Listen to certain Preludes of Bach. They do not say much; there is a short motif repeated; then insistent variations in no higher relief than that of a medal by Roty. But what a level of inspiration! Into what an unknown world we are transported! To stay there and move freely in it would be our dream. We can at least go back there in memory, and what a blessing it is to be able to rise so far above futilities! It refines us, and helps us to pass a just judgment on the brilliant but foolish display of fireworks that often forms the staple of intellectual entertainments.
–A.G. Sertillanges, O.P., The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods, translated by Mary Ryan
