There is no one more skilled in the art of painting than a coquettish woman. She makes up her hair, eyebrows, cheeks, and sometimes her breast, in such a way as to give an air of truth to that which is nothing but lies and paint. Caraccioli, Dictionnaire Critique (1768)

The city streets were practically deserted. A bitter grey fog that tasted of smoke and tar hung over London. The City shopkeepers had heaped coals upon their fires and lit every lamp they possessed in a vain attempt to dispel the dark and the cold, but today their bow window cast no cheerful glow into …

Tradition says beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Less poetically, neuroscience suggests that beauty lies in activation of the medial orbitofrontal cortex. In principle, intelligent agents can use biotechnology to amplify and enrich the molecular signature of aesthetic appreciation beyond the bounds of normal human experience. Artistic creations and the everyday world alike …

I don’t have that dream anymore,” she said in parting. “But I still remember every detail. What I saw, the way I felt. I can’t forget it. I probably never will. Haruki Murakami, Yesterday (via quoteshelf)