So true. A scene from Claire-Louise Bennett's Pond as she reflects on her refusal to view a work of art in front of someone:
I didn't want to look at the pieces in front of him, I wanted to be alone, because in that way I wouldn't have to come up with something to say about them. In circumstances when an impression is extended for the benefit of the person looming nearby, whatever is said is rarely anything at all evocative, and the moment it is said something intrinsic is circumvented, and cannot be recaptured later on.