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.

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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

So true is it that unnatural generally means only uncustomary, and that everything which is usual appears natural. The subjection of women to men being a universal custom, any departure from it quite naturally appears unnatural.

John Stuart Mill

The Subjection of Women

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More information about this quote
Topic
Oppression of women Custom and convention

Author

John Stuart Mill
Source
The Subjection of Women
Medium
Essay
Genre
Political literature
Language
English
Time
1869 1860s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Mill, John Stuart. The Subjection of Women. London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1869, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Mill, John Stuart. "The Subjection of Women." On Liberty, Utilitarianism and Other Essays, edited by Mark Philp and Frederick Rosen. Oxford University Press, 2015, ch. 1.

Another quote about The human condition

Knowing that certain nights whose sweetness lingers will keep returning to the earth and sea after we are gone, yes, this helps us die.

Albert Camus

The Sea Close By

More information about this quote
Topic
Acceptance of death Death The human condition

Author

Albert Camus
Source
The Sea Close By
Medium
Essay
Language
French
Time
1953 1950s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Camus, Albert. "The Sea Close By." Lyrical and Critical Essays. Vintage Books, 1970. Originally published in L'Eté [Summer]. Gallimard, 1954.

Another quote from 1864

Man is everywhere a disturbing agent. Wherever he plants his foot, the harmonies of nature are turned to discords.

George Perkins Marsh

Man and Nature

More information about this quote
Topic
Man and nature Environmental destruction

Author

George Perkins Marsh
Source
Man and Nature
Language
English
Time
1864 1860s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Marsh, George Perkins. Man and Nature: Or, Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action. New York: Charles Scribner, 1864, ch. 1.

Current Citation

Marsh, George Perkins. Man and Nature: Or, Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action. Dover Publications, 2021, ch. 1.

Another quote originally in French

I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our more stupid melancholy propensities, for is there anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden which one would gladly throw away, to loathe one’s very being and yet to hold it fast, to fondle the snake that devours us until it has eaten our hearts away?

Voltaire

Candide

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More information about this quote
Topic
Love of life

Author

Voltaire
Source
Candide
Medium
Novel
Genre
Satire
Language
French
Time
1759 1750s 18th century
Era
Age of Enlightenment
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Voltaire. Candide, ou l'Optimisme [Candide: or, All for the Best]. Geneva: Gabriel Cramer, 1759, ch. 12.

Current Citation

Voltaire. Candide, edited by Nicholas Cronk. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016, ch. 12.