Encyclopedia of the Exquisite Quotes

“After they became a couple, they collaborated on deliriously optimistic projects, from their famous bed-ins to the creation of a conceptual country called Nutopia. The skeptics were incensed, and the duo withstood all the criticism slung at prominent optimists of the past, though it hardly slowed them down. 'Some critic recently commented on us, John and I, as being lollipop artists who are preoccupied with blowing soap-bubbles forever,' Ono wrote. 'I thought that was beautiful.”
― Jessica Kerwin Jenkins, Encyclopedia of the Exquisite: An Anecdotal History of Elegant Delights

“As Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) pointed out, twilight 'is not without loveliness, though perhaps its chief use is to illustrate quotations from the poets.' Then again, maybe poetry's chief use is to inspire us to watch the sun go down.”
― Jessica Kerwin Jenkins, Encyclopedia of the Exquisite: An Anecdotal History of Elegant Delights

“Of course, the puritanical have opposed idleness since biblical times. Spiritual sloth was the "noonday demon" that distracted a monk from his prayers, a dreamy listlessness that "forces him to step out of his cell and to gaze at the sun to see how far it still is from the night hour, and to look around, here and there, whether any of his brethren is near," wrote the acclaimed preacher Evagrius Ponticus (349-399), describing the ancient equivalent of Facebook addiction.”
― Jessica Kerwin Jenkins, Encyclopedia of the Exquisite: An Anecdotal History of Elegant Delights