the market, so to speak. Here Camp taste supervenes upon good taste as a daring and witty hedonism. It makes the man of good taste cheerful, where before he ran the risk of being chronically frustrated. It is good for the digestion.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
Good taste is the worst vice ever invented.
—Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) English Poet, Critic
Talk what you will of taste, you will find two of a face as soon as two of a mind.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Errors of taste are very often the outward sign of a deep fault of sensibility.
—Jonathan Miller (1934–2019) English Theatre Director, Author
For a long time I found the celebrities of modern painting and poetry ridiculous. I loved absurd pictures, fanlights, stage scenery, mountebanks backcloths, inn-signs, cheap colored prints; unfashionable literature, church Latin, pornographic books badly spelt, grandmothers novels, fairy stories, little books for children, old operas, empty refrains, simple rhythms.
—Arthur Rimbaud (1854–91) French Poet, Adventurer
The aim of life is appreciation; there is no sense in not appreciating things; and there is no sense in having more of them if you have less appreciation of them.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
A man’s palate can, in time, become accustomed to anything.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
A fastidious taste is like a squeamish appetite; the one has its origin in some disease of the mind, as the other has in some ailment of the stomach.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
Good taste is either that which agrees with my taste or that which subjects itself to the rule of reason. From this we can see how useful it is to employ reason in seeking out the laws of taste.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
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