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

Inebriate of Air - am I -
And debauchee of dew -
Reeling - thro endless summer days -
From inns of Molten Blue.

Emily Dickinson

More information about this quote
Topic
Summer

Author

Emily Dickinson
Source
The May-Wine Springfield Daily Republican
Medium
Poem Newspaper
Language
English
Time
1861 1860s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Dickinson, Emily. "The May-Wine." Springfield Daily Republican, 4 May 1861, I. 5.

Current Citation

Dickinson, Emily. "I taste a liquor never brewed." Emily Dickinson’s Poems: As She Preserved Them, edited by Cristanne Miller. Belknap Press, 2016, I. 5.

Another quote about Life

This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time.

Fight Club

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More information about this quote
Topic
Carpe diem Life Death
Source
Fight Club
Medium
Film
Genre
Drama (film) Drama
Language
English
Time
1999 1990s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Fight Club. Directed by David Fincher, Fox 2000 Pictures/Regency Enterprises/Linson Films, 1999.

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

When we abolish the slavery of half of humanity, together with the whole system of hypocrisy that it implies, then the "division" of humanity will reveal its genuine significance and the human couple will find its true form.

Simone de Beauvoir

The Second Sex

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More information about this quote
Topic
Women's equality Men and women

Author

Simone de Beauvoir
Source
The Second Sex
Genre
Historical literature Feminist literature
Language
French
Time
1949 1940s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

De Beauvoir, Simone. Le Deuxième Sexe [The Second Sex]. Vol. 2, Gallimard, 1949.

Current Citation

De Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex, translated by Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier. Vintage, 2011.