The truly wide taste in reading is that which enables a man to find something for his needs on the sixpenny tray outside any secondhand bookshop. The truly wide taste in humanity will similarly find something to appreciate in the cross-section of humanity whom one has to meet every day. In my experience it is Affection that creates this taste, teaching us first to notice, then to endure, then to smile at, then to enjoy, and finally to appreciate, the people who "happen to be there". Made for us? Thank God, no. They are themselves, odder than you could have believed and worth far more than we guessed.
-C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves, 37.
2 comments:
Christina is a master of this truly wide taste, and I think it any measure I have was probably caught from her in college.
I agree...My natural tendency is unfortunately the opposite - with books and humanity. I'm afraid that I'm as much of a picky reader and a picky friend as I am a picky eater...I am far too likely to judge a food or a friend or a book by its cover.
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