Our happiness depends upon enjoyment and enjoyment depends upon the swift sentiment with which each beauty surprises our senses. Unhappy are those whom reason has hardened against the onset of such a surprise. The gratification disappears if we try to clarify our feeling too carefully. If you are smitten the moment you catch sight of someone beautiful, countless attractions conspire to make you fall for her. The symmetrical shape of her arms and legs, the dazzling glow of her face, her fiery eyes and eloquent features harmonize with one another in a pleasant confusion and take command of your soul. Thank this confusion, that it does not leave you time to disentangle it.
– Moses Mendelssohn, “On Sentiments,†from Philosophical Writings
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