Of the Standard of Taste (1757) [ Concepts ]
… will it be found, on examination, to be still greater in reality than in appearance. The sentiments of men often differ with regard to beauty and deformity of all kinds, even while their general discourse is the same. There are certain terms … some part of the seeming harmony in morals may be accounted for from the very nature of language. The word virtue , with its equivalent in every tongue, implies praise; as that of vice does blame: And no one, without the most obvious and grossest impropriety, could affix reproach to a term, which in general acceptation is …
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