Habit is far stronger than the lessons of experience.
Were modern cities only beautiful after darkness hid everything but their lights?
Everything you do in war is a crime in peace
... law is a substitute for love.
Wouldn't it be kinder to say that a lie is a short work of fiction? 'A story' as my daughter says?
A critic is a person who rationalizes his likes and dislikes in such impressive language that the layman thinks he is reasoning instead of rationalizing.