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

The story of our inferiority is an old dodge, as I have said: for wherever men oppress their fellows, wherever they enslave them, they will endeavor to find the needed apology for such enslavement and oppression in the character of the people oppressed and enslaved.

Frederick Douglass

More information about this quote
Topic
Oppressor and oppressed
Speaker
Frederick Douglass
Medium
Speech
Genre
Political speech
Language
English
Time
1865 1860s 19th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Douglass, Frederick. “What the Black Man Wants.” Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. 26 Jan. 1865, Boston, MA, USA.

Current Citation

Douglass, Frederick. Great Speeches by Frederick Douglass. Dover Publications, 2013.

Another quote about The human condition

The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.

Ernest Hemingway

Buy A Farewell to Arms at Amazon Buy A Farewell to Arms at Amazon
More information about this quote
Topic
Suffering The human condition

Author

Ernest Hemingway
Source
A Farewell to Arms
Medium
Novel
Genre
War novel
Language
English
Time
1929 1920s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Hemingway, Ernest. "A Farewell to Arms." Scribner's Magazine, May 1929 - Oct. 1929, bk. 4, ch. 34.

Current Citation

Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. Scribners, 1995, bk. 4, ch. 34.

Another quote from 1864

Taste...Is the only morality...Tell me what you like, and I'll tell you what you are.

John Ruskin

More information about this quote
Topic
Taste
Speaker
John Ruskin
Medium
Lecture
Language
English
Time
1864 1860s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Ruskin, John. "Traffic." c. 1864, Town Hall, Bradford, England, UK. Lecture.

Current Citation

Ruskin, John. Traffic. Penguin UK, 2015.

Another quote originally in French

Marriage must ceaselessly combat a monster that devours everything: habit.

Honoré de Balzac

Physiologie du Mariage

Read The Physiology of Marriage at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Relationship challenges Marriage

Author

Honoré de Balzac
Source
Physiologie du Mariage
Language
French
Time
1829 1820s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

De Balzac, Honoré. Physiologie du mariage [Physiology of Marriage]. Paris, 1829, pt. 1, meditation 5, no. 47.