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

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

Buy Madame Bovary at Amazon Buy Madame Bovary at Amazon
Read Madame Bovary at Project Gutenberg
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

We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger,
We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

Walt Whitman

Pioneers! O Pioneers!

Buy Leaves of Grass at Amazon Buy Leaves of Grass at Amazon
Read Pioneers! O Pioneers! at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Progress

Author

Walt Whitman
Source
Pioneers! O Pioneers! Leaves of Grass
Medium
Poem
Language
English
Time
1867 1860s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Whitman, Walt. "Pioneers! O Pioneers!" Leaves of Grass. New York: Self-published, 1867, st. 2. Originally published in Drum-Taps. New York: Peter Eckler, 1865, st. 2.

Another quote about The human condition

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.

Another quote from 1864

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.

Victor Hugo

More information about this quote
Topic
Limits of language

Author

Victor Hugo
Source
William Shakespeare
Language
French
Time
1864 1860s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Hugo, Victor. William Shakespeare. Paris: Lacroix & Verboeckhoven & Cie, 1864, pt. 1, bk. 2, ch. 4.

Another quote originally in French

I am condemned to be free.

Jean-Paul Sartre

Being and Nothingness

Buy Being and Nothingness at Amazon Buy Being and Nothingness at Amazon
More information about this quote
Topic
Downsides of freedom Freedom

Author

Jean-Paul Sartre
Source
Being and Nothingness
Medium
Essay
Genre
Philosophical literature
Statement Type
Paradox
Language
French
Time
1943 1940s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Sartre, Jean Paul. Le etre et le neant: Essai d'ontologie phenomenologique [Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology]. Librairie Gallimard, 1943, pt. 4, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Sartre, Jean Paul. Being and Nothingness, translated by Sarah Richmond. Washington Square Press, 2021, pt. 4, ch. 1.