White paper boats lined up on dark blue water with one glowing gold boat set apart.

Original artwork, not a still

"Thoughts on Taste", Edinburgh Magazine, July 1819

William Hazlitt

Those who aim at faultless regularity will only produce mediocrity, and no one ever approaches perfection except by stealth, and unknown to themselves.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Chasing flawless regularity, argues the writer, only yields the ordinary. Real excellence tends to arrive sideways, when nobody is straining for it and the maker doesn't even realise it is happening. Perfection shows up as a by-product, not a target.

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