Yeah, I came of age as a bike racer when 23c was the iron-clad rule.... and they felt like iron! Conti Gran Prix inflated to 120 psi--- fast and hard was the idea, and back then no one expected to feel comfortable on a road bike, ever. Suffering was the point--- and the tires delivered that.
I moved to Vermont and kept trying to ride my 23c racing bikes over rutted, washboarded, stony or sandy dirt roads.... or worse, pavement with frost heaves, expansion cracks, poor asphalt patch jobs.... it was like getting slowly beaten to death with tiny, tiny hammers! Pinch flats all day, no matter how high I pumped the pressure.
When I finally came out of my 1990's racer-hypnosis and realized I could shove 28c tires into most of my bikes--- or even (gasp) 30c or more--- it changed my life. The Vittoria G+ tubulars in 28c or 30c are light, supple, and feel nimble to ride, all while smoothing the tiny hammer blows into distant noise.... I live with razor's edge clearance between my tires and my frame, all for the sake of keeping my teeth in my head during long rides.
I have ridden wide tires which feel "numb" or squishy, and which turn steering response into a distant memory..... but a good Rene Herse, Soma Supple Vitesse, or even a Maxxis tire in a 38c or 42c feels pretty light and quick while letting me tank through all the broken pavement I can find.
These days I feel like the skinny-tire guy: most of the other riders I see out there are on gravel bikes or "all-road" bikes for which 38c is about the skinniest, and 42 or 50c is not uncommon. The fact that I ride rough gravel on 28c tubulars makes me seem like a lunatic to these guys on modern bikes...
It's all in the perspective: 28c seems huge to me, but looks tiny in light of the modern trend toward fat-tired road bikes.
There's no question that certain bikes from the 80's/90's just look best with that 23c skinny-racer aesthetic--- but there's also no question that modern wider tires have made huge leaps forward in weight, suppleness and overall "feel". Once I figured out that I could go just as fast or faster without the "400 blows"..... I was (and am) sold on fatter tires.
Maybe the absence of jarring, tooth-rattling suffering during my road rides has made me soft--- but I'll still opt for a bit more rubber between me and the road when fork/chainstay clearance allows......