6. IF ONE HAS A SENSE OF BEAUTY CAN HE BE CRUEL ?

    It is a psychological problem. It depends upon the region where there is the sense of beauty. There may be a physical sense of beauty, a vital sense of beauty and a mental sense of beauty I you have the moral sense of beauty, that is to say, a sense of decency and nobility, you can never be cruel. You will be always generous; your movements will consist of fine gestures. But, as I say often, man is composed of

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many different bits pieced together. For example, I frequented very much the artists. I knew all the great artists of the end of the last century and the beginning of the present. I lived among them.They had really a great sense of beauty. But morally some were very cruel. It is because when you see an artist in his study at work you find him living in atmosphere of great beauty, but when you see the gentleman at home, he is a different person, having very little contact with the artist he was Here he becomes vulgar and commonplace. Many of them are indeed like that. But there are always exceptions. Some have a unified personality, that is to say, they live their art and are truly generous, fine.