"Anything that endures over time sacrifices its ability to make an impression"

Robert Musil’s observation reveals a paradox at the heart of human perception and value: that which lasts and becomes familiar often fades into the background of consciousness. The intense impact made by something new or fleeting is dulled the longer it remains in our environment. Novelty catches the eye and stirs the imagination precisely because it disrupts routine, offering fresh possibilities or evoking strong emotions. Yet when a phenomenon, relationship, idea, or artifact persists, the mind adapts, normalizing its presence. What once surprised or moved us becomes ordinary, inevitable, even invisible.

This process of acclimatization is fundamental to both psychological survival and aesthetic experience. An artwork displayed permanently in a familiar corridor may be regarded less than an equally engaging piece encountered unexpectedly. Early love, vibrant with discovery, gradually becomes woven into daily rituals. Social or technological innovations, once disruptive, turn into the infrastructure of society, unremarked and unremarkable. Endurance, then, comes at a cost: the sharpness of initial impact softens with repetition and exposure.

Musil’s aphorism also hints at the fleeting nature of fame, revolution, and even ethical ideals. The moral passion of a movement can calcify into doctrine, the electric force of a leader’s vision may dull with time and bureaucracy. The human tendency to grow accustomed to the persistent underlies our restless search for stimulation, progress, or transcendence.

Yet, there is tragedy and irony here: the qualities that allow something to endure, stability, consistency, reduction of friction, are exactly those that erode its capacity to astonish. The tension between permanence and impression may explain the perennial human urge to renew, reinterpret, and sometimes destroy what is habitual. Musil’s line is both warning and lament, urging remembrance of what is easily forgotten simply because it survives.