“I should like to like Schumann’s music better than I do; I dare say I could make myself like it better if I tried; but I do not like having to try to make myself like things; I like things that make me like them at once and no trying at all.” –Samuel Butler
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I think of this comment by Samuel Butler whenever I’m breaking my commandment to “Be Gretchen” and trying to make myself like things like fly-fishing, foie gras, or the novels of Philip Roth.
My Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life
