“In our day, now that more subtle study and a more refined taste have reduced the art of pleasing to a
J. J. Rousseau – Discourse on the Arts and Sciences (1750) – from ISN ETH Zürich
system, there prevails in modern manners a servile and deceptive conformity; so that one would
think every mind had been cast in the same mould. Politeness requires this thing; decorum that;
ceremony has its forms, and fashion its laws, and these we must always follow, never the
promptings of our own nature.”
Writer Between Worlds 