--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When one goes on to find \"better\", or…" description: "\"“When one goes on to find \"better\", or \"higher\", or \"truer\", or \"more enduring\", or \"more widely agreed upon\" forms of beauty, what happens to our rega..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/77d/elaine-scarry-28115_beauty_when-one-goes-on-to-find-better-or-highe_248092.jpg" --- # When one goes on to find "better", or "higher", or… ![“When one goes on to find "better", or "higher", or "truer", or "more enduring", or "more widely agreed upon" forms of beauty, what happens to our regard for the less good, less high, less true, less universal instances? Simone Weil says, "He who has gone farther, to the very beauty of the world…” quote by Elaine Scarry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/77d/elaine-scarry-28115_beauty_when-one-goes-on-to-find-better-or-highe_248092.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/77d/elaine-scarry-28115_beauty_when-one-goes-on-to-find-better-or-highe_248092.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/77d/elaine-scarry-28115_beauty_when-one-goes-on-to-find-better-or-highe_248092.jpg) > ““When one goes on to find "better", or "higher", or "truer", or "more enduring", or "more widely agreed upon" forms of beauty, what happens to our regard for the less good, less high, less true, less universal instances? Simone Weil says, "He who has gone farther, to the very beauty of the world itself, does not love them any less but much more deeply than before".”” [Elaine Scarry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-scarry/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Pursuing higher ideals deepens love for all forms, even the less perfect, by expanding appreciation. **In simple terms:** Seeking higher beauty enhances love for all, including the lesser. Key Takeaway Aim for higher ideals, love all. Themes beauty philosophy ethics Mood contemplative inquisitive Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - art criticism - personal growth - education - spiritual practice Key Concepts aesthetic hierarchy comparative appreciation Questions to Reflect On - What does “more enduring” beauty mean to you? - How can we value the ordinary while seeking the sublime? A Different Perspective Higher ideals may feel unattainable, causing frustration. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) [Beauty of the world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty-of-the-world/) ## Related quotes > [Her eye fell everywhere on lawns and plantations of the freshest green; and the trees, though not fully clothed, were in that delightful state…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/her-eye-fell-everywhere-on-lawns-and-plantations-of-the-freshest/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [Japan lives with drastic segregation between the sublime, the ugly, and the utterly without qualities. Dominance of the last 2 categories makes mere presence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem-koolhaas/japan-lives-with-drastic-segregation-between-the-sublime-the-ugly-and/) [Rem Koolhaas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem-koolhaas/) > [The experience of beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say. 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An ugly woman knows with equal certainty, "This is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-beautiful-woman-simone-weil-said-seeing-herself-in-the-mirror-knows/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Elaine Scarry > [The generation is unceasing. Beauty, as both Plato’s Symposium and everyday life confirm, prompts the begetting of children: when the eye sees someone beautiful,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-scarry/the-generation-is-unceasing-beauty-as-both-plato-s-symposium-and/) [Elaine Scarry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-scarry/) > [This willingness continually to revise one's own location in order to place oneself in the path of beauty is the basic impulse underlying education.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-scarry/this-willingness-continually-to-revise-one-s-own-location-in-order-to/) [Elaine Scarry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-scarry/) > [“Matisse never hoped to save lives. But he repeatedly said that he wanted to make paintings so serenely beautiful that when one came upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-scarry/matisse-never-hoped-to-save-lives-but-he-repeatedly-said-that-he/) [Elaine Scarry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-scarry/) > [Beauty always takes place in the particular, and if there are no particulars, the chances of seeing it go down](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-scarry/beauty-always-takes-place-in-the-particular-and-if-there-are-no/) [Elaine Scarry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-scarry/) > [“The material world constrain us, often with gret beneficence, to see each person and thing in its time and place, its historical context. 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At the moment one comes into the presence of something beautiful, it greets you. It lifts away from the neutral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-scarry/beauty-as-a-greeting-at-the-moment-one-comes-into-the-presence-of/) [Elaine Scarry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-scarry/) > [“Something beautiful fills the mind yet invites the search for something beyond itself, something larger or something of the same scale with which it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-scarry/something-beautiful-fills-the-mind-yet-invites-the-search-for/) [Elaine Scarry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-scarry/) > [Injury is the thing every exhausting piece of strategy and every single weapon is designed to bring into being: it is not something inadvertently…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-scarry/injury-is-the-thing-every-exhausting-piece-of-strategy-and-every/) [Elaine Scarry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-scarry/) > [“This willingness continually to revise one's own location in order to place oneself in the path of beauty is the basic impulse underlying education.