Daily Dose

From The Vintage Mencken, gathered by Alistair Cooke

THE IMPULSE

"The impulse to create beauty, indeed, is rather rare in literary men, and almost completely absent from the younger ones.  If it shows itself at all, it comes as a sort of afterthought.  Far ahead of it comes the yearning to make money.  And after the yearning to make money comes the yearning to make a noise.  The impulse to create beauty lingers far behind."

From The National Letters