So true. For much of my life, I have worked among those with little appreciation for the artist's craft. [Oddly enough for an art-lover, Kuja has probably single-handedly destroyed more artworks than most people will see in a lifetime. If anyone were to mention this to her, she would claim that their transience but made them more beautiful, but she does feel a twinge when she thinks of it. She has never heard of New York, but she understands the sentiment, though she does not know the place.] Even in the polished courts of the world's most powerful kingdoms, one encounters such paucity of spirit, sadly.

I believe that it is by its art that one can best understand a society: its strengths, its weaknesses, its cruelty or mercy. Art is the heartbeat of a civilization. One need only listen for that rhythm. A nation with no appreciation for art would not know its own heart.

I am Kuja.