Straight is the line of duty;
Curved is the line of beauty;
Follow the straight line, thou shalt see
The curved line ever follow thee.
William MacCall
Confessions, X, 27
Too late I loved you, O Beauty so ancient yet ever new! Too late I loved you! And behold, you were within me, and I out of myself, and there I searched for you.
St Augustine
“Some people,” said Buddha, the master, “have accused me of uttering these words:”
“When one attains the release called the Beautiful, and abides therein, at such a time he considers the whole universe as ugly.”
“But I never said these words. This is what I do say:”
“When one attains the release called the Beautiful, at such a time he knows in truth what Beauty is.”
The Samyuta
Hymn to Aton, the Creator
Thy dawning is beautiful in the horizon of the sky,
O living Aton, Beginning of life!
When thou risest in the eastern horizon
Thou fillest every land with thy beauty.
Thou art beautiful, great, glittering, high above every land,
Thy rays, they encompass the land, even all that thou hast made.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Though thou art far away, thy rays are upon earth;
Though thou art on high, thy footprints are the day.
Amenhotep IV