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Full Idea
Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws which without this appearance would have remained eternally hidden from us.
Gist of Idea
Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws
Source
Wolfgang von Goethe (Maxims and Reflections [1825], 183)
Book Ref
Goethe,J. Wolfgang: 'Maxims and Reflections' [Penguin 1840], p.21
A Reaction
An interesting defence of beauty as an objective feature of the world. I'm not sure. Much beauty is indeed the result of growth or erosion expressing underlying laws, but then I have always thought there was a sexual component to visual beauty.