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Mediaeval Sinhalese Art: Being a Monograph on Mediaeval Sinhalese Arts & Crafts, Mainly as Surviving in the Eighteenth Century, with an Account of the Structure of Society QUOTES

Mediaeval Sinhalese Art: Being a Monograph on Mediaeval Sinhalese Arts & Crafts, Mainly as Surviving in the Eighteenth Century, with an Account of the Structure of Society QUOTES

1 " The Sinhalese people are not, in my opinion, happier or better than they were in the eighteenth century. Talk of progress, and the reality, are not the same. Civilisation is supposed to advance by the creation of new desires, to gratify which the individual must endeavour to improve his position. But in reality it is not quantity, but quality of wants that may be taken as evidence of progress in the Art of Living. No one acquainted with modern Sinhalese taste will pretend that it gives evidence of any improvement in the quality of wants. Indeed, it is sufficiently obvious that quantity, variety, and novelty are not really compatible with quality. "

― Ananda K. Coomaraswamy , Mediaeval Sinhalese Art: Being a Monograph on Mediaeval Sinhalese Arts & Crafts, Mainly as Surviving in the Eighteenth Century, with an Account of the Structure of Society