| Here the object, which is denominated beautiful, pleases only by its tendency to produce a certain effect. |
| That effect is the pleasure or advantage of some other person. |
| Now the pleasure of a stranger, for whom we have no friendship, pleases us only by sympathy. |
| To this principle, therefore, is owing the beauty, which we find in every thing that is useful. |
| How considerable a part this is of beauty can easily appear upon reflection. |
| Wherever an object has a tendency to produce pleasure in the possessor, or in other words, is the proper cause of pleasure, it is sure to please the spectator, by a delicate sympathy with the possessor. |
| Most of the works of art are esteemed beautiful, in proportion to their fitness for the use of man, and even many of the productions of nature derive their beauty from that source. |
| Handsome and beautiful, on most occasions, is nor an absolute but a relative quality, and pleases us by nothing but its tendency to produce an end that is agreeable. |
| [Footnote 25 Decentior equus cujus astricta sunt ilia; sed idem velocior. |
| Pulcher aspectu sit athieta, cujus lacertos exercitatio expressit; idem certamini paratior. |
| Nunquam vero species ab utilitate dividitur. |
| Sed hoc quidem discernere, modici judicii est. |
| Quinct.lib.8 |
| (A horse with narrow flanks looks more comely; It also moves faster. |
| An athlete whose muscles have been developed by training presents a handsome appearance; he is also better prepared for the contest. |
| Attractive appearance is invariably associated with efficient functioning. |
| Yet it takes no outstanding powers of judgement to wake this distinction.)] |
| The same principle produces, in many instances, our sentiments of morals, as well as those of beauty. |
| No virtue is more esteemed than justice, and no vice more detested than injustice; nor are there any qualities, which go farther to the fixing the character, either as amiable or odious. |
| Now justice is a moral virtue, merely because it has that tendency to the good of mankind; and, indeed, is nothing but an artificial invention to that purpose. |
| The same may be said of allegiance, of the laws of nations, of modesty, and of good-manners. |