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

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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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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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

See many skies and seas.

Gustave Flaubert

More information about this quote
Topic
Broadening one's horizons Travel

Author

Gustave Flaubert
Source
Letters of Gustave Flaubert
Medium
Letter
Statement Type
Advice
Language
French
Time
1857 1850s 19th century
Authentication Score 1
Citation

Flaubert, Gustave. Letter to Mademoiselle Leroyer de Chantepie. c. 1840.

Another quote from the 1860s

I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship.

Louisa May Alcott

Little Women

Buy Little Women at Amazon Buy Little Women at Amazon
Read Little Women at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Adversity
Speaker
Amy Curtis March

Author

Louisa May Alcott
Source
Little Women
Medium
Novel
Genre
Coming of age story
Statement Type
Metaphor, analogy and simile
Language
English
Time
1868 1860s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1868, ch. 44.

Current Citation

Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women. Puffin Books, 2014, ch. 44.

Another quote about Art

The greatness of art, like poetry or music, is that it is totally unnecessary.

Christo

More information about this quote
Topic
Art for art's sake Art

Author

Christo
Source
D Magazine
Medium
Interview
Language
English
Time
2011 2010s 21st century
Authentication Score 0
Citation

Christo. "Interview: Christo On the Freedom of Unnecessary Art." Interviewed by Peter Simek. D Magazine, 24 Feb. 2011.

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

The great mystery is not that we should have been thrown down here at random between the profusion of matter and that of the stars; it is that from our very prison we should draw, from our own selves, images powerful enough to deny our nothingness.

Andre Malraux

More information about this quote
Topic
The human condition
Speaker
Walter

Author

Andre Malraux
Source
The Walnut Trees of Altenburg
Medium
Novel
Language
French
Time
1943 1940s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Malraux, Andre. Les Noyers de l'Altenburg [The Walnut Trees of Altenburg]. Gallimard, c. 1948.