o that part of us which is unconditioned by time or
place or public or personal interests. A work of art satisfies us
aesthetically, just as a true proposition satisfies us intellectually,
whether it was made in Germany or elsewhere: by whom it was created,
when it was created, and where it was created are matters of no
consequence to any one but an archaeologist.

There is no such thing as patriotic art. The qualities in a poem, a
picture, or a symphony that lead people to describe the work as
patriotic are purely adventitious and have nothing to do with its
aesthetic significance. Wordsworth's so-called patriotic sonnets, in so
far as they are works of art--and what superb works of art they
are!--are as appreciable in Berlin as in London. They appeal as directly
to the aesthetic sensibility of any German who can read English and
appreciate poetry as to the sensibility of an Englishman; and unless a
man be aesthetically sensitive he will never really appreciate them no
matter where he was born. The state of mind which art provokes and which
comprehends and reacts to art is one in which nationality has ceased to
exist. I am not saying that an ardent patriot cannot appreciate art; I
say that when he appreciates it he is carried into a world in which
patriotism becomes meaningless. If he has not been carried into that
world he has not appreciated art. I shall not deny that at the present
moment an Englishman may find something peculiarly sympathetic in the
ideas and memories associated with the poetry of Wordsworth. It is
conceivable that a Frenchman may find unpalatable certain memories and
ideas associated with the music, or more probably with the name, of
Bach. But these memories and ideas are not a part of the music; they are
only the contribution of an unaesthetic auditor. The man who says that he
can no longer appreciate the music of Bach merely admits that he has
never appreciated the music of any one.

Two things above all others give value to a civilization, art and
thought. It were well that those even who cannot appreciate Beauty and
Truth should bear this in mind. Instead of blustering about this being
no time for art they should rejoice that there are some who, rising
above tumultuous circumstance, continue to create and speculate. So long
as a sense of art and the disinterested passion for truth persist, the
world retains some right to respectful consideration; once these
disappear its fate becomes a matter