Read "The Philosophy of Disenchantment" by Edgar Saltus online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
In very stately words, that were typical of him who uttered them, Emerson said, "I do not wish to be amused; " and turned therewith a figurative back on the enticements of the commonplace.
Broadly speaking, the sentiment that prompted this expression is common to all individual men. The so-called allurements and charms of the world are attractive to the vulgar, but not to the thinker, and whether the thinker be a Trappist or a comedian, he will, if called to account, express himself in a manner equally frank.