--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Human taste is a curious thing; delicacy…" description: "\"“Human taste is a curious thing; delicacy is purely a matter of environment and point of view. (Quoting John Hay)”\" — Franklin J. Meine" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f25/franklin-j-meine-56023_delicacy_human-taste-is-a-curious-thing-delicacy_2780490.jpg" --- # Human taste is a curious thing; delicacy is purely a… ![“Human taste is a curious thing; delicacy is purely a matter of environment and point of view. (Quoting John Hay)” quote by Franklin J. Meine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f25/franklin-j-meine-56023_delicacy_human-taste-is-a-curious-thing-delicacy_2780490.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f25/franklin-j-meine-56023_delicacy_human-taste-is-a-curious-thing-delicacy_2780490.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f25/franklin-j-meine-56023_delicacy_human-taste-is-a-curious-thing-delicacy_2780490.jpg) > ““Human taste is a curious thing; delicacy is purely a matter of environment and point of view. (Quoting John Hay)”” [Franklin J. Meine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-j-meine/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Taste varies by culture and perspective, making what is refined subjective. **In simple terms:** Taste is cultural and subjective. Key Takeaway Recognize that preferences are shaped by environment. Themes culture subjectivity perception Mood curious reflective Type philosophical observational When to use this quote - food criticism - travel - cross‑cultural interactions Key Concepts relativism social conditioning Questions to Reflect On - How does your background shape your preferences? - Can you appreciate a food you once disliked? A Different Perspective Taste judgments can be used to judge character. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Point of view](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/point-of-view/) ## Related quotes > [Truth is disputable, not human taste.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hume/truth-is-disputable-not-human-taste/) [David Hume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hume/) > [The man is a humbug — a vulgar, shallow, self-satisfied mind, absolutely inaccessible to the complexities and delicacies of the real world. He has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-man-is-a-humbug-a-vulgar-shallow-self-satisfied-mind-absolutely/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [HOG, n. A bird remarkable for the catholicity of its appetite and serving to illustrate that of ours. Among the Mahometans and Jews, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/hog-n-a-bird-remarkable-for-the-catholicity-of-its-appetite-and/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [My love affair with nature is so deep that I am not satisfied with being a mere onlooker, or nature tourist. I crave a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/euell-gibbons/my-love-affair-with-nature-is-so-deep-that-i-am-not-satisfied-with/) [Euell Gibbons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/euell-gibbons/) > [If you could choose to master a single ingredient, no choice would teach you more about cooking than the egg. It is an end…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ruhlman/if-you-could-choose-to-master-a-single-ingredient-no-choice-would/) [Michael Ruhlman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ruhlman/) > [A sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/a-sandwich-and-a-cup-of-coffee-and-then-off-to-violin-land-where-all/) [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/) > [Too great cleverness is but deceptive delicacy, true delicacy is the most substantial cleverness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/too-great-cleverness-is-but-deceptive-delicacy-true-delicacy-is-the/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [An oyster, that marvel of delicacy, that concentration of sapid excellence, that mouthful bwefore all other mouthfuls, who first had faith to believe it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/an-oyster-that-marvel-of-delicacy-that-concentration-of-sapid/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [To see the butcher slap the steak before he laid it on the block, and give his knife a sharpening, was to forget breakfast…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/to-see-the-butcher-slap-the-steak-before-he-laid-it-on-the-block-and/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [Delicacy of taste has the same effect as delicacy of passion; it enlarges the sphere both of our happiness and our misery.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hume/delicacy-of-taste-has-the-same-effect-as-delicacy-of-passion-it/) [David Hume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hume/) > [“...there is a delicacy in it equalled only by the daintiness of the elephant's trunk.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/there-is-a-delicacy-in-it-equalled-only-by-the-daintiness-of-the/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [If my opinion is of any worth, the fieldfare is the greatest delicacy among birds, the hare among quadrupeds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martial/if-my-opinion-is-of-any-worth-the-fieldfare-is-the-greatest-delicacy/) [Martial](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martial/) > [In the end things must be as they are and have always been--the great things remain for the great, the abysses for the profound,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/in-the-end-things-must-be-as-they-are-and-have-always-been-the-great/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Mr. Bumpy from Bump in the Night was this funky little guy who lived under the bed and thought eating dust bunnies was a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-cummings/mr-bumpy-from-bump-in-the-night-was-this-funky-little-guy-who-lived/) [Jim Cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-cummings/) > [I decided to lock myself in. A forced segregation. Sabbatical. A retreat into myself. My selves. Play hide and go seek in the looking-glass.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/i-decided-to-lock-myself-in-a-forced-segregation-sabbatical-a-retreat/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) ## More by Franklin J. Meine > [“It makes a body ooze sarcasm at every pore, to go about Rome and Florence and see what this last generation has been doing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franklin-j-meine/it-makes-a-body-ooze-sarcasm-at-every-pore-to-go-about-rome-and/) [Franklin J. Meine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-j-meine/) > [“Whitman and the Bible are no more obscene than Nature herself—no more obscene than a manure pile, out of which come roses and cherries.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franklin-j-meine/whitman-and-the-bible-are-no-more-obscene-than-nature-herself-no-more/) [Franklin J. Meine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-j-meine/) > [“Gently, slowly, with no profane inflexions of voice, but irresistibly as though they had the headwaters of the Mississippi for their source, came this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franklin-j-meine/gently-slowly-with-no-profane-inflexions-of-voice-but-irresistibly-as/) [Franklin J. Meine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-j-meine/) > [“With Clemens it may truly be said that profanity was an art—a pyrotechnic art that entertained nations.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franklin-j-meine/with-clemens-it-may-truly-be-said-that-profanity-was-an-art-a/) [Franklin J. Meine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-j-meine/) > [“Sort of amusing it was—and gay—not like real swearing, 'cause he swore like an angel. (Quoting Katy Leary)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franklin-j-meine/sort-of-amusing-it-was-and-gay-not-like-real-swearing-cause-he-swore/) [Franklin J. Meine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-j-meine/) [Explore all 6 Franklin J. Meine quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-j-meine/) ## More Delicacy quotes > [I decided to lock myself in. A forced segregation. Sabbatical. A retreat into myself. My selves. Play hide and go seek in the looking-glass.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/i-decided-to-lock-myself-in-a-forced-segregation-sabbatical-a-retreat/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [Mr. Bumpy from Bump in the Night was this funky little guy who lived under the bed and thought eating dust bunnies was a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-cummings/mr-bumpy-from-bump-in-the-night-was-this-funky-little-guy-who-lived/) [Jim Cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-cummings/) > [In the end things must be as they are and have always been--the great things remain for the great, the abysses for the profound,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/in-the-end-things-must-be-as-they-are-and-have-always-been-the-great/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [If my opinion is of any worth, the fieldfare is the greatest delicacy among birds, the hare among quadrupeds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martial/if-my-opinion-is-of-any-worth-the-fieldfare-is-the-greatest-delicacy/) [Martial](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martial/) > [“...there is a delicacy in it equalled only by the daintiness of the elephant's trunk.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/there-is-a-delicacy-in-it-equalled-only-by-the-daintiness-of-the/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [Delicacy of taste has the same effect as delicacy of passion; it enlarges the sphere both of our happiness and our misery.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hume/delicacy-of-taste-has-the-same-effect-as-delicacy-of-passion-it/) [David Hume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hume/) > [To see the butcher slap the steak before he laid it on the block, and give his knife a sharpening, was to forget breakfast…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/to-see-the-butcher-slap-the-steak-before-he-laid-it-on-the-block-and/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [An oyster, that marvel of delicacy, that concentration of sapid excellence, that mouthful bwefore all other mouthfuls, who first had faith to believe it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/an-oyster-that-marvel-of-delicacy-that-concentration-of-sapid/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [Too great cleverness is but deceptive delicacy, true delicacy is the most substantial cleverness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/too-great-cleverness-is-but-deceptive-delicacy-true-delicacy-is-the/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [A sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/a-sandwich-and-a-cup-of-coffee-and-then-off-to-violin-land-where-all/) [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/) > [If you could choose to master a single ingredient, no choice would teach you more about cooking than the egg. It is an end…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ruhlman/if-you-could-choose-to-master-a-single-ingredient-no-choice-would/) [Michael Ruhlman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ruhlman/) > [My love affair with nature is so deep that I am not satisfied with being a mere onlooker, or nature tourist. I crave a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/euell-gibbons/my-love-affair-with-nature-is-so-deep-that-i-am-not-satisfied-with/) [Euell Gibbons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/euell-gibbons/) > [HOG, n. A bird remarkable for the catholicity of its appetite and serving to illustrate that of ours. Among the Mahometans and Jews, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/hog-n-a-bird-remarkable-for-the-catholicity-of-its-appetite-and/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [There is a certain delicacy which in yielding conquers; and with a pitiful look makes one find cause to crave help one's self.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-sidney/there-is-a-certain-delicacy-which-in-yielding-conquers-and-with-a/) [Philip Sidney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-sidney/) > [The man is a humbug — a vulgar, shallow, self-satisfied mind, absolutely inaccessible to the complexities and delicacies of the real world. He has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-man-is-a-humbug-a-vulgar-shallow-self-satisfied-mind-absolutely/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) Browse all 224 Delicacy quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Human taste is a curious thing; delicacy is purely a matter of environment and point of view. (Quoting John Hay)”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Franklin J. 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