"Well, my poor friend," M. de Charlus went on, "all this is very dreadful, and tedious articles are not the only things we have to deplore. We hear talk of vandalism, of the destruction of statues. But the destruction of so many marvellous young men, who while they lived were incomparable polychrome statues, is that not also vandalism? Will not a town which has lost all its beautiful men be like a town of which all the sculpture has been smashed to pieces? What pleasure can I get from dining in a restaurant where I am served by moth-eaten old buffoons who look like Father Didon, if not by hags in mob-caps who make me think I have strayed into one of Duval's soup-kitchens. Yes, it's as bad as that, my boy, and I think I have the right to say these things, because Beauty is still Beauty when it exists in a living material. How delightful to be served by rachitic creatures with spectacles on their noses and the reason for their military survive written all over their faces!
Marcel Proust, Time Regained, p. 820
At least his M. de Charlus has kept his acerbic wit. The Baron is complaining about the price he's paying when all the young men are off at the front, and he's left to be served by "rachitic creatures." Still, you have to admire his tenacity and his attachment to beauty. As he tells Marcel, "Beauty is still Beauty when it exists in a living material."
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