Against Perfection And Uniformity
“Some affirm that a set of books which is not bound uniformly is unsightly ; but Archdeacon KÅyu says, ‘Things which are made all exactly the same are doubtless the work of those who have but little taste ; ’tis better to have dissimiarity’ ; and he is certainly right.
Generally speaking, uniformity in anything at all is bad ; it is better to leave a little imperfection, and thereby your life (being more natural) will be prolonged. There are some who say that when a palace is being built, you should never fail to leave one little piece of it uncompleted.”
(Excerpt from the 14th Century Japanese text Tsurezuregusa, or ‘Essays in Idleness’ by Yoshida KenkÅ. The same text was quoted in a recent TED talk on symmetry, held by Oxford mathemetician Marcus du Sautoy.)