No account of the Renaissance can be complete without some notice of the attempt made by certain Italian scholars of the fifteenth century to reconcile Christianity with the religion of ancient Greece. – Walter Pater
Many attempts have been made by writers on art and poetry to define beauty in the abstract, to express it in the most general terms, to find some universal formula for it. – Walter Pater
Books are a refuge, a sort of cloistral refuge, from the vulgarities of the actual world. – Walter Pater
What is important, then, is not that the critic should possess a correct abstract definition of beauty for the intellect, but a certain kind of temperament, the power of being deeply moved by the presence of beautiful objects. – Walter Pater
In the early days I had a very black-and-white view of everything. I think thats kind of natural for anyone whos just embraced Islam – or any religion – as a convert. It was important for me to duck out of the fast and furious life Id been living as a pop star. I was in a different mood. – Cat Stevens
Increased government spending can provide a temporary stimulus to demand and output but in the longer run higher levels of government spending crowd out private investment or require higher taxes that weaken growth by reducing incentives to save, invest, innovate, and work. – Martin Feldstein