Natural beauty is essentially temporary and sad, hence the impression …

John Updike
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Natural beauty is essentially temporary and sad, hence the impression of obscene mockery which artificial flowers give us. ✨ John Updike (2012). Assorted Prose, p.207, Random House
Sadness
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...but with his mother there's no question of liking him they're not even in a way separate people he began in her stomach and if she gave him life she can take it away and if he feels that withdrawa … ▶
An old essay by John Updike begins, 'We live in an era of gratuitous inventions and negative improvements.' That language is general and abstract, near the top of the ladder. It provokes our thinking … ▶
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Natural beauty is essentially temporary and sad, hence the impression of obscene mockery which artificial flowers give us. ✨ John Updike (2012). Assorted Prose, p.207, Random House

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