सवस्रानां सभ्यानां रसस्यास्वादनं भवेत् ।
निर्वासनास्तु रङ्गांतःकाष्ठकुड्याश्मसंनिभाः ॥
savāsanānāṁ sabhyānāṁ rasasyāsvādanaṁ bhavet |
nirvāsanās tu raṅgāntaḥ-kāṣṭha-kuḍyāśma-sannibhāḥ ||
(Dharmadatta; cited in Sāhitya-darpaṇa: 3.10)
“Assessors possessed of the [necessary] inclination (vāsanā) can have the taste of rasa. Those devoid of the inclination (vāsanā), on the contrary, are like the wood, walls, and stone inside the theater.”