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First Shakespeare sonnets seem meaningless; first Bach fugues, a bore; first differential equations, sheer torture. But training changes the nature of our spiritual experiences. In due course, contact with an obscurely beautiful poem, an elaborate piece of counterpoint or of mathematical reasoning, causes us to feel direct intuitions of beauty and significance. It is the same in the moral world.

— Aldous Huxley Ends and Means (1937)

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More quotes by Aldous Huxley

The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.

Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities.

To see ourselves as others see us is a most salutary gift. Hardly less important is the capacity to see others as they see themselves.

The Doors of Perception (1954)

Never have so many been manipulated so much by so few.

Brave New World Revisited (1958)

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

Proper Studies (1927)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Aldous Huxley (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.