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-scarry/this-willingness-continually-to-revise-one-s-own-location-in-order-to-2/) [Elaine Scarry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-scarry/) > [“Beauty as lifesaving. Beauty quickens. It adrenalizes. It makes the heart beat faster. It makes life more vivid, animated, living worth living.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-scarry/beauty-as-lifesaving-beauty-quickens-it-adrenalizes-it-makes-the/) [Elaine Scarry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-scarry/) [Explore all 19 Elaine Scarry quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-scarry/) ## More Beauty quotes > [We do not want nowadays temples of worship and outward rites and ceremonies. What we really want is an Asram. We want a place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/we-do-not-want-nowadays-temples-of-worship-and-outward-rites-and/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [How could anybody confuse truth with beauty, I thought as I looked at him. Truth came with sunken eyes, bony or scarred, decayed. Its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/how-could-anybody-confuse-truth-with-beauty-i-thought-as-i-looked-at/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [A thing of beauty is a joy for ever;It's loveliness increase;it will never pass into nothingness;but still will keep a bower quiet for us,and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keats/a-thing-of-beauty-is-a-joy-for-ever-it-s-loveliness-increase-it-will/) [John Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keats/) > [To fathom the power, to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain, to swing on the spiral of our divinity, and still be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tool/to-fathom-the-power-to-witness-the-beauty-to-bathe-in-the-fountain-to/) [Tool](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tool/) > [The term "black metal" has become a lot looser, or can include a larger range of sounds and extra-musical aesthetics, not just Satan and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-marston/the-term-black-metal-has-become-a-lot-looser-or-can-include-a-larger/) [Colin Marston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-marston/) > [“We've all met people who are beautiful on the outside, however, when they open their mouths to speak, they have nothing of substance to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-c-young/we-ve-all-met-people-who-are-beautiful-on-the-outside-however-when/) [Susan C. Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-c-young/) > [There are various orders of beauty, causing men to make fools of themselves in various styles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/there-are-various-orders-of-beauty-causing-men-to-make-fools-of/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [To me, the beauty of a quilt or a dress lies within the stitches and the thought of the person who made them. When…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie/to-me-the-beauty-of-a-quilt-or-a-dress-lies-within-the-stitches-and/) [Natalie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie/) > [“do not misunderstand person by beauty You really do not know its real or Mask on dirty thoughts”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammed-zaki-ansari/do-not-misunderstand-person-by-beauty-you-really-do-not-know-its-real/) [Mohammed Zaki Ansari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammed-zaki-ansari/) > [“I already love in you your beauty, but I am only beginning to love in you that which is eternal and ever precious –…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/i-already-love-in-you-your-beauty-but-i-am-only-beginning-to-love-in/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [The more perfect the sight is the more delightful the beautiful object. The more perfect the appetite, the sweeter the food. The more musical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-baxter/the-more-perfect-the-sight-is-the-more-delightful-the-beautiful/) [Richard Baxter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-baxter/) > [Call her beautiful a million times and she won't believe you. Call her ugly once, and she will never forget it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tumblr/call-her-beautiful-a-million-times-and-she-won-t-believe-you-call-her/) Tumblr > [Time can but make her beauty over again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/time-can-but-make-her-beauty-over-again/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [ The social \[media channel\] isn't about beauty contests and popularity contests. They're a distortion, a caricature of the real thing. It's about trust, connection,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-haque/the-social-media-channel-isn-t-about-beauty-contests-and-popularity/) [Umair Haque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-haque/) > [“What about you? What do you do?” I needed to ask questions, draw him out. I needed to find out all the information I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-avery-ellison/what-about-you-what-do-you-do-i-needed-to-ask-questions-draw-him-out/) [Kate Avery Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-avery-ellison/) [Browse all 24,662 Beauty quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“When one goes on to find \"better\", or \"higher\", or \"truer\", or \"more enduring\", or \"more widely agreed upon\" forms of beauty, what happens to our regard for the less good, less high, less true, less universal instances? 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