A man is known by the books he reads, by the company he keeps, by the praise he gives, by his dress, by his tastes, by his distastes, by the stories he tells, by his gait, by the notion of his eye, by the look of his house, of his chamber; for nothing on earth is solitary but every thing hath affinities infinite.
A man of great common sense and good taste — meaning thereby a man without originality or moral courage.
A man's palate can, in time, become accustomed to anything.
Absolute catholicity of taste is not without its dangers. It is only an auctioneer who should admire all schools of art.
Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness.
All of life is a dispute over taste and tasting.
Bad taste is a species of bad morals.
Between good sense and good taste there lies the difference between a cause and its effect.
Errors of taste are very often the outward sign of a deep fault of sensibility.
Every orientation presupposes a disorientation.
Everyone carries his own inch rule of taste, and amuse himself by applying it, triumphantly, wherever he travels.
Everyone has taste, yet it is more of a taboo subject than sex or money. The reason for this is simple: claims about your attitudes to or achievements in the carnal and financial arenas can be disputed only by your lover and your financial advisers, whereas by making statements about your taste you expose body and soul to terrible scrutiny. Taste is a merciless betrayer of social and cultural attitudes. Thus, while anybody will tell you as much (and perhaps more than) you want to know about their triumphs in bed and at the bank, it is taste that gets people's nerves tingling.
For a long time I found the celebrities of modern painting and poetry ridiculous. I loved absurd pictures, fanlights, stage scenery, mountebanks backcloths, inn-signs, cheap colored prints; unfashionable literature, church Latin, pornographic books badly spelt, grandmothers novels, fairy stories, little books for children, old operas, empty refrains, simple rhythms.
Good taste is either that which agrees with my taste or that which subjects itself to the rule of reason. From this we can see how useful it is to employ reason in seeking out the laws of taste.
Good taste is the excuse I have given for leading such a bad life.
Good taste is the first refuge of the non creative. It is the last ditch stand of the artist.
Good taste is the worst vice ever invented.
I cannot cure myself of that most woeful of youth's follies — thinking that those who care about us will care for the things that mean much to us.
I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines; and, I believe, Dorothy, you'll own I have been pretty fond of an old wife.
I think ''taste'' is a social concept and not an artistic one. I'm willing to show good taste, if I can, in somebody else's living room, but our reading life is too short for a writer to be in any way polite. Since his words enter into another's brain in silence and intimacy, he should be as honest and explicit as we are with ourselves.