Martin Price > Quotes

“The aesthetic vision of Order sees all absorbed in the complex harmony of the divine work of art. Such an Order cannot be undone by man; every violation will at once be contained. The Order will re-form and, with the slightest alteration, make of that violation an element of its design. The individual is ultimately irresponsible. Whatever he does will be used for the best. The moral vision on the other hand isnsists upon the inescapable claims of virtue. It rises to intense satire upon the false goal and to scorn for the abnegation of choice. The aesthetic vision is essentially a comic pattern in which man stumbles into a greater success than he can plan; the moral vision is largely a satiric pattern in which the failure of man is shown to be contemptibly foolish.”
― Martin Price, To the Palace of Wisdom: Studies in order and energy from Dryden to Blake