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

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

You know, one of the tragedies of real life is that there is no background music.

Annie Proulx

The Shipping News

Buy The Shipping News at Amazon Buy The Shipping News at Amazon
More information about this quote
Topic
Life

Author

Annie Proulx
Source
The Shipping News
Medium
Novel
Language
English
Time
1993 1990s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Citation

Proulx, Annie. The Shipping News. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1993, ch. 10.

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

A house is a machine for living in.

Le Corbusier

Toward an Architecture

More information about this quote
Topic
Houses Home Architecture

Author

Le Corbusier
Source
Toward an Architecture
Medium
Essay
Statement Type
Metaphor, analogy and simile
Language
French
Time
1923 1920s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Corbusier, Le. Vers une Architecture. Editions G. Crès et Cie., 1923.

Current Citation

Corbusier, Le. Toward an Architecture. Getty Research Institute, 2007.