Human life is a sad show, undoubtedly: ugly, heavy and complex. Art has no other end, for people of feeling, than to conjure away the burden and bitterness.

Car la vie humaine est une triste boutique, décidément. – Une chose laide, lourde & compliquée. L'art n'a point d'autre but, pr les gens d'esprit, que d'en escamotter le fardeau & l'amertume.

Gustave Flaubert

More information about this quote

Topic

Purpose of art Art Life The human condition

Author

Gustave Flaubert

Source

Letters of Gustave Flaubert

Medium

Letter

Language

French

Time

1864 1860s 19th century

Occupation

Novelist Writer

From

France Europe

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Letter to Amelie Bosquet. July 1864.

Illustrated Quote

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A quote by Gustave Flaubert about purpose of art: “Human life is a sad show, undoubtedly: ugly, heavy and complex. Art has…”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote by Gustave Flaubert

We shouldn't maltreat our idols: the gilt comes off on our hands.

Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary

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More information about this quote
Topic
Idols

Author

Gustave Flaubert
Source
Madame Bovary
Medium
Novel
Language
French
Time
1857 1850s 19th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary: Moeurs de Province [Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners]. Revue de Paris, 1 Oct. 1856 - 15 Dec. 1856. Serial.

Current Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary, edited and translated by Lydia Davis. Penguin Classics, 2011, pt. 3, ch. 6.

Another quote from the 1860s

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Abraham Lincoln

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Read the full text of this speech at umich.edu
More information about this quote
Topic
Declaration of Independence American founding Equality
Speaker
Abraham Lincoln
Source
Gettysburg Address
Medium
Speech
Genre
Political speech
Language
English
Time
1863 1860s 19th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Gettysburg Address." At the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery. 19 Nov. 1863, Gettysburg, PA, USA.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Address at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 1989.

Another quote about The human condition

Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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More information about this quote
Topic
Freedom Liberation The human condition

Author

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Source
The Social Contract
Genre
Political literature Philosophical literature
Statement Type
Metaphor, analogy and simile
Language
French
Time
1762 1760s 18th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Du contrat social ou Principes du droit politique [On the Social Contract or Principles of Political Law]. Amsterdam: Marc Michel Rey, 1762, bk. 1, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. "Of the Social Contract." Of the Social Contract and Other Political Writings, translated by Quintin Hoare. Penguin Classics, 2012, bk. 1, ch. 1.

Another quote from 1864

If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.

Abraham Lincoln

Read the full text of this speech at umich.edu
More information about this quote
Topic
Slavery

Author

Abraham Lincoln
Source
Letters of Abraham Lincoln
Medium
Letter
Genre
Political speech
Language
English
Time
1864 1860s 19th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. Letter to Albert G. Hodges. 4 Apr. 1864.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "To Albert G. Hodges, April 4, 1864." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 1989.

Another quote originally in French

FIRST LAW: In every animal... A more frequent and continuous use of any organ gradually strengthens, develops and enlarges that organ... While the permanent disuse of any organ imperceptibly weakens and deteriorates it, and progressively diminishes its functional capacity, until it finally disappears.
SECOND LAW: All the acquisitions or losses wrought by nature in individuals... Are preserved by reproductions to the new individuals which arise.

Jean-Baptiste Lamark

Philosophie Zoologique

More information about this quote
Topic
Evolution

Author

Jean-Baptiste Lamark
Source
Philosophie Zoologique
Language
French
Time
1809 1800s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste. Philosophie zoologique [Zoological Philosophy]. Paris: Musee d'Histoire Naturelle, 1809, pt. 1, ch. 7.

Current Citation

Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste. Zoological Philosophy, translated by Hugh Samuel Roger Elliott. Cambridge University Press, 2011, pt. 1, ch. 7.