The Ugly History of Beautiful Things Quotes

“If we’re lucky, we get to be elders, faces lined with age, voices thick with the wisdom of years, heads stuffed with memories of art we’ve seen, places we’ve been, people we’ve loved.”
― Katy Kelleher, The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Essays on Desire and Consumption

“Wanting beauty is not a shallow impulse. The aesthetic experience can give us awe. It can bring peace. An encounter with a beautiful thing can shift your way of thinking, your way of moving through the world. It can reinforce a sense of connection with the endlessly entangled matter of the universe and it can help ground us within our bodies, creating an anchor tied to the present moment.”
― Katy Kelleher, The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Essays on Desire and Consumption

“reality, a woman at the mirror is practicing. She’s seeing herself how men see her, how society sees her. She’s assessing her value and figuring out how to enhance her worth, her power.”
― Katy Kelleher, The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Essays on Desire and Consumption

“possible I will someday be able to afford my dream home (by the ocean, with Danby marble countertops, slate tiles, porcelain in the cabinets, silk rugs on the floor, big windows, south-facing, beauty everywhere)”
― Katy Kelleher, The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Essays on Desire and Consumption

“here’s the thing about the placebo effect: It’s real. It works. It heals. It can be just as effective as synthesized drugs. The placebo effect happens when our brains tell our bodies to heal, and our bodies listen. It’s neither purely medicine nor is it purely magic. It’s not a miracle, but it is miraculous. It inspires within me a tremendous respect for our cellular structures, for the mysteries of the human brain and body.”
― Katy Kelleher, The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Essays on Desire and Consumption