#refinement

Deep down, the US, with its space, its technological refinement, its bluff good conscience, even in those spaces which it opens up for simulation, is the only remaining primitive society. ↗

— Jean Baudrillard

#conscience #deep #deep down #down #even

Count Ayakura’s abstraction persisted. He believed that only a vulgar mentality was willing to acknowledge the possibility of catastrophe. He felt that taking naps was much more beneficial than confronting catastrophes. However precipitous the future might seem, he learned from the game of kemari that the ball must always come down. There was no call for consternation. Grief and rage, along with other outbursts of passion, were mistakes easily committed by a mind lacking in refinement. And the Count was certainly not a man who lacked refinement. Just let matters slide. How much better to accept each sweet drop of the honey that was Time, than to stoop to the vulgarity latent in every decision. However grave the matter at hand might be, if one neglected it for long enough, the act of neglect itself would begin to affect the situation, and someone else would emerge as an ally. Such was Count Ayakura’s version of political theory. ↗

— Yukio Mishima

#elegance #inaction #indifference #japan #passivity

Civilization consists in the multiplication and refinement of human wants. ↗

— Robert Millikan

#consists #human #multiplication #refinement #wants

But wealth is a great means of refinement; and it is a security for gentleness, since it removes disturbing anxieties. ↗

— Donald G. Mitchell

#disturbing #gentleness #great #means #refinement

In Europe the rich are refined enough to act as if they're not wealthy. That is how civilized people behave. If you ask me, being cultured and civilized is not about everyone being free and equal; it's about everyone being refined enough to act as if they were. Then no one has to feel guilty. ↗

— Orhan Pamuk

#culture #equality #guilt #refinement #rich