First Things First

"Putting first things first is the key to the health of second things. Beauty is a second thing: it is very good, but not as good as moral goodness. And the worship of "art for art's sake" will destroy not only true worship but also art...."

"But this way of putting it is misleading, as if beauty and goodness were separate entities that could in principle clash. Rather, beauty is one of the more important forms of goodness, beauty is very good. And goodness is the highest form of beauty: the most beautiful thing in the world is a saint. Both goodness and beauty are eternal and essential attributes of Ultimate Reality, the One God, and therefore are ultimately one."

-Peter J. Kreeft, The Philosophy of Tolkien