Most loverspicture to themselves, in their mistresses, a secret reality, beyond and different from what they see every day. They are in love with somebody else--their own invention. And sometimes there is a secret reality; and sometimes reality and appearance are the same. The discovery, in either case, is likely to cause a shock.
Aldous HuxleySuppose it were perfectly certain that the life and fortune of each of us would some day depend upon our winning or losing a game of chess. Do you not think that we should all consider it to be our primary duty to learn at least the names of the pieces and how to position them on the chessboard?
Aldous HuxleyI know the outer world as well as you do, and I judge it. You know nothing of my inner world, and yet you presume to judge that world.
Aldous HuxleyHappiness has got to be paid for. You're paying for it, Mr. Watsonโpaying because you happen to be too much interested in beauty. I was too much interested in truth; I paid too.
Aldous HuxleyAbused as we abuse it at present, dramatic art is in no sense cathartic; it is merely a form of emotional masturbation. It is the rarest thing to find a player who has not had his character affected for the worse by the practice of his profession. Nobody can make a habit of self-exhibition, nobody can exploit his personality for the sake of exercising a kind of hypnotic power over others, and remain untouched by the process.
Aldous Huxley