Aesthetic feeling (Skutch)

And who or what should appreciate all the lovely and amiable things that this world contains if not ourselves, who, of all animals, seem most highly endowed with aesthetic feeling and understanding? One might contend that our most important role on this planet, our raison d'être, is to complete or fulfill the world process by grateful, cherishing enjoyment of everything good and lovely that it has produced.

Alexander F. Skutch, The Imperative Call: A Naturalist's Quest in Temperate and Tropical